Let’s face it: the holidays are stressful enough without having to worry about the smallest details—like how to set up a perfectly arranged holiday buffet. Our design experts have created a fabulous game plan to follow when creating your own Thanksgiving buffet to welcome and dazzle guests with its simple elegance.

8 Tips for Arranging an Amazing Thanksgiving Buffet

Let’s face it: the holidays are stressful enough without having to worry about the smallest details—like how to set up a perfectly arranged holiday buffet. Our design experts have created a fabulous game plan to follow when creating your own Thanksgiving buffet to welcome and dazzle guests with its simple elegance.

1. Start With Stunning One-of-a-Kind Dining Furniture.

The foundation for any holiday buffet or festive spread is the hard-working yet high-end dining furniture in your home. At any holiday gathering, buffets and sideboards can be a terrific way to offer food, beverages, and desserts. You can arrange your buffet and other pieces of furniture as separate serving stations for main courses, desserts, and appetizers to free up extra space at the dining table and keep guests away from the busy kitchen. If you have room for more than one dining table in your home, this show-stopping Mesquite Dining Table would make an impressive resting place for all of your delectable dishes.

2. Location. Location. Location.

Finding the right spot for your main buffet table is key to avoiding a bottleneck of traffic around the turkey and all of the trimmings. Pro tip: we suggest locating your food line away from the kitchen to deter hungry guests from dipping too early into the gravy or dressing. Finding an out-of-the-way spot for your buffet creates a better flow for serving.

3. Save Room for Dessert.

Everyone makes room for that slice of pumpkin pie or one more cookie. Likewise, carve out a space in your home to show off all the pretty desserts and keep guests from getting into the goodies too soon. This can be simple to pull off if you have a double kitchen island, butler’s pantry, or additional sideboard like the Bella Console. Or you can even just set up a temporary spot for the dessert table—we are sure people will find it when it’s time to slice the pies.

4. Make Room at the Bar.

Separate your food and beverages so guests don’t feel like they have to grab everything at once and to ease the serving lines. By having a dedicated place to grab a drink or two, like at this Studded Console, you can offer a refreshing beverage station with all of your holiday faves.

5. Be Strategic in Your Buffet Layout.

A good host guides the gathering, and you’ll need to do the same with your buffet table. Create a clear beginning point on your buffet by setting a stack of dinner plates at one end where you want guests to start. Unless you plan on setting your tables with napkins and silverware, we suggest putting them at the other end of the buffet, so guests are not juggling too many items. Think through how dishes are laid out as well, grouping cold dishes like salads and fresh fruit together, pairing the mashed potatoes next to the gravy, and all the rest. Ensure you have extra serving utensils so guests can quickly and easily serve themselves. One thing we’ve found helpful is having plenty of tongs on hand for selecting items like rolls, green bean bundles, twice-baked potatoes, and any other recipe worth snatching up.

6. Create a Tablescape That’s Insta-Worthy

For Thanksgiving tablescapes, most people think of traditional colors including orange, yellow and tan. While these are beautiful, we dare you to kick it up a notch and consider other color palettes that can work wonderfully for any holiday gathering. We like the knock-out colors found in this tablescape that incorporates warm golds with pops of magenta and pink. And incorporating interesting table linens like these can elevate your style and make your buffet and dining table a knock-out feast for the eyes.

Filling the space on your buffet between your heirloom dishes with a few decorative elements, such as candles or an arrangement that ties in with the table centerpiece for a cohesive look. You don’t have to spend a fortune on making a beautiful buffet centerpiece, sometimes utilizing natural items like pomegranates and branches are...