Comfy & Cozy Din Din

It's week two of Kim's Dare to DIY blog party. Did you dare? You should. Join at any time! This week's project was Dare to Entertain...so basically show off your holiday table. Last year I set up a buffet for an imaginary army of people coming to my house. Good thing they were pretend because the only food I had waiting for them was make-believe. But this year? I've got real, live, breathing guests! We're having my mom, brother and his kiddos over for a low-key, casual pre-Thanksgiving dinner. Since we hit up both sides of the fam's T-day dinners every year, we don't get to spend a lot of time together on that day. Thus, a new tradition is born.

I started with my everday plates and pumpkin & pinecone decorations. That idea fell flat with boredom so I added some red chargers and berries to my new pitcher/vase that my mom bought me at Terrain.

Then I threw in some little red candles...and realized it was looking more Christmas than Thanksgiving. Hmmm, do I leave the pumpkins?
Why not?

I totally stole the burlap placecard idea from Kim herself.  Last year she made tree ornaments the same way and since I had all the materials on-hand, placecards it is! Plus they're re-usable...the letter stickers pop right off.

Then I found this awesome online mag, Sweet Paul.  Go read it, you'll love.  Anyway, they did a spread on de-constructing a winter sweater to use on your tabletop. Adorbs. So I found *the* perfect tan and white cable knit sweater at Goodwill and got to work cutting it up. I used their idea to make litte candle cozies and then realized I could make sweater flatware pockets!  I just cut out a piece, glued the pocket shut on 3 sides and glued a couple buttons to each.  Kinda in love with them. Plus, they were chilly. The utensils were. And no one likes chilly forks.

I started putting out fancy water and wine glasses then realized we wouldn't even be drinking any! It'll most likely be iced tea for the adults and chocolate milk for the wee ones. So I added the stemless wine glasses because we use those everday and threw in straws because we're keeping it casgh (that's my phonetic spelling of the first part of the word casual). No wait, I thought they looked cute. That's the only reason. And come to think of it, that's my reason for a lot of things...because it looked cute. Anyway, I'm pretty sure I captured comfy and cozy family dinner. Whacha think?

Oh and go check out the rest of the tablescapes...I'm sure there will be tons of amazing ideas for us to steal!