Thanksgiving is a welcoming holiday where we can celebrate the spirit of giving together as a family. While we often decorate indoors for the holiday, the outdoors is often overlooked, particularly in the colder north. Yet creating an attractive front entryway is the best way to welcome friends and family; the guests will know by the beautiful garden and warm lights that this is just the place they should be for the season.
Add Plants Near the Front Door
Flowering kale, colorful chrysanthemums, and decorative cabbage placed in baskets around the entry and walkway provide color and interest. Choose a color theme such as white or purple to make the plantings look unified.
Add Harvest Squash
Pumpkins and gourds are the classic decoration for fall. Adding creative pumpkins and gourds such as Cinderella Pumpkins or white pumpkins can make the patio standout in a creative way from the typical orange pumpkins. Carve pumpkins with leaf and flower designs instead of the scary designs seen at Halloween or stack them in pumpkin towers for a creative look.
Fill Window Boxes
Replace summer flowering annuals in window boxes with colorful mums, harvest squash, grasses, and fall items that feature the season. Be sure to fill the window boxes with a little extra soil to lift any pumpkins or squash you place up to viewing level.
Frame the Front Door
Wrap a grapevine garland with orange bittersweet, natural pine cones, and grasses and carefully secure the garland around the front door, emphasizing it with bold color. This can also be accomplished with cornstalks.
Feature the Porch
Extend the fall decorations all along the front porch, tossing pillows and blankets around the seating areas. Friends can sit outside with hot cocoa with a nip in the air or simply enjoy the warm welcoming design.
Add Lighting
Place lanterns or candles all along the steps and walkway on Thanksgiving evening, welcoming friends and neighbors alike. Wrap posts and shrubs with twinkle lights – not enough to say it is Christmas – but just enough to add warmth. Get a soft outdoor spotlight for the front entrance.
Create Sparkle
Glam up your front entrance. Spray glitter on pumpkins, mums, and grasses decorating the front garden so that it glitters in the feature lights.
Wreath that Door
A seasonal wreath is a fantastic topper to any front garden decorating scheme – it adds that final touch to the front patio to welcome friends and neighbors alike. Make a wreath out of rope, grapevine, apples, or purchase a wreath to match your color theme.
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