Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you Americans had a lovely holiday. And I hope all you non-Americans gorged yourselves yesterday and gained a pound or two anyway. It’s the American way!
I wanted to share my project for this upcoming week’s Dare to DIY theme: Dare to Entertain. Truth be told, I’m not much of an entertainer. I rarely offer to host parties/dinners at my house, and when I do, I keep them pretty low-key. And since we had Thanksgiving at my parents’ place this year, I wasn’t sure what I could contribute.
In yet another move that I thought was 100% original until taking the matter to Pinterest and finding that I am, yet again, not the first one to think of this, I came up with this COMPLETELY UNIQUE, NEVER BEFORE DONE idea: all the loved ones who sat around the table at Thanksgiving dinner signed a table runner I had sewn in advance, and wrote something they are grateful for this year. I think it is a great way to not only start some thought about gratefulness and blessings, but to also preserve a reminder of our lives this past year (many of the messages related to that person’s accomplishments or struggles this year), and of course, adorable handwriting from the little kids around the table.
I started by sewing a simple table runner (unfortunately, I don’t have instructions for this—I made it up as I went along). I used an orange paisley fabric for a center strip and ruffles at the ends, and a beige muslin for a wide border.
As we cooked the meal, we put the table runner out and asked all the dinner guests to sign it (with a fabric marker) and write down something they are grateful for this year. The kids were excited to think of something special to them and write it down:
And by the time dinner was served, everyone had added a special thought along with their name to the runner.
It was fun to see what everyone decided to write, and it’ll be a great tradition as we add to the runner next year.
I can’t wait to see what you Dared to DIY on Monday! Have a great weekend!
