Thanksgiving has been celebrated for thousands of years. Its earliest origins come from Ancient Greece. It was celebrated right after the harvest as a way to be thankful for all the abundance they’d received that season.
Thanksgiving is one of the annual holidays we spend with our families. While many people may frown over breaking these family traditions, there’s no reason you can’t change up the way you celebrate this traditional holiday.
So, if you’re looking for ways to celebrate Thanksgiving with a refreshing twist, why not throw a backyard Thanksgiving feast? Create a successful backyard Thanksgiving dinner with these seven tips…
It’s All About How You Set the Table
Since you’re throwing a dinner party, setting an outdoor table is a must. If you don’t own an outdoor wooden table, consider borrowing one from a friend or renting one for a day.
As we’re trying to stay close to nature with our Thanksgiving theme, keep your guests closer to the ground with low tables and seats. Go for a rustic look with everything from furniture to tableware and decor.
Opt for autumn shades when choosing tablecloths and napkins. Stick to harvest motifs for decorations, for example, using a ‘horn of plenty’ as a centerpiece or pumpkin carving candle holders.
Decorating with candles is a great idea since the sun sets faster during autumn. You can enjoy a warm candlelight dinner with your loved ones, but be extra careful about the open flames.
Reasons To Power Up
As it gets dark quickly over Thanksgiving, you’ll need to power up your feast. It’s often difficult to connect the cables to your indoor power outlet though.
Even when you get the connection, there’s always a mess of cables that could cause an accident. This can be particularly dangerous when you have children running around.
Kruger Power provides solutions for your outdoor power needs. Visit krugerpower.com.au to find the right power generator for you. Here are two reasons why you need power for your Thanksgiving feast:
To Keep Your Guests Warm
Even before the sun goes down, it gets pretty cold outdoors during autumn. Your guests will not enjoy the festivities if they’re freezing. Many people are reluctant to come to an outdoor event during the colder months.
Get an outdoor patio heater to keep your guests warm. This will ensure the guests are not chased indoors by the biting cold. Patio heaters are a must if you have a lot of children attending the feast as they’re more likely to catch a cold.
Lights Hold All The Magic
Just imagine the look on your guests’ faces when they walk out into a canopy of lights. Since Thanksgiving feasts run late, good lighting is a must.
Backyard string lights can make even the coldest autumn night look warm. Try decorating the trees and hedges with fairy lights. Another tip is to place citronella tiki torches in dark corners to keep the bugs away.
The focus of a feast is the dinner table, so an overhanging canopy of lights over it will be wonderful. As we mentioned before, placing candles on the table is a great way to create ambiance.
A warm and glowing venue is always more welcoming. Any event can be magical with the right lighting.
Outdoor Autumn Activities
We all know how difficult it is to keep the children entertained during any event. You should prepare some distractions for them, to keep them from getting out of hand.
Kids are not the only ones in need of a distraction though. So, while you prepare dinner, keep your guests busy with some outdoor activities.
Even though Halloween is long gone, you can use pumpkins as a way to keep them busy. A pumpkin carving competition is a great idea to keep both children and adults busy. You can also try pumpkin smashing and apple bobbing.
Other activities include backyard autumn scavenger hunts, pine cone bowling, fall-inspired crafting, backyard bonfires, etc.
Make Use of The Daylight
To prevent your guests from freezing when the sun goes down, consider starting your feast early.
This will cut down your costs on lighting and heating. Celebrating nature is also a lot easier in the sun.
Start your feast in the afternoon and end right before it gets dark. This way, the children won’t be out in the cold for too long and the outdoor activities can be carried out more comfortably.
A Thanksgiving feast involves consuming a lot of heavy food so eating earlier is a healthier option.
Don’t Let It Rain On Your Parade
Fall weather is extremely unpredictable. It might start raining out of the blue, ruining your entire plan.
You can try using a weatherproof canopy, especially over your dinner table. Do this during cloudy weather or if the reports predict rain.
If you’re worried that a weatherproof canopy will be unattractive. Decorate the insides with potted plants and other decorations to make it warm and inviting.
If you can’t weatherproof your feast, always prepare for plan B indoors if the weather takes a bad turn. Make sure you can move the dinner table indoors immediately.
Conclusion
A backyard feast might be just the thing you’re looking for to spruce up your Thanksgiving this year. It’ll give you a chance to transport back in time to a simpler time, surrounded by nature.
Make this celebration of nature more memorable under the open sky. Enjoy the tranquillity of nature with your loved ones this Thanksgiving!
