Festive Thanksgiving and Holiday Table Settings

• A distinctive cosmopolitan table begins with an emphasis on light and with bright colors. Watch as an iridescent plumage of green and turquoise transport your holiday table to a glamorous backdrop for an epicurean evening.

• Complement the plumage with pillar candles in gold and sleek hurricane vases filled with pomegranites placed in the center of the table. The clear glass of the hurricanes keeps the look clean and allows the fruit to be the star.

• Add a few peacock feathers and fallen leaves to show off colors that contrasts with the table's palette.

• Lastly, add a touch of natural grace to your peacock-themed tabletop with fall-fruit (quinces, apples, figs) or vegetable place cards. Small pears work well--hold paper name tags punched with holes and tied in place with ribbon or twine. Keep in mind any small fruit, such as crab apples, star fruits or gourds can be used.

A bountiful harvest table takes its cue from nature.

• Leaf-shaped stoneware plates over wicker placemates will beautifully set the mood.

• Complement the placesettings with small bunches of gourd candles.

• At the table's center, set a classic wicker Horn of Plenty filled with a seasonal mix of leaves, gourds, fruits and nuts to add thanks and warmth to the setting.

• Top it off by adding either place card tags with handwritten loving quotes atop each napkin or a personalized leaf in the folds of each napkin and a handwritten place card -- a strip of paper inscribed with a white-gel pen -- welcome each guest to dinner.
• You can also dress up your fall dinner table with food displays and natural decorations to celebrate the season.

No matter what tabletop style you choose, chocolate turkeys are the perfect finale. My niece and nephews (and adult family members, alike) adore edible dark chocolate turkeys to take home after the meal. Delicious Belgian chocolate turkeys are sure to please everyone at your table, too.

Even with so much emphasis placed on the menu, these tips promise to deliver a festive table setting worthy of your Thanksgiving meal.

Paper-Leaf How-To

Add these leaves to bowls of gourds, or lay a few along a tablecloth. We used light-green paper, but you can use any color you like.

• Trace or print the leaf template onto the back of a piece of decorative paper, and cut out as many leaves as you want.

• To give the leaves more dimension, fold them outward at notches and inward along lobes.

• Use a length of paper-covered wire for a stem, and use hot glue to affix it to the center back of the leaf. Let dry.

• Coil the wire stem around the handle of a wooden spoon or a pencil; slip off.