My family is getting together in the morning for a pre-Thanksgiving brunch to draw names for Christmas. I was at the super market this afternoon, getting fruit and nuts for a cornucopia, when I came across a display of free gourds. I picked out six and worked them into the arrangement below. Very simple. I used a saw-tooth knife to cut a slit in the rind of each gourd to hold the place card. The card itself is a snippet from an illustration I found on the Web. The leaves with the gourds are left overs from an old fall arrangement. So it cost me nothing except the paper and ink for the cards.

Very nicely put together, Larry!
Great idea. Free gourds. Hmmmmmm. . .

I hope y'all have a wonderful gathering.

Larry these are so creative! I love this idea that will make your table all the more inviting.

May have to do this for my Thanksgiving table so adorable.

Thanks, all! Brunch went very well. We had a salad of mixed fruit, ham pie, hash browns, and cinnamon-pecan rolls. For dessert, Wilma made Russian Creme with raspberry sauce and I decorated some sugar cookies with a turkey stencil I made from a clip art image.

Wilma was in charge of the name drawing. She took small gift tags, wrote a name on each, folded it in half, and stuck it in a big pine cone. We had to do several rounds of drawings, because people kept drawing their own names.

Great ideas Larry. The placecards are fantastic. I need to delve into my clip art a little more. I love the free gourds too, our local fruit and vege market had big crates full that were free. I got quite a few of them to dry and paint for snowmen next year. Has anyone dried gourds a quick way?

Many thanks, Robin!

Sounds like you all had a very fun day! I love it when people go the extra mile to make parties, even small family ones, special!

Late to the party here but your table is/was beautiful Larry and the menu sounds yummy

This is not exactly like yours but inspired by the idea. I found these pumpkins and leaves at WM today and packs of place cards. They are made to stand with the leaves at the bottom, but I will flip them to insert the edge in the pumpkins!

Picture might help!

Thanks, Becky and Vicki!

Sheila! Those pumpkins look even better than the gourds. Great idea!

Very nice Sheila - be sure to show us a picture of your table

Well since there won't be much else on the tables, here is the colors and place card. I printed names on a parchment paper and cut out with the fancy edge sissors.

Very pretty, Sheila. I love fall colors.

Very nice

Great ideas!