friendsgiving

Eric and I have been hosting a Thanksgiving dinner for our friends for the past few years. We like to call it our "friendsgiving". As soon as fall rolls around (technically not fall yet, but don't you always think fall when you think of September?), I start thinking about it, getting excited about it, planning for it. This year it started a little earlier than most thanks to my friend Karen. She emailed me this photo that she found on Everything Fab:

Isn't it lovely? I want to be there. Look at those tomatoes! I want to grab one and take a big bite out of it. I never thought I would ever want to do that - just a few years ago I hated tomatoes. They brought back bad memories of my aunt forcing me and my sister to eat mushy tomato and cheese sandwiches when I was younger. I still can't eat a tomato and cheese sandwich but I do love tomatoes. Okay, back to the picture. That heirloom tomato centerpiece is so beautiful in the way that ugly heirloom tomatoes are beautiful. Everything feels so rustic and simple and effortless. Karen (who always helps me plan/set up for the dinner) thought we could do something similar to this but with apples. I think gourds would also be a good option. We have some time left to figure it out.

In the meantime, here are some photos of past Friendsgiving dinners:

See the rectangular candle holder below? I took a piece of yellow construction paper, traced the damask pattern that's on the plates, handcut the pattern, wrapped it around Ikea vases, and voila...a custom candle holder!

I had been using the same black and white damask plates for the past couple of dinners, so I wanted to switch it up. I couldn't afford to buy 14 new plates, so I decided to make large placecards in the shape of my original round plates to dress up the white plates. They had a chocolate brown background with a silhouette of either an Indian or pilgrim with the guest's name below. The most difficult part was finding a good profile image of an Indian/pilgrim online but after that all I did was use a bit of Photoshop and printed it out onto cardstock.

Because I didn't want to spend money on real flowers that year, I decided to test my origami skills. I made about 30-40 red and orange origami lillies. It took me a lot less time than you'd think - I think it only took me an evening? The lillies were then attached to tree branches I found at a park around the corner from my house. Leaves, also from the park, were spray painted gold and spread around the table.

images: eric heidel