3-in-1 Thanksgiving Centerpiece

I demonstrated how to make this centerpiece on USA Network’s “Before & After’noon Movies,” but the one I did for television was more difficult than the one shown here (we had airtime to fill up). Instead of making individual arrangements, I just bought pre-potted plants and put them in terra cotta pots. So it literally takes 10 minutes to put this together. Everyone will marvel at your ingenuity, and thank you for the leftovers.

What you’ll need:

A basket with a big ribbon
Potted plants/flowers
Terra cotta pots
Food containers
A cloth napkin or piece of material

Line the bottom of the basket with plastic food containers (the inexpensive, disposable ones), and only go halfway up the basket. You will want to use containers of different sizes to fill up the bottom. Take your basket to the supermarket so you know for sure that the containers fit. You may feel self-conscioius holding a basket at the supermarket, but no more so than if you had tampons, Preparation H or condoms in your shopping cart. Then cover the containers with a colorful napkin or piece of cloth.

Place each pre-potted plant in a terra cotta pot. Both flowers and herbs work really well. Just make sure that the plants you’ve selected fit into your pots. Don’t waste the time repotting them. Your time is better spent looking great for the dinner party.

Then place the individual pots into the basket, on top of the cloth and the food containers. How many pots fit into your basket will depend of course on the size of your pots and basket. So buy your basket first and take it to the nursery to see how many pots will fit.