Turkey for Me, Turkey for You: A DIY Leftover Station
November is upon us and we are only a few weeks away from Thanksgiving! The past few years, I've loved hosting family at our home. Setting the table, planning the menu, and cooking together is always a fun time.
Surly, one of the best parts of Thanksgiving is the the leftovers! Although I can eat turkey dishes for days on end, there's usually plenty to go around after the big meal. This year, I've set out to create an easy DIY leftover station to make sure guests go home with some of the family favorites.
A huge thank you to Oriental Trading Company for sponsoring this post. Although I was given free products to create this party, all of my opinions and feelings about their products are 100% my own. I only work with brands that I would recommend to others! This post also contains affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something that we have recommended. While clicking these links won't cost you any extra money, they will help us keep this site up and running!
As Adam Sandler sings in his famous Thanksgiving song, "Turkey for me, Turkey for you!" Around this time of year, it's hard to get that song out of my head! With the song as inspiration for the leftover station, the wonderfully talented Alison of Just Add Confetti collaborated with me to create the most adorable printable signs, tags, and lid toppers -- all inspired by Sandler's song lyrics. We had so much fun crafting the sayings together! Collaboration over completion definitely results in more fun and creativity! Head over to her blog to download the set of printables for free!
To start creating the table, I looked to one of my favorite party supply websites, Oriental Trading, to grab some Thanksgiving paper products and decor items. With all of the meal prep you have to do, you don't want to spend a ton of time putting this all together. I started with some brown paper fans and gold patterns paper fans. Paper fans are an easy way to create a quick backdrop amidst all of the holiday hustle and bustle and you can easily attach them to any wall with some painter's tape to avoid damage and make for easy removal.
As you all know, I love shopping around the house, too. I used a wooden crate and some wood slice platters to create varied height and different textures on the table.
Three gold turkey centerpieces from Oriental Trading were a perfect addition to the theme and easy to assemble.
When creating a leftover station, you will need plenty of containers and boxes to send home food with your Thanksgiving guests. I used some leftover kraft paper boxes that I used for our wedding welcome kits and tailgate box lunches. All I needed to do was add a fun square tag from Just Add Confetti.
In addition, I picked up some round aluminum leftover containers from Dollar Tree. They come in 7 inch or 9 inch sizes. I used the 7 inch size and added on another printable. No Dollar Tree nearby? You can order similar tins from Amazon. Don't the sayings just make you want to sing out loud? Maybe that's just me!
Have a guest who would rather take dessert to go? Oriental Trading had the perfect pumpkin pie take home boxes, but they have since been discontinued. You can find another great option, here. Admittedly, I am not sure if a Costco sized slice would fit, but smaller slices will be better for everyone's waist line! Just Add Confetti has a cute add on printable to perfectly fit the boxes.
You can also send guests home with some gold napkins and little packets of festive disposable silverware. If your Thanksgiving is anything like our families, no one wants to do additional dishes for a day or two!
Finally, send each guest home with some after dinner mints packaged up in these adorable burlap favor bags.
With only a few supplies you can send your guest homes with full stomachs and another meal or two to enjoy after a nice turkey-induced nap!
