Fall is upon us and it’s time to begin thinking about those holiday family gatherings, menus & decor. I teamed up with some fabulous party people to bring you a Fall Tablescape Challenge. Our challenge was to create a stunning Fall Tablescape using a red wagon, wheat stalks, apples, pumpkins, & a wooden sign all for under $25. Luckily, I had almost all of the items that I used on hand and spent very little to create this fall table.
Last year I had big plans to do a play on the traditional fall colors by using teal & silver. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to make that happen and I was bummed about it. This was the perfect opportunity for me to use my last year plans.
For the place settings I used teal blue charger plates under my white with silver trim china. My silverware was wrapped in white luncheon napkins and I used our new Holiday Glitter Bows in Pewter to add a wow factor to the place settings.
TIP: using paper napkins and “silver” plasticware from the Dollar Tree in conjunction with fancy tableware can save you a ton of money (unless of course, you already have linen napkins and fancy silverware)
For my table decor I used teal candles and ceramic glazed pumpkins as well as small apothecary jars with mini pumpkins, gourds & other filler. To jazz up my drinks a bit, I used diamond ribbon (as seen on our Shimmer Sticks) wrapped skewers with fresh cranberries for a pop of color.
TIP: freezing the cranberries beforehand will also help keep your drinks cold
The wheat stalks were one of the items that I did not have on hand so I purchased a bundle of them at Hobby Lobby for $5.99. I simply cut the stems as tall as I needed them and tied a gold shimmery ribbon around them and fanned them at the bottom for standing. It’s a fun & inexpensive way to add a Fall feel to your table. And, you can use them again for home decor when your party is over.
TIP: use a 40% coupon for Hobby Lobby and get a bundle for about $3.60
Since I had plans last year to use these colors, I already had a printable menu & matching place cards made that tied in perfectly with this table. Yes, the things listed on that menu are our typical menu items for Thanksgiving and I can’t wait until it’s time to prepare this food again! At our house, it isn’t Thanksgiving without a Cajun Fried Turkey!
I’m saving my favorite part for last. When seeing that the challenge required a wooden sign, my mind went in multiple directions. I remembered that I had a couple of these tree trunk slices stored in the attic from my daughter’s Little Red Riding Hood Party a couple of years ago. I already knew that I wanted the phrase “Happy Fall Y’all” but didn’t know exactly how I wanted to do the sign. My first attempt with this sign was using black vinyl cut with my Silhouette Cameo & just adhering it to the tree slice. Eh! What a pain! It didn’t want to stick to the wood and as I was trying to pull the transfer tape off, my vinyl ripped. Plan B it was. I made the cut again on vinyl but used the outline as a stencil this time and painted it on with teal metallic acrylic paint. I set the sign up inside the red wagon and surrounded it with gold painted leaves, pumpkins, gourds & apples and used it as the centerpiece.
I LOVE the way this sign turned out and now that the challenge is over, I have it displayed in my living room on a mini plate stand.
Here are my overall out of pocket costs:
- 1 bag of cranberries $1.00
- wheat stalks $3.60 (coupon used at Hobby Lobby)
- white paper napkins $1.00
- Sparkling White Grape Juice $2.98
Total spent $8.58
Happy Fall Y’all!
Visit the other Fall Tablescape Challenge participants below
Cupcake Wishes & Birthday Dreams
Link up with us & share your Fall decorating ideas or browse through even more inspiration HERE
I am in love with those bows! This is rustic, elegant and very inviting. The red wagon was the toughest item for me. I could not find a real one anywhere. Beautiful table!
Thank you, Sandra! The red wagon was a hand me down to my girls from my cousin. I was lucky that we had even kept it around.
LOVE those cranberry drink stirrers! I will be stealing that idea at some point for sure. The wooden sign came out perfect, great idea.
Thank you! I’m loving the color on the sign!