Thanksgiving Napkin Rings.

Thanksgiving is a relatively new holiday for US, even though we’ve been married for seven years. By that, I mean, traditionally we have traveled almost every single November and December, criss-crossing the country to spend time with both families. Three years ago, we started hosting a small Thanksgiving for my side of the family at our home in Maryland.

But in true Mayer/Kulp fashion, there is nothing ‘small’ about our holiday celebration.

Every year, around this time, my wife fixates on… the CENTERPIECE.

Last year, she created these simple, yet gorgeous place settings.

We had the kids write down all the names.

As kids, I remember me and my brothers coming home from school with some dandies – whether it be a turkey voodoo-potato, stuck with feather toothpicks and push-pin eyes or a picnic plate, crusted over with colored construction paper, bird feathers and glue – all which could potentially claim real estate at the center of our Thanksgiving table.

And while the thought and idea of using your kids’ art projects on the center stage hasn’t gone away, with our children being so little, we find ourselves in a spot where we might need to find a supplement for a few years.

This holiday DIY time allows my wife to clean the froth from the sides of her mouth, hit up the local craft stores and fulfill that crack-fiend urge to glue, paste, smash, crimp and push stuff together to make something absolutely beautiful.

However, with that chaos comes an intricate color scheme and design palate – and this year was no exception as she started weeks out, designing and pulling together materials.

With that, I give you:

Burlap and Brass Thanksgiving Napkin Rings

SUPPLIES:

• 1 can of Brass Spray Paint from @michaelsstores ($6.99) PRO TIP: you can use an always-available 40% off coupon, making it about $4.00
• Various fresh cut herbs and leaves from your home garden or the local park
• Packs of reusable fabric napkins, available at Bed, Bath & Beyond for $6.99 for 6. PRO TIP: Again, use your 20% off coupon on these, making them around $5.61 for each set.
• Crystal buttons (note, these are larger and look to be similar in size to large brooches) from Wal-Mart. They were made by Le Bouton and cost anywhere from $1.97 to $2.97 apiece.
• Wired Burlap Ribbon (also purchased at Wal-Mart) as you need. You can shorten them as needed once they’re tied.

DIRECTIONS:

• Take your herbs and leaves, lay them down on some newspaper, spray for a minute, being sure to cover all sides – let dry for one hour.
• Lay the napkin out flat and find the center. Grab it in the center and cinch like a bouquet.

• Wrap the burlap ribbon around, above the cinch and tie as needed. Trim ends. They don’t have to all be the same.
• Secure the buttons with hot glue or with small pieces of wire.

The great thing about these settings is that you can do them a few days or weeks out. I hid ours in the rod locker of my boat in the garage. I’m thinking it might be the one place that my kids won’t find them, dismantle, eat or tear apart.

Here’s our dry run…

Instead of paper nakins or the same, simple fold on your stained linens (we have those too), why not give something like this a shot?

From my family to yours, we wish you the very best Thanksgiving!