Thanksgiving centerpieces can be fun, edible

By Paula Rath
Advertiser Staff Writer

Setting a festive table can be just as important in making Thanksgiving a fun and satisfying affair. And creating the perfect centerpiece can be as easy as pumpkin pie. We asked some talented visual merchandisers (the people who make storefront windows look so inviting) for their ideas. And we came up with a few of our own. And don't worry, most of the materials needed can be found at your neighborhood supermarket.

Heidi Rogers, store merchandising manager for The Gap in Ala Moana, hollowed out a pumpkin and put a candle inside for her table this year. She also suggested putting a piece of floral foam inside a pumpkin and arranging flowers inside such as dark red chrysanthemums.

Rogers also recommended buying a piece of tulle (available in craft supply and fabric stores), bunching it up and tossing a few flowers into the crevices.

A large orange, yellow or red pillar candle or a few votive candles will complete the look.

Cory Ho, of Flora-Dec, suggested simply placing squashes down the middle of the table.

A recent trip to the supermarket was an inspiration. There were twelve varieties of squash, each a different shape and color combination. And the centerpiece doesn't have to go to waste. When Thanksgiving dinner is pau, squashes can be used to make great soups.

Ho said he uses anything natural "with a color and shape that represents the harvest." Wheat stalks or oak branches make beautiful beds for candles.

One year, he even broke several baguettes of French bread and placed them down the middle of the table.

Free-lance stylist Mokai Chang, who works with high-end retailers such as Chanel and Dior, suggested buying baby pumpkin pies at the supermarket or bakery and cutting pukas in them just big enough for votive candles.

For a Hawai'i touch, Chang said, a cigar flower lei spread out on the table with fruit or candles inside would make a simple centerpiece. He prefers pears and pumpkins and scented candles for added fun.

Doug Jago, visual presentation manager for Neiman Marcus, also is going natural this year. He's using clear glass cylinders and bowls in various shapes and placing cranberries and nuts in them. Although he is limiting each cylinder to a specific item, he said, layering food inside each vessel will also work.

Another inexpensive idea from Jago: cut or drill a puka in an apple and insert an orchid. The juice from the apple will keep the orchid fresh for a week. Red apples with purple orchids and green apples with green orchids are winning combinations.

Jago once did autumn wedding centerpieces with white eggplants and summer squashes. The next day the guests cooked the vegetables into a soup.

Gaye Glaser of Kahala, a creative hostess, is using miniature pumpkins on her table this year. She finds real ones at the supermarket and faux ones at Ben Franklin. On another table, she has a basket full of wood shavings and raffia surrounded with red, orange and yellow candles and miniature dried corn.

Here are a few additional ideas:

• Buy a styrofoam wreath and place autumn-colored blooms such as sunflowers, dahlias or chrysanthemums around it. Fewer than a dozen flowers will be needed.
• Fill a tiny terra-cotta flowerpot with soil and place a short-stemmed flower in it. Place one in front of each guests' plate.
• Arrange flowers in a wide-bottomed glass jar and lower it into a paper bag. (Even a small brown grocery bag can be effective. For fun, let the keiki stamp the bags with holiday designs.) Fold the top of the bag down to create interesting shapes.
• Frozen grapes take on a frosty glow when placed in a glass bowl.
• In addition to cranberries, apples and squashes, pomegranates, crabapples and persimmons are beautiful, festive fruits.
• A big basket of shiny red apples may be the simplest centerpiece of all.