How to Decorate Beautifully with Flowers for Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is drawing near, and whether you’re hosting dinner on the big day at your home, or gathering everyone for a leftovers party the next day, or just decorating your nest for the season, using flowers to create a magical environment is an joyous rite of the Thanksgiving season. We have long relied on the same wonderfully talented floral artist to bring the Thanksgiving joy to our home. Now, our go-to luxury floral artist is sharing her expert tips and advice on how to best decorate your home and tabletop with fresh and dried flowers and other botanicals this Thanksgiving. 

how to decorate beautifully with flowers for thanksgiving

With the holiday approaching, if you’re hosting Thanksgiving dinner at your home this year (and we are), you’ve got a lot of items on your to-do list. Food, drinks, seating, music – it’s the Super Bowl of dinner parties, and it’s go time.

One of the areas that we used to obsess and worry over is floral arrangements. We love filling the house with flowers for Thanksgiving – but we have no time (and no skill) to attempt doing an arrangement on our own.

Enter the professional floral artists, who can transform even the most humble space into an enchanted autumn bower fit for an important meal. We asked the luxury floral artist we rely on every year for her expert tips on how to decorate with fresh and dried flowers and other botanicals for Thanksgiving this year. Here’s what she had to say.

our expert florist

Miko Akasaka is the creative and talented artist we turn to for floral arrangements for all kinds of events. She has a wonderful eye and a ready sense of humor, and we could think of no better person to explain how to make Thanksgiving lush and festive in any kind of setting.

expert advice on how to decorate for Thanksgiving with beautiful flowers

1. What are your overall recommendations on decorating with flowers for Thanksgiving?

Taking advantage of what’s in season in very important – as well as being open to using other natural elements such as mini pumpkins, apples, or even the leaves that made a mess in your porch. Don’t be afraid of using bold colors like burgundy or bright orange- this is the season to do so!  As for the types of vessels – Thanksgiving is all about treasuring your home, family and your own space.  I always love the idea of using a piece that is already familiar to the space you live in. A beautiful piece of pottery that you always keep on your mantle, or even an old cigar box you’ve used to keep your pencils in can be used for the flowers!

2. What’s the most creative arrangement you have ever done for Thanksgiving?

I was asked to create an arrangement of autumnal flowers that went from one end of the very long table to the other end. The hostess wanted to create a mini-landscape, so I even incorporated live plants, stones and moss to achieve the feel.  Then we curved out mini-pumpkins to place tea lights inside. It was very dreamy!

3. What flowers and vases would be good to create distinctly different moods for the Thanksgiving celebration?

Here are 5 different takes on Thanksgiving arrangements – all tailored to your decor and taste, and all lovely ways to celebrate the harvest:

a. Glamorous and formal:

A spectacular formal setting is perfect for an arrangement of garden roses, crème orchids, French tulips from Holland, grapes and bleeding hearts. For this occasion, we utilized the home’s candelabras as vessels for the flowers. This is one of my favorites, because the flowers felt very much part of the interior, instead of something foreign to the space. Silver vases always add to the glamorous look, too.

b. Rustic:

For a completely different mood – maybe a farmhouse Thanksgiving, or a more casual gathering – I used dahlias, kale, grapes, mums, apples, and bittersweet inside of a carved-out gourd. You can use a wooden or vintage cigar box for a vessel, or you can even skip the vase, since the bittersweet can be the base and the loose blossoms (with watering tubes on them) can be placed in between. Finally, you light some candles and you’re ready to go!

c. Romantic:

If what you have in mind is a Thanksgiving that is soft, romantic and ethereal, this arrangement of white pumpkins, Pee Gee hydrangeas, and white ornamental kale sets a lovely mood. Since a lot of the autumnal flowers can be quite rustic, it’s fun to create the contrast with a gold urn or something fancy. White pumpkins are very “in” this year– they will give a very sophisticated look to the arrangement, without coming across as too rustic.

d. Modern:

If your home decor is minimalist and contemporary, your take on Thanksgiving is probably going to be very modern, too. Here, I use Azima orchids, Japanese lanterns and bittersweet. These branchy orchids are so great because you can just cluster them together and they look wonderful! A simple vase with smaller mouth will be perfect to hug all the orchids and create a dramatic effect.

e. Classic French:

Finally, if you want to set a mood that feels European and elegant, you could use Garden roses, Fritillaria, bittersweet, and apples. To capture this effect, the container you use should be very traditional, and can have lots of personality.

4. Do you use bird feathers, branches and other unusual elements for your Thanksgiving arrangements?

I love incorporating everything in nature into our floral arrangements. For example, I remember once walking on a trail in Pennsylvania, where I found lots of Osage oranges and decided to pick them. We ended up incorporating them into an arrangement, and it added lots of life to them!

5. Any parting advice for a host or hostess having their home decorated with flowers for Thanksgiving?

I feel it’s very important to incorporate what you already own. You want it to seem like your home is always decorated with lots of flowers and that you are making everything just a bit more special for Thanksgiving.  You can achieve the look by bringing in the pieces that already belong to the house.

6. We love it. We’re in! Tell us about your shop.

Seasons on the Hudson, located at 45 Main Street in Irvington, New York in Westchester County, is renowned for its exquisite flowers and beautiful wedding and special event decor. We are very active on Instagram and we are about to launch a new website, as well.  You can reach out to us via email at miko@seasonsflowersnyc.com. And you can see more of our work on our website: www.Seasonsflowersnyc.com.

how to decorate beautifully with flowers for thanksgiving

You’ve got the best tips, straight from the floral artist herself. Happy Thanksgiving! We hope it’s filled with lovely blooms.

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