Thanksgiving Table - White House Quality on a Dollar Menu Budget

One of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving growing up was the fact it was one of the few times we got to use Dad & Mom's china. It made everything seem so special.

Unfortunately, I don't have the money to go all out on fancy dishes for Thanksgiving...so with one little helper, I came up with a tablescape/setting for $0! 

That helper? A gold pen I got last year to address Christmas cards. 

Let's start with the table BEFORE - (I'm sorry...but I'm gonna make you scroll all the way down to see the AFTER) ;p

Just ordinary white plates (Crate & Barrel that I got at Goodwill). 

I wanted some swanky dessert plates but didn't have any. Enter a leftover stash of white plastic dessert plates. They needed some bling bling, though...

I wanted to write something on the plate but wasn't sure how "health friendly" that gold pen would be underneath all the food. I decided to write it on the backside so you'd still see the word but it wouldn't be touching the food. 

Problem was...I didn't know how to write backwards. I used wax paper as my stencil & traced over it. It turned out great & was really easy. 

After I traced "Thanks", I used the gold pen & glammed up the edges. I feel like this is something JLo would be proud of, for some reason. Gold = Glam = Jenny from the Block...I don't know. Anyways...

Next, I had several mini pumpkins I had used to decorate for Halloween. 

They got an Edward-like makeover (you know from Twilight...my lover Mike always tells me that if you have to explain jokes, don't say them. But that would mean I'd never ever tell a joke the rest of my life...so sorry for my lack of funny. ;p). I spray painted them white with some leftover spray paint. 

Using my handy dandy gold pen, I colored the stems gold then I wrote different things I was thankful for  on each pumpkin. 

Family, Gods Love, Health, Husband, Friends, Home...& one more thing I'll share at the end. 

See those leaves around the pumpkin? I gathered those from our backyard & outlined them in gold...

Can you tell how tight my gold pen & I are getting? :p Just wait...

For the napking rings, I used twine I had left from the wedding & wrapped it several times around the napkin then tied it in a bow. We have GOBS of acorns around our yard so I picked up a satchel full & painted the belly part with my buddy, the gold pen. The whole time, I'm wondering what my neighbors are thinking...1) She's such a lazy butt...she goes & picks up a few leaves then lets her husband rake the rest 2) What is she picking up? (Enter husband of neighbor) Probably their dogs poo. But with her bare hands? Disgusting. 3) She seems so interested in leaves in her yard, why doesn't she plant something...like grass so our neighborhood looks better! (There's an actual story behind this...maybe I'll share later...I can see you nodding off so I'll stop. ;p)

I wanted to add a lot of candles but dress em up a bit. So I decided to do poor man's gold crackling on some extra glass tealights I had. 

I've seen tealight holders like this at West Elm & Z Gallerie. It was so fun to recreate them & not spend a dime! My buddy goldie (the pen) is permanent so I can use these for years.  

Let's see the Before one more time...

Plain Jane

After...

Those white candleholders I got at Goodwill ages ago for $1 for both & have used them for all kinds of things. 

I also wanted to see what it would look like without the leaves. I added the leaves because I felt it needed some color but I think I'm really digging this classic look. 

What do you think?

Me & goldie glammed up some more acorns to add to the candlescape. 

If you're wondering about that pretty white cake stand...I got it from Wisteria back in the spring when it was on clearance. 

I love to look at our dining room table. It makes me smile & makes me think of all the things I'm truly grateful for. One of those things is...

I'm not just saying that. I really am. When I started this blog last New Years Eve, I knew I loved to plan parties on a budget but I never knew anyone would read this. ;p Your encouragement, comments, support (with the Better Homes & Garden contest) & just plain reading this thing...makes me smile bigger than a teenager getting to meet Justin Bieber. :-) Thank you!

I've got another post I'll post this week, then I have an awesome guest blogger for next week. So much fun stuff to come! Happy Thanksgiving!