14 Decor, Food, and Activity Ideas for Thanksgiving Events

For the New York Public Library's Library Lions event in 2008, guests passed through archways of autumn leaves en route to the benefit's cocktail space.

In Los Angeles in October, Weight Watchers hosted a dinner offering healthy fare from Katsuya chef Jennie Trinh, which guests ate at a long wooden table accented by pumpkins and fall foliage.

An interactive service project can encourage guests to honor the spirit of gratitude surrounding Thanksgiving—and send an inspiring corporate message. In 2013, more than 10,000 volunteers attended a Target inauguration event where they assembled 100,000 personal care kits in five hours. The kits were bound for troops overseas through Operation Gratitude.

At BizBash's IdeaFest Chicago last year, Jewell Events Catering founder George Jewell brought 200 mini pumpkins from his own Michigan farm to create a special catering station where guests could get theirs filled with chipotle mashed potatoes with braised short ribs, kale salad, or pumpkin-spice mousse.

Lacoste debuted its fall collection in 2007 with a New York runway show inspired by French films of the 1970s. The concept inspired a printed backdrop and silk leaves covering the runway.

When Target debuted its so-called "shoppable film" called Falling for You at Los Angeles's SLS Hotel in 2012, guests dined on a four-course meal from the Bazaar's José Andrés at long tables decked with vessels each containing a monochrome arrangement in fall colors for an ombre-like look.

The Bloor Street Entertains fund-raiser for the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research in 2008 featured wheat sheaves on tabletops at Roots Canada.

The Horticultural Society of New York’s Flowers & Design fund-raiser in 2007 had decor inspired by all four season. A fall-like tabletop embraced a harvest theme, with bronze casts of farmer Amy Goldman’s heirloom pumpkins, gourds, and squash.

For a 125th anniversary celebration for Hearst in San Francisco in 2012, Van Wyck & Van Wyck created dramatic arrangements that included towering branches sprouting maple leaves.

As part of New York's Wine & Food Festival in 2012, Whole Foods's activation included a photo op with a backdrop that looked like a scenic tree-lined pathway in a fall foliage wonderland.

The Canadian Opera Company intended to celebrate Cinderella with the silver-painted pumpkins at its 2010 Operanation benefit, but the look works equally well for a luxe fall effect.

At the D.C. Chapter of the International Special Events Society's tabletop design competition in 2010, Edge Floral Event Designers created centerpieces that evoked harvest time with sugared grapes and pears.

For a client-appreciation event hosted by investment firm Financial Harvest in Florida in 2009, producer Encore Creations created a luminaria display from the paper bags at each place setting, where guests jotted things that made them feel thankful.

In November 2004, Reed Smith held its first pre-Thanksgiving feast, an intimate dinner in New York's Altman Building designed to show appreciation for staff and clients. To give the long banquet tables a less corporate feel, planners worked with event designer Keith Pierpont from Pierpont's Blossom Farm and Sal Mastropolo of Theatrical Props to fashion miniature fireplaces that acted as centerpieces.