Thanksgiving Flower Arrangements

Thanksgiving is a uniquely American holiday based on the history of the settling of the country in the 17th century. Though our modern celebration of Thanksgiving has very little to do with the actual history of the country, it has become a favorite holiday for many Americans. Thanksgiving is the beginning of the holiday season that stretches from late November through the beginning of January and the new year.

Today’s Thanksgiving celebration has its roots in the Civil War, when President Lincoln declared a national day of thanks, in part to cool the tempers of his electorate. Since then, Thanksgiving has become a time of celebrating the settlement of our country by the Pilgrims and a time to stuff ourselves with turkey and watch sports.

Thanksgiving is a big time for decoration, crafting, and entertaining. That adds up to a big event for florists and people who want to design floral arrangements and display flowers in their home. Here are some Thanksgiving flower arrangements and ideas to help get your home into the Thanksgiving spirit.

Thanksgiving Flower Colors

Because Thanksgiving is in late November, just as the leaves are falling and fall is in full swing, Thanksgiving colors are traditionally the colors of fall. That means oranges, browns, and earthy tones of red, yellow, and even blacks trimmed with white  or white trimmed by black. The black and white motif comes from the Puritanical garb worn by the Pilgrims.

Flowers in good Thanksgiving colors include:

• roses
• miniature roses
• lilies
• sunflowers
• orchids in fall colors like yellow

Thanksgiving Floral Ideas

You can make an easy and inexpensive Thanksgiving centerpiece floral arrangement that, with a little alteration, will transition perfectly into a winter or even Christmas centerpiece.

A traditional fall arrangement includes fall colors of red, orange, brown, and earthy earthy autumn colors. Mimic the colors of changing leaves and you can’t go wrong with your Thanksgiving centerpiece.

The secret to making a Thanksgiving centerpiece that works equally well for Christmas is in your choice of greens. The week of Thanksgiving, arrange your Thanksgiving centerpiece with evergreens for greenery and a little bit of of cedar wood and trimmings–cedar lasts forever and smells beautiful. Decorate your centerpiece for Thanksgiving with lots of fall flowers and dry wheat stalks.

Around December 1st, you can take off the Thanksgiving flowers, the wheat, and any other fall leaves you have on the centerpiece, and simply replace them with bright red flowers, perfect for Christmas. Add a few Christmas ornaments, a golden or sparkling silver Christmas bow, and your Thanksgiving centerpiece will transition perfectly into Christmas.

If you make your Thanksgiving centerpiece floral arrangement in a long rectangular shape, it is perfect for a long table. We all know how long our tables can get on Thanksgiving, when family and friends show up out of the blue expecting Thanksgiving dinner. You could also make the centerpiece in a small round version for a smaller or round table.

The rustic look is another good fit for Thanksgiving, and is easy enough to put together. The idea behind a rustic country floral design for Thanksgiving is to use lots of wildflowers and homemade crafts to put together the perfect Thanksgiving/fall arrangement. Sunflowers are good Thanksgiving flowers for rustic arrangements because of their rich autumn color, their country appeal, and how well they last in an arrangement. With proper care, an arrangement built mainly of sunflowers could last as long as two weeks.

Thanksgiving Flowers and Food

For most people, Thanksgiving is all about food. Combining beautiful Thanksgiving flowers with food is a wonderful gift to start the holiday season. If you’re planning on making floral arrangements or gifts of flowers to friends for Thanksgiving, go one step further and throw in some baked goods or other food items for a unique and delicious gift.

Consider putting together a display of inexpensive fall-colored roses and combining it with all the ingredients necessary to bake cookies or brownies. You could combine a bag of dry ingredients pre-mixed (flour, baking soda, salt, sugar, chocolate chips, rolled oats) with a recipe drawn in calligraphy and neatly wrapped with a pretty fall colored bow and your rose bouquet for a very thoughtful and (eventually) delicious Thanksgiving floral gift.

Or make a batch of pumpkin bars, and wrap them individually or in small groups with a fall colored single stem flower like a dark red lily or orange rose. Here’s a quick pumpkin bar recipe that will impress your friends, and the flower it is presented with can be displayed as part of their Thanksgiving decorations:

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 15-ounce can pumpkin
• 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Icing:
• 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Using an electric mixer combine the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin until it is light in texture. Stir together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. Add all of your  dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix at low speed until it is combined and the batter is perfectly smooth. Spread this batter into a 13 x 10-inch baking pan. Bake the bars for 30 minutes. Cut them into bars of any shape and size you prefer.
3. To make your pumpkin bar icing, mix cream cheese and butter in a bowl until they are smooth. Add in your sugar and mix it all at a low speed until it is combined. Stir in vanilla and mix the whole icing batch again. Spread the icing on fully cooled pumpkin bars.

Whatever kind of floral arrangement or Thanksgiving decoration you make, just stick to traditional Thanksgiving colors and you’ll probably hit the mark. Remember that Thanksgiving is about family, friends, and food, and tailor your floral arrangements and gifts of flowers accordingly.