It’s getting to be turkey time! At least in Canada, where we celebrate Thanksgiving on the second Monday of October.
In anticipation of said event, I went on a turkey plate shopping expedition on eBay over the summer. The family is growing and little people abound.
All the little girls are very well behaved AND they’re all under six… No matter how careful everyone tries to be, accidents are bound to happen, so I went a hunting for something durable, inexpensive, easily replaceable, dishwasher safe and fun.
Queen’s Myott by Churchill fit the bill nicely.
Knowing that I would have very little time to shoot the actual table we would dine from on actual Thanksgiving, I styled the plates down in the Cape one late summer day.
I had a lot of fun putting together the centrepieces with oak leaves, beach plums (which are really just giant rose hips) and a bunch of roses from Trader Joe’s. The containers are moss covered planters from Save On Crafts.
I used my June Pink glasses by Fostoria, and at home I’ll likely use my Venetian “Basket Glasses” with a similar set up.
The acorn salt & pepper is by Kaldun & Bogle and I got in on eBay. They have lots of fall themed salt and pepper sets right now – it’s hard to choose a favourite!
It was a very satisfying table to set, anticipating how the plates would be used at Thanksgiving.
The Wheaton Stripe napkins are from Pottery Barn this year, and the grapevine napkin rings are from Amazon.
The runner is the Vine Boutis Quilted runner from Williams Sonoma in a colour I call celery and they call Sage Green. The Malta Lanterns are from Pottery Barn.
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- Close up of salt & pepper
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- The roses smelled heavenly
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- The roses tones of the glasses echoed the flowers
I’m sharing this post with Between Naps on the Porch.
Understated elegance. It’s beautiful!
Thanks so much, Margaret. It’s hard to believe Thanksgiving is so soon for we Canadians!
This is beautiful- love the turkey dishes! Your lantern and the two floral arrangements are perfect. Love the colors of the roses.
Thanks, Liz! It was a fun table to set :).
What a pleasure it must be to dine at your table.
How wonderful it is that you are providing your family’s little girls with an opportunity to appreciate a well appointed table. The time you spent finding items that are appropriate for the youngest set, beautiful but not too precious, demonstrates once again your talent in table setting. Sadly I have seen too many children’s tables set with paper plates and plastic cutlery, missing the opportunity to train a young eye to recognize beauty and the opportunity to teach responsibility for behavior around nice things.
This particular table design is charmingly light and airy, a refreshing take on a holiday that is often accompanied by the heavy use of pumpkins and pilgrims.
I must thank you for recommending Sheila Chefetz’s book, Antiques for the Table. Reading your blog from the beginning to the present was worth the time if only for this alone. I purchased a copy and have been spending hours pouring over the glorious photos and informative text.
In this hurried and stressful time I find it more and more necessary to take a breath and remind myself of the beauty in the world. Sitting at a gracious table surrounding by friends and family is a very good way to do that. While this may not happen in real life as often as I would like your Entertablement installments are a very good substitute..
Elizabeth, thank you so much for your very thoughtful comments. It’s interesting that Sheila Chefetz continues to influence us all with her warm, approachable way with tableware. She (and her lovely assistant, Tom Hayes) were so encouraging in my early forays and I am grateful to them both, to this day. Also, my mother, who was educated at a convent boarding school, was a sticker for good grammar and good table manners. That being said, she took a very practical approach, and didn’t make any fuss when something got broken, provided it wasn’t from carelessness. Her philosophy was that children only learn to appreciate nice things if they are exposed to them and use them. So it’s very nice to think that I’ve passed some of that on to my own family!
Have a great weekend and thanks again for your comments.
With kind regards,
Helen
Do you actually own all the dishes/flatware/glassware? If so, how do you store it all?
Yes (gulp), I do own it all. Entertablement is a not for profit blog, and I don’t get any product on condition of endorsement, or have any click throughs for profit, either. It’s just a hobby!
As to storage, I wrote a blog on that not long ago called Organizing Tableware, Where does she store all that stuff? I get asked that a lot… here is the link.
https://entertablement.mystagingwebsite.com/2017/06/organizing-tableware-where-does-she-store-all-that-stuff/
These really will help make Thanksgiving a festive event for your family. I agree with you that children should be exposed to beauty and art in order to form an appreciation. Your Fostoria goes perfectly with the new plates as well the Venetian basket stemware. Thank you for sharing this beautiful setting.
Thanks for visiting, Michael! It’s always a pleasure to share my enthusiasm with people who enjoy it as much as I do.
This is completely lovely Helen! I’m so glad I found your site through Between Naps on the Porch. I’m definitely coming back with my glass of wine and exploring more! Thanks for the wonderful inspiration, and Happy Thanksgiving!
Welcome, Barb! Please let me know if you have any questions. Enjoy the wine and browse!