50 Dollar Fix: Buffet Tables

     

       So in the midst of planning for our lovely potluck, Lotti and I realized we need somewhere to set all the delicious food, like Hank. We wanted to use our normal dining table for people to sit at and our kitchen is too tiny for doing the buffet there. My first thought was to rent a table, because a 8ft table will normally only cost 6 dollars to rent, which isn’t too bad on the bottom line and normally you get to keep it for three days. I called a party rental store near us but they only had an 8ft by 30 inches, which was way too deep for a buffet. We wanted it to be tall and skinny (about 20 inches wide we estimated), like a traditional buffet. Quandary.  Well, as I was anxiously looking around the apartment for some piece of furniture that could double as a buffet (none found), I stumbled upon some relegated wood, Lily and I had bought two summers ago in the a Home Depot frenzy. Relegated wood, as we refer to it, is wood that is leftover from bigger pieces Home Depot cuts for people. And normally its SUPER CHEAP. It’s great for little projects, like these frames.They were just about the right depth, so now the question was how to make them a table. I went and sat in my living room to ponder while watching Martha Stewart. By the way, love the new layout of the show,  its seems so modern! While there, I saw my bookshelves I built this summer. PRESTO! Idea!

I could stack two of the crates on top of each other and form a tall structure for the wood to sit on! So now we had one 4ft table figured out, but we wanted a second one, hmmmmm… As I went into our third room (Lotti’s study, my craft room), I saw Lotti’s keyboard. ON A STAND.

The perfect sized stand to balance another piece of wood. Buffet table born! After craftily covering it with a table cloth, no one was the wiser.

All and all this buffet table cost me nothing, but I bet if you were to do it on your own it wouldn’t cost you more than 50 either. Most people have some odd furniture that could double as the base of a table so all you really need a piece of wood and just look at the reclaimed wood section at your home improvement store for that! Have you ever had to be ingenious with your furniture to get it to meet your needs?

Thankful Tree

       So if you already have a recipe for Turkey or aren’t in charge of it (lucky devils), and are looking for some way to contribute to the Thanksgiving I highly suggest a “thankful tree”. All you need is come construction paper! And in my case, a very crafty friend who can cut out a tree! 

       We had all the leaves cut out before the potluck and while everyone was waiting for more people to show up, we had them write what they were thankful for on the leaves then tape them up! As you can see, they were quite cute. But expect the boys not want to participate, and I think only half of those here actually ended up writing something as we got distracted with food. I loved this activity and can’t wait to do it with my family this Thursday. I think it makes a great idea for a family tradition. You could even do them smaller and keep them each year, to show how your family’s love grows each year!

Here are some close picture, clearly we weren’t that serious! But it was fun nonetheless!

     Does your family have any Thanksgiving traditions? I would love some more to add!