Vintage Thanksgiving decorations bring such a warm holiday style and Thanksgiving spirit to this special holiday!  Try using these vintage Thanksgiving decorations to take your Thanksgiving decorating to the next level this year!  Keep reading for my favorite ways to decorate with vintage decorations for Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is such a special holiday and it’s one of my favorite days of the year.  However, with the popularity of Halloween decorations and the Christmas season starting early for so many (me included), Thanksgiving can kind of get lost in the calendar.  Even though I always start my Christmas decorating very early, I love finding ways to still incorporate vintage Thanksgiving decorations into my Christmas holiday decorations.

After all, I don’t think the Thanksgiving spirit is crushed with Christmas trees up!  At the same time, there are so many pretty ways to mix the two holiday decorations and keep a warm and inviting Thanksgiving spirit in your home, especially if you are hosting!

It is kind of a hot topic with some.  My philosophy is that you can decorate whenever you want and what other people do doesn’t need to affect your Thanksgiving spirit or Christmas spirit, either one.  Right?!

For me, the best case scenario is creating super cozy and festive spaces for the entire season, encompassing both holidays.  Can’t go wrong with cozy!

Okay, now that the debate is officially settled with THAT (haha!), we can move on to some fun ways to mix vintage Thanksgiving decorations into your home decor for a special vintage holiday style!

I love decorating with vintage Thanksgiving decorations or with vintage pieces styled for Thanksgiving.  Thanks for joining me today to chat about some of my favorites.  I hope you get a lot of inspiration today because I’ve had fun putting together ideas for sharing!

​Beautiful Ideas for Vintage Thanksgiving Decorations

How to Style Vintage Thanksgiving Decorations in the Living Room

Even though the most common Thanksgiving decor is centered around the dining room and dinner table, I do love adding some traditional cozy looks to the adjoining living spaces.

My favorite way to work on Thanksgiving decorating is by adding winter greenery to my existing fall decor.

I have found pine and cedar to be a great addition to the dried gourds and pumpkins for warm holiday decor.  After all, in nature, what is usually still green at Thanksgiving time?  Yep!  The pine and cedar trees!

The season of Thanksgiving, to me, can best be described by “abundant gratefulness.”  With that theme in mind, creating a lush, full, abundant look to my decor is my favorite way to approach Thanksgiving decorating.

To create a warm holiday feeling that goes with that theme, I focus on vessels filled with overflowing dried gourds and fall stems.  To give a more wintery, Thanksgiving feeling, pine or cedar is a great addition.  You can shop my favorites for those HERE!

In the living room, I enjoy using antique and vintage decorations, like this French lavabo or European trencher, to add natural elements.

Especially helpful is the fact that I don’t have to store these vintage decorations away after Thanksgiving decorating is over.  I can continue using them season after season!

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How to Use Vintage Thanksgiving Decorations in the Kitchen

Let’s face it.  The kitchen is the busiest place in the house during the week of and on Thanksgiving Day!  Even if you aren’t hosting, you are likely preparing favorite dishes for Thanksgiving dinner.  Since it is such a busy space, you don’t need to go overboard with Thanksgiving decorations.

However, some well-placed pumpkins, a vase of fresh fall flowers, or pretty vintage turkey platters displayed on open shelves are a great way to give that Thanksgiving style without cluttering up the kitchen.

You can also add some functional pieces to the kitchen that will be used for Thanksgiving Day and look pretty too!

I’ve got my eye on this gorgeous pumpkin drink dispenser for cider.  Even though it is a new piece, it will blend perfectly with my vintage style kitchen.

To bring vintage style into my Thanksgiving decorating in the kitchen, I added these simple items:

• Stacked pumpkins on the kitchen island on my vintage scale
• Cute mums in a vintage ironstone compote
• A perfectly imperfect pumpkin resting on a stack of antique bread boards
• Faux fall stems in a vintage stoneware vessel (which also hides the cord from my favorite candle warmer lamp!  It’s on a dimmer and timer and makes our kitchen soooo cozy!)
• Faux pampas grass wreath on the hood vent, made of old barn wood (the faux grass is perfect because it doesn’t shed down onto whatever is cooking on the stove!)

​How to Use Vintage Thanksgiving Decorations in the Dining Room

Now, the real star of the show for Thanksgiving Day is the dining room, of course!  Thanksgiving Day is the perfect time to pull out all of the stops and create an amazing tablescape.

Chances are, there is too much Thanksgiving dinner food to go on the table anyway, so consider a buffet on the kitchen island and focus on making the dinner table the focal point of your holiday decorations!

Your dinner table is the perfect place to bring all of the antique charm with beautiful place settings and a traditional cozy centerpiece.  Keep reading for specific ideas for centerpieces and place settings!

Depending on the size of your dining room, you may want to add some other decor.  On my apothecary shelves, I usually incorporate dried gourds, corn husks, bouquets of corn stalks, and even a cute turkey or vintage art!  If I had vintage turkey platters, I would definitely display those here also!

If you have a buffet or console table, overflowing floral arrangements with natural elements and fall flowers would take your decor to the next level!

How to Create a Centerpiece with Vintage Thanksgiving Decorations

​I love creating beautiful dinner table centerpieces for this special holiday.  There are endless ways to put together your Thanksgiving decorating.  I almost always try to use what I have on hand, maybe adding a little something new from time to time.

How do you style a Thanksgiving table?

My favorite things to use for Thanksgiving Day centerpieces are:

• Beautiful table runner (also budget-friendly!)
• Velvet pumpkins
• Norfolk pine garland or stems
• Dried corn husk stems or similar style
• Eucalytpus
• ​Pine cones
• Fall flowers
• Dried gourds
• Real pumpkins
• Copper accents
• Brass candlesticks
• Battery-operated taper candles for a cozy (and safe) glow

What gives any of these elements a vintage feel is combining them with vintage pieces.  A vintage tablecloth is a great base for building a centerpiece.

In my case, I have a lot of different vintage vessels and I love using those statement pieces to style my Thanksgiving decorations.

You can also incorporate sentimental pieces.  A few years ago, our family took a fall vacation to New England.  When we visited Plymouth, Massachusetts, we wanted to bring back something from that iconic “first Thanksgiving” scene to use in our Thanksgiving traditions.  This cute salt and pepper shakers set is perfect and we can use it year after year!

If you are decorating a children’s table, consider nostalgic and fun centerpiece elements like honeycomb turkeys, cute pumpkins, and turkey coloring pages for place mats!

Again, the sky is the limit but this really is your chance to have a lot of fun with a special holiday table for your Thanksgiving table setting.

Tip: Allow yourself plenty of time to be creative and have fun with it!  It isn’t too early now to start planning the elements you want to use.  Especially if you plan to incorporate vintage decorations, now is the time to find them at thrift stores, vintage markets, antique malls, and even garage sales!

How to Create Special Place Settings with Vintage Thanksgiving Decorations

Place settings are especially special for Thanksgiving Day.  This is an opportunity to personalize your table for friends or family members to create an extra warm holiday that feels inviting.  Your Thanksgiving table setting can play a key role in how you make each person feel welcomed and special for Thanksgiving dinner.

Place settings are a great opportunity to use sentimental pieces such as heirloom dishes or stemware.  If you don’t have enough in the special set of dishes, try mixing and matching them with neutral dishes.  This will give your table an eclectic and curated look.

At the same time, your family members will understand the importance of the sentimental pieces and it will feel special to them.

How to decorate your table for Thanksgiving dinner?

If you want to really take your place settings to the next level, be creative with your place cards and place card holders!  An old postcard or black and white photograph can be personal to each guest.  At the same time, they create fun and nostalgic conversation around the dinner table too.

For another easy idea, you can print off beautiful images with special verses or quotes and add to each place setting.  In fact, you can print them for FREE right from my website.  I combined my favorite verses and quotes, all styled with my own photography, on THIS post for you!

What do you put on a Thanksgiving dinner table?

Try tying flatware with a pretty ribbon.  Adding burlap ribbon to your napkin rings is another great idea for an extra touch.  I especially love THIS gorgeous velvet ribbon!

If you need some super budget-friendly napkins that make any place setting look amazing, check THESE out. They are available in a lot of different colors.  Also, they are easy to wash and you don’t have to iron them.  Win win for me!

​One of our favorite Thanksgiving table setting ideas was when we used huge pine cones that I found at garage sales.  My daughter created place cards with her beautiful calligraphy.

The pine cones were so easy and added a lovely natural element to our table.  At the same time, the pine cones add a touch of that wintery style that is perfect for Thanksgiving Day too.

However you decide to personalize your place settings, create with love.  You likely have a lot of things on hand that you can use to make your Thanksgiving table setting look and feel special!

If you’re looking to add something a little new or fresh, I’ve curated my favorite tablescape essentials HERE for your convenience!

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Where to find decor for vintage Thanksgiving decorations?

As I mentioned earlier, you’ll want to start looking for vintage style Thanksgiving decorations early on.  Many times, your regular fall decor can play double duty too.

However, for Thanksgiving decorations that are specifically vintage, you may not find right away when you go shopping!  Thrift stores, antique malls, vintage markets, garage sales, and even flea markets are a great idea.  You can also look online with sites like Etsy.

A good idea is to keep an eye out all year long at these kinds of places.  You just never know what seasonal decor will pop up.

Especially with thrift stores and garage sales, people often clean out their seasonal decor after the holiday.  So, you may even find turkeys in February!  Who knows?!

You can also get beautiful vintage style with new pieces too.  I’ve curated some of my favorite vintage-style Thanksgiving decor HERE.

Mixing vintage inspired new pieces with the old is a great way to get the vintage Thanksgiving style in an easier and more budget-friendly way.

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​The perfect Thanksgiving decor is much more about the feeling you evoke rather than the actual decor itself.  When you concentrate on thoughtful decor, combined with warm and natural elements of fall, you can’t go wrong!

​I hope this post gives you some fresh inspiration as you begin planning for your own Thanksgiving Day decor.  Most of all, I hope it is a season filled with abundant blessings for you and your loved ones!

You may also enjoy these fall and Thanksgiving related posts:

• 18 Beautiful Thanksgiving Table Decor Ideas for a Simple Holiday
• How to Create Easy Friendsgiving Table Settings and Thanksgiving Decor
• How to Create a Beautiful and Easy Thanksgiving Tablescape
• Seasonal Décor to take you from Thanksgiving to Christmas
• Thanksgiving Feast Cheese Roll
• Best Vintage Table Decoration Ideas for Fall Centerpieces
• Best Fall Home Decor Ideas From Amazon 2023 Under $50

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