Make Thanksgiving Day Cozy for Your Guests
Thanksgiving is this week! Amazing how in a few days we’ll be eating turkey and watching football. What isn’t great about gathering with family and friends, eating food, talking, and simply being grateful! I love the little touches we can add to our home to make our guests feel comfortable. Here are some quick tips on how to add touches of the season and holiday inside your home.
The Entry Way
This is the first area your guests see when they visit. Add a fall wreath to your door, have some pretty fall flowers like mums outside, or hang a fall welcome sign up. Make sure the entrance to your doorway is clean and there is a welcome mat or something they can wipe their shoes on. Have your doorway well lit and change bulbs if need be. Inside put some gourds, acorns, miniature pumpkins, or pine cones in a clear vase on a table near the entry way. Clean out your hall closet to allow room for coats, shoes, umbrellas, etc.
Make Sure Your House Smells Good
This will probably be easy on Thanksgiving day with all the yummy smells coming from the kitchen. If your guests arrive the night before, light scented candles. I love the pumpkin and cinnamon roll candles. Remember to put little candles in the bathroom, hallways, and in family rooms. If they are coming early don’t forget to greet them with some homemade treats!
Fun Table Settings
Decorating the table can be an activity for the whole family. If you want to save time do it the night before. Get creative with your centerpiece try a big bowl of fruit, or beautiful sunflowers, or gourds. Candles in hurricane vases with acorns make for another pretty centerpiece. Put a pear on each plate with a name tag attached it this adds a nice touch. If you have little ones give them small squares of paper and have them draw a picture of their hand and decorate it as a turkey to put at each guest’s plate.
Small Touches
Have plenty of warm throws in your living room and sitting areas. If you have a fireplace, fire it up or put logs in front of the fireplace to create a cozy atmosphere. Put a decorative bowl in a common area and label it ‘The Grateful Bowl,’ have small pieces of paper and a pencil nearby, ask each guest to write something they are grateful for and put it the bowl. You can read it after dinner or before dinner. This is a great way to engage your guests in conversation.
After everyone eats it may be football time! For those who aren’t interested in tuning into the television, have board games ready. Board games are fun, relaxing, and make for great bonding time. If you have a lot of little ones visiting have activities ready for them. Bring out some DVDs like Charlie Brown’s Thanksgiving, or you may even want to pop in a few Christmas movies to get them geared up for the Christmas season.
The best part of the holiday is spending time with the people you love. Have fun, don’t get too stressed, and do not forget to be thankful to God and praise him during the Thanksgiving season, for through him all blessings flow.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Copyright © Chere Williams, Moms of Faith, All Rights Reserved