Thanksgiving Picnic - Celebrating the Great Outdoors
Who said that Thanksgiving had to have the appearance of a Norman Rockwell painting? For those of you with an adventurous spirit celebrating your blessings in the Great Outdoors can be a lovely treat.
Be it a gathering in your backyard, at your weekend retreat home, by a lake or in the woods, a Thanksgiving in nature can be as primitive or as elegant as you desire.
Since you can figure out a primitive setting without any help from me, I will concentrate on the other end of the spectrum.
Tablecloths can be lightweight blankets or lap throws of fall colors.
Don't use anything that must be dry cleaned or has a high nap.
Food will find it's way onto your table at a rate that increases in direct proportion to the preciousness of what is used to cover the table.
Tableware in coordinating fall hues or crisp white will not look as out of place outside as a delicate floral motif china.
Look through your cabinets and storage areas and dig out pieces such as pottery bowls to use for serving, iron candle sticks, pewter platters, wooden bowls, copper, rustic heavy glass, and terra cotta pieces to bring to the table.
Glass containers can be filled with dried beans of various colors and topped with a soy votive candle to add extra texture and color.
Miniature pumpkins, leaves, dried berries, and fresh cranberries will make great 'confetti' on your table around a pot of mums or a leafy croton plant with it's fall colored striped leaves.
A formal florist arrangement, while perfect on a dressy dining table, would counteract the ambiance of an outdoor fall event.
A more natural look brings out the best of fall.
If the day is a bit overcast, add candles even in 'daylight'.
Glass stemware is certainly better than anything plastic.
However, crystal stems may look too delicate during a season when nature's bounty reigns supreme.
Use a heaver, plainer glass instead.
When you are feeling truly extravagant, moving a rustic hunt table (if you have such a thing) and dining chairs outside is very reminiscent of aristocrats of the Victorian era and the Golden Age when their idea of a picnic was far grander than ours.
Somehow wood just has a different feel in nature than, say...
plastic! But, no matter...
if the weather cooperates, the leaves are lovely and the fellowship is good, then sitting on stumps is just fine too! Always have a plan 'B' any time that you are planning an event outdoors.
Mother Nature often picks inconvenient times to show her since of humor by jumbling your carefully laid plans with an unexpected wind, rainstorm or snowfall.
A roaring outdoor fire in the form of an outdoor fireplace, a bonfire, or in a chimnea is so delightful on a crisp fall day.
If that is not possible, a large grouping of thick soy pillar candles will give some of that illusion, if not the actual warmth.
Creating an outdoor Thanksgiving event can also mean rethinking how the traditional foods are served.
Turkey kabobs with a cranberry glaze, steaming mugs of pumpkin soup, individual tarts of pecan or pumpkin pie could be a different twist on your usual Turkey Day dinner.
Dream it up and type it into a search engine and chances are you will have a half dozen recipes pop up on your computer screen.
Just keep in mind how far from the kitchen your feast will take place, what sort of cooking facilities you will have (grill, open pit, none) and how you can safely transport your food.
You don't want your first annual Thanksgiving Picnic to be remembered as the 'Year Everyone Nearly Died from Food Poisoning!' A party favor is always a nice way to end an event...
even a small, family-only gathering.
There are many different choices from candles, packaged candies and boxes of cookies to more elaborate engraved items such as key rings, letter openers and wine bottle stoppers.
Whatever your budget, you can add a little something extra to the event with a favor.
It was a special treat when you were a kid...
that feeling never goes away! A small favor can be your way of expressing your thanks to those people in your life on Thanksgiving! The most important things to remember on Thanksgiving is to not to become stressed, enjoy the people that you are with, and be Thankful for all that you have.
©2008 Marilyn Baldwin Lewis
Be it a gathering in your backyard, at your weekend retreat home, by a lake or in the woods, a Thanksgiving in nature can be as primitive or as elegant as you desire.
Since you can figure out a primitive setting without any help from me, I will concentrate on the other end of the spectrum.
Tablecloths can be lightweight blankets or lap throws of fall colors.
Don't use anything that must be dry cleaned or has a high nap.
Food will find it's way onto your table at a rate that increases in direct proportion to the preciousness of what is used to cover the table.
Tableware in coordinating fall hues or crisp white will not look as out of place outside as a delicate floral motif china.
Look through your cabinets and storage areas and dig out pieces such as pottery bowls to use for serving, iron candle sticks, pewter platters, wooden bowls, copper, rustic heavy glass, and terra cotta pieces to bring to the table.
Glass containers can be filled with dried beans of various colors and topped with a soy votive candle to add extra texture and color.
Miniature pumpkins, leaves, dried berries, and fresh cranberries will make great 'confetti' on your table around a pot of mums or a leafy croton plant with it's fall colored striped leaves.
A formal florist arrangement, while perfect on a dressy dining table, would counteract the ambiance of an outdoor fall event.
A more natural look brings out the best of fall.
If the day is a bit overcast, add candles even in 'daylight'.
Glass stemware is certainly better than anything plastic.
However, crystal stems may look too delicate during a season when nature's bounty reigns supreme.
Use a heaver, plainer glass instead.
When you are feeling truly extravagant, moving a rustic hunt table (if you have such a thing) and dining chairs outside is very reminiscent of aristocrats of the Victorian era and the Golden Age when their idea of a picnic was far grander than ours.
Somehow wood just has a different feel in nature than, say...
plastic! But, no matter...
if the weather cooperates, the leaves are lovely and the fellowship is good, then sitting on stumps is just fine too! Always have a plan 'B' any time that you are planning an event outdoors.
Mother Nature often picks inconvenient times to show her since of humor by jumbling your carefully laid plans with an unexpected wind, rainstorm or snowfall.
A roaring outdoor fire in the form of an outdoor fireplace, a bonfire, or in a chimnea is so delightful on a crisp fall day.
If that is not possible, a large grouping of thick soy pillar candles will give some of that illusion, if not the actual warmth.
Creating an outdoor Thanksgiving event can also mean rethinking how the traditional foods are served.
Turkey kabobs with a cranberry glaze, steaming mugs of pumpkin soup, individual tarts of pecan or pumpkin pie could be a different twist on your usual Turkey Day dinner.
Dream it up and type it into a search engine and chances are you will have a half dozen recipes pop up on your computer screen.
Just keep in mind how far from the kitchen your feast will take place, what sort of cooking facilities you will have (grill, open pit, none) and how you can safely transport your food.
You don't want your first annual Thanksgiving Picnic to be remembered as the 'Year Everyone Nearly Died from Food Poisoning!' A party favor is always a nice way to end an event...
even a small, family-only gathering.
There are many different choices from candles, packaged candies and boxes of cookies to more elaborate engraved items such as key rings, letter openers and wine bottle stoppers.
Whatever your budget, you can add a little something extra to the event with a favor.
It was a special treat when you were a kid...
that feeling never goes away! A small favor can be your way of expressing your thanks to those people in your life on Thanksgiving! The most important things to remember on Thanksgiving is to not to become stressed, enjoy the people that you are with, and be Thankful for all that you have.
©2008 Marilyn Baldwin Lewis