I’ve shopped at Tuesday Morning as long as I can remember. My maternal grandma, Phyllis, was a longtime employee; she was the family’s original shopaholic, but also an avid discount shopper, so she got us all hooked on this close-out retailer. From small gift items to large housewares, our home is full of tons of Tuesday Morning deals.
So you can imagine my excitement when I was asked if I’d like to partner with Tuesday Morning to get my home ready for my tenth annual (!!!) Thanksgiving party. Count me in! Scroll down to see the finished look and find out what I picked to get our home ready to party.
Most of my decorations stay the same year after year. It would be silly to, say, find new turkey decor. (It’s silly enough I own turkey decor.) But one space I vary year to year is the table centerpiece. Normally I reuse festive items from other areas of the house, but after a decade of throwing this party I was running out of ways to restyle the same plastic pumpkins.
My husband and I have a pretty heft Fiesta plate and platter collection, so I knew its signature dusty brights would make up my color palette. Lucky for me, I spotted tons of Tuesday Morning items that fit the bill when I went shopping with my provided gift card. The first thing I found were these rustic cloth napkins ($6.99 per 4 pack) with a mustard trim. They look great with the napkin rings we received as a wedding gift, but are slightly more casual than the formal napkins meant to pair with them. Near the napkins I found my table runners ($9.99 each) which match both colors on the plates and my tablecloth; I bought two because I prefer an oversized look, and with both leaves in our table it’s too long for a standard runner. Do you need a runner with a table cloth? No. But did I need one? You know it.
The hardest part of shopping was finding the actual centerpiece items, not because I didn’t have options but because I couldn’t pick a theme. The green owl tea light holders changed that. These heavy-duty items were affordable ($2.99 each) and adorable, so after finding them I knew to simply look for colorful glass. The orange tea light holders ($1.49 each) and colorful hurricanes ($12.99 each) rounded out the table, but I was concerned it would look too empty so I kept shopping anyway. (Story of my life, amirite?) I found a 4-pack of owl mason jar glasses ($7.99) to fill in the gaps and these fantastic hammered tumblers ($9.99 each) to add a touch of metallic and serve as vases. Tip from me to you: If you’re buying cheap flowers and/or you’re not great at arranging, an opaque vase gives you more visual wiggle room. Thank me later.
In case you’re curious, let me tell you how many party supplies fit within my $200 Tuesday Morning budget: 2 table runnners, 1 4-pack owl mason jar glasses, 2 glass hurricanes, 3 hammered metal tumblers, three tea light lanterns, 3 tea light owl holders, 2 jars almond-stuffed olives, 1 tin candied nuts, 3 4-packs cloth napkins, 1 can opener, 3 packs fairy lights, 1 table pad, 1 bottle hand soap, 2 serving spoons, 1 10-pack juice glasses, and a plethora of miscellaneous craft supplies. Yeah. I’m also impressed. Find your local Tuesday Morning store here.
But wait, you may be thinking, why the craft supplies? I knew I wanted to make something for this party, but I wasn’t sure what. I decided to use mini glass jar craft kits to make simple and festive DIY place cards. Each jar, found in the scrapbooking section of Tuesday Morning, was filled with leftover autumn confetti. A Tuesday Morning decorative push pin attached the names to the top. Pretty cute, right? I can’t wait to reuse these for different holidays later on.
The premade appetizers (stuffed olives and nuts) from Tuesday Morning were such a good addition to the appetizer area. To keep the kitchen clear, we brought a shelf from our bedroom to the living room for the party and set up all pre-dinner snacks there. Since the menu was rather extensive, and I was planning on a few homemade apps, it was nice to supplement with these easy add-ons.
Speaking of the menu, I ought to fill you in on what I made for this year’s Friendsgiving feast.
- Roasted turkey, cooked in a Reynold’s Bag because I’m a logical person who says yes to fool-proof methods
- Bread stuffing, AKA probably my favorite food ever
- Green beans with onion and bacon where the ratio is nearly 50/50 bacon-to-bean
- Garlic butter mushrooms I found on Pinterest and have since dreamed about
- Roasted broccoli and sweet potatoes to add an illusion of health
- Deviled eggs, which I personally hate but are beloved by 75% of my friend group
- Sweet potato casserole sliders, spotted in a DEEPLY INCORRECT recipe by my mom’s BFF
- Apple pie cupcakes that I ate for breakfast the following two days
Rounding out the meal were a few simple additions—avocado toast apps for fun millennial jokes, cranberry sauce served in the can shape, nuts, olives—and items brought by guests. I’m hungry again just thinking about it.
At the end of the party, each guest left with a festive treat bag tied with a bow. This isn’t because treat bags are remotely required for dinner parties. Treat bags are twenty types of extra, and after a decade of Thanksgiving parties I am only interested in the most extra of options. Besides, we all know adults are practically toddlers after three glasses of wine. There was a similar level of excitement.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Thank you for partnering with me for this post, Tuesday Morning! As always, all opinions are my own.
