16 Budget-Friendly Ways To Decorate For Thanksgiving Celebrations

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Whether you're hosting the perfect Thanksgiving this year or just having fun decorating your house for the holidays, DIYing your own Thanksgiving decor is an easy way to save some money. Add some style to your Thanksgiving dinner, welcome guests with unique entryway decor, and decorate the walls of your gathering space with these fun crafts. These budget-friendly DIYs will make your home feel cozy and warm all through fall. 

From creating autumnal centerpieces for your Thanksgiving table to hanging homemade citrus garlands around your space, these ideas are super simple to make, whether you're a beginner or an expert. Best of all, many of these decor pieces are completely free — what's better than that? Grab some gourds and a few foraged fall leaves, and you'll have reusable Thanksgiving decorations in no time.

One easy way to bring free seasonal decor into your home is by foraging for wild materials. Make an arrangement using fall leaves, pine branches, pinecones, and fresh or dried flowers. If you don't have a space near you to forage from, chain stores like Trader Joe's or Aldi often offer inexpensive seasonal flowers you can use to create a pretty tabletop centerpiece. Mums, dahlias, sunflowers, and eucalyptus are autumnal florals you might find in your area.

Making your own Thanksgiving garland doesn't require more than a few citrus slices. Thinly slice up a few oranges and dry them in the oven for three to four hours at 200 degrees Fahrenheit. Then, grab a needle and some string, and thread the string through the pith of each orange slice. Keep going until your garland is as long as you want it. You can intersperse pinecones, ribbons, or even other types of citrus, too. At the end of the season, use the dried oranges for a simmer pot to refresh your home with a festive scent.

The most creative pumpkin carving ideas go beyond just making jack-o-lanterns. In fact, you can turn a medium-sized pumpkin into a Thanksgiving planter that's perfect for your porch or dinner table. Cut out the top of a pumpkin and scoop out the insides. Then, drop a potted arrangement into the carved pumpkin. If your flowers don't disguise the container, add moss to cover any parts that are still visible. Don't shy away from unusual pumpkin varieties, either — warty or heirloom pumpkins are also fun to work with and display.

Sprucing up your tablescape for the holidays doesn't have to be expensive — all you need is a little ribbon. Look for smooth ribbon like satin or velvet so that it will be soft and easy to adjust. Simply tie the ribbon in a bow around a cloth napkin, and voila — Thanksgiving-themed decor. Opt for colors like orange, brown, yellow, or red to make it feel more seasonal, and consider tying in a bit of wheatgrass or a fall flower to add to the harvest theme.

If you already have cloth napkins on hand, set a budget-friendly Thanksgiving table with holiday napkin folds.. Make your napkins look like little turkeys by folding them into a fan shape and running one end through a napkin ring so they stand up like turkey feathers. Or, turn your napkins into miniature pumpkins by placing a napkin ring in the center and folding the sides of the napkin into it, making a little ball. 

Foraged wreaths are fun and customizable, and they give you something to do with all the fallen leaves that grace your backyard during fall. Simply bend branches or bundles of leaves to form a circle, tying them together as you go. Once the base of your wreath is complete, stick leaves, dried flowers, and berries into the arrangement. You can also add pinecones, dried orange slices, cinnamon sticks, or even attach miniature gourds to the display.

Want to fancy up your plain pillar candles for the holidays? Try painting them yourself — not with acrylic paint, but with melted crayons. You can use a hairdryer or microwave to carefully melt down colored crayons of your choice, and use them to paint small designs directly onto the sides of your pillar candles. Try adding dots or stripes in autumnal colors, little leaves or berries, or tiny pumpkins for a cute Thanksgiving pattern.

These adorable little centerpieces are perfect for both Halloween and Thanksgiving. All you need is a ball of yarn and a pool noodle cut to size, or a foam ball with a hole in the center. Wrap the yarn around the piece of pool noodle or foam so that it loops through the center, and continue winding it around the base until you have a fluffy pumpkin that's as wide as you want it. Finish it off with a small stick, cinnamon stick, or a bit of brown yarn out the top. 

No candle holder? No problem. Make an easy display for your table, mantel, or entryway by carving out miniature pumpkins and gourds. Carve out a space that's just deep and wide enough for a single candle, and make sure it's flat on the bottom so the candle sits evenly. Larger gourds can hold pillar candles, while smaller ones can be used for taper candles or tealights. You can also use a battery-powered option, like Amagic's LED Tealights, for a longer-lasting gourd arrangement.

Miniature wreaths are such a sweet way to decorate your table, and they're also another idea that will help make your candles look more seasonal. Try foraging materials like pine branches, berries, tiny flowers, or dried leaves to make a little wreath just large enough to wrap around the base of your candles. These wreaths look beautiful on a candelabra or when placed around the base of a large pillar candle. It's best to use them with a flameless option, like Homemory's LED Pillar Candles, for fire safety.

What's easier than a garland made out of pinecones? They're one of the most abundant fall foraging items you'll find on the ground. Dry them in a 200-degree oven for a couple of hours, allow them to cool, then thread a needle with string or ribbon and push it through the tops of your pinecones. You can also buy some, like this 24-Piece Pinecone Set with Ropes, for under $10. You could even decorate the pinecones themselves by painting them, adding a bit of glitter, or using artificial snow.

Use a festive base, like RoyHoo's Mini Artificial Pumpkins, to create adorable little place cards for all of your Thanksgiving guests. You can leave the pumpkins orange or paint them a metallic hue. Then, write each guest's name on a piece of cardstock, and cut a slit in the pumpkin to hold it up. For an even simpler variation, write each guest's name on a real mini pumpkin with dry-erase markers, and put them next to each place setting. The dry-erase markers can be removed once the holiday is over, so you can reuse them the following year. 

Table lanterns are a fun way to add some ambient lighting to your Thanksgiving dinner table. You could even keep them on your coffee table, mantel, or porch throughout the fall season. Grab an old Mason jar with a lid and some pressed flowers or leaves (thin fabric ones work too!). Mod Podge the leaves onto the outside of your Mason jar so that they cover the glass, but still allow light to peek through. Then, put a battery-powered LED candle or string lights inside the jar and screw the lid back on.

Create a darling Thanksgiving tablecloth or runner by upcycling an old plain one (thrifted ones work, too). You can use a kit like Shuttle Art's Fabric Paint to make a fun fall design right on the fabric. If you're not confident in your painting skills, try gathering up leaves of different shapes and tracing them onto the fabric with a pencil, then simply filling in the outlines with different colors. You could also add a colorful border around the edges of the cloth for a simple design.

What's more representative of Thanksgiving than pumpkin pie? Make yourself a fall pie garland out of paper or felt — a fun craft to do on your own or with kids. Cut a light brown piece of paper or felt into a triangle to form the crust, then top it with a slightly smaller orange piece (or dark brown triangle, if you're aiming for pecan pie). Add a circle of white fabric or a pom pom to make whipped cream, and string your pie slices together to form a garland. Get creative and add your other favorite flavors, like apple pie. Or, mix up the shapes and add things like mugs of cider or pumpkin muffins to your pattern.

Grab some air-dry clay in the color of your choice and a few fall leaves with fun shapes. Flatten the clay out until it's even, and cut out circles with the rim of a drinking glass. Press the leaves into the clay, then remove them to create a pretty silhouette. You can paint over the leaves for a pop of color, or leave them as-is so the silhouette stands out. Allow the clay to dry, and you've got some easy yet impressive custom fall coasters.