Ideas for Frugal Thanksgiving Church Banquet

By Linda (Guest Post)

We have one every year. The church provides the turkeys, and everyone is asked to bring their fav side dish. We set the tables with tablecloths and use the pumpkins which are left from Halloween activities (have not been carved) in the center. We ask everyone to bring their own nice table settings or own holiday dishes to eat from, and it fun to see everyone's pretty dishes. That eliminates the need for expensive and wasteful paper goods!

By

perfume and powder

Could a collection be taken up for a turkey, ham, or whatever and the rest be potluck? Most people have a special dish that they like to share with others at the holidays.

By

theseamstress

For your centerpiece or to use as a serving bowl. You could take different size pumpkins cut and hollow them out real well. And on the outside of them slightly carve into the pumpkins outside into a picture on them of turkey or leaves.Do this by placing a piece a paper on the pumpkin with a cartoon type sketch on it of the object. Use push pin to poke the outline of the picture, then remove paper and just slightly carve out the outline of the diagram. This makes a very pretty picture and you can add silk leaves or fall flowers around its bottom base. And serve foods inside them like mashed potatoes, fruit salad, etc. It adds color to your fall thanksgiving theme.Even place your hot corn on the cobs around the base of it on a serving tray. You can also do this same idea with watermelons or cantaloupe. For my daughters shower I cut a watermelon into a baby carriage and put the baby's name on the outside and filled it with chuck type fruits, with all juice drained off.