Having so much time on my hands as a new empty-nester, I often find myself forging through my yard to decorate for the season. Today, I am sharing a new easy and budget-friendly Natural Fall Centerpiece that can transition perfectly into Thanksgiving and even Christmas will little to no changes.

Part of the reason for using a large tray is so that I can easily move the centerpiece to other areas in our home. It would look wonderful on our coffee tables or on our bar in the basement. It would also be divine sitting on our 16-foot island.

Plus, I can easily transition it for Christmas and use it somewhere else…even outdoors!
How I made this Easy and Budget-friendly Natural Fall Centerpiece
Living in Colorado, we are blessed with an array of evergreens and natural elements that are prevalent in fall….pine cones, nuts, apples, feathers, changing leaves, cattails, etc. Bringing the bounty of these elements together was my plan for this centerpiece.

Fortunately, many of my evergreen bushes are becoming overgrown, so taking cuttings from them is a part of my natural pruning process. Additionally, I have four different varieties of pine cones that fall from the trees in our yard.

Not only do I love using so many different natural trimmings from our yard but I also love the fact that it is free! And, organic. And, repurposed. Why not enjoy this God-given beauty indoors, especially once the temperatures start falling?

Believe it or not, this entire centerpiece did not cost me a thing! In these uncertain times, this feels especially good to me!
Because of the sizes of the branches I cut, I needed a large foundation for the centerpiece. The large tray I used is actually a Copper Boot Tray! It is hard to find a tray this large which is why I thought outside of the box!

Last year, I used it to create this Fall Vignette featuring Nuts and Snacks.

To anchor the tray, I used two of my clear glass cylinder vases and filled them up about half-way with pine cones from my front yard. If you don’t have any in your yard, I have sourced several options later in this post.

Next, I just placed the LED faux candles on top of the pine cones. NOTE: I DO NOT recommend using real candles for this application because of the fire hazard!
Through the years, I have acquired a nice collection of the super-large Sugar Pine Cones and love using them for my fall and Christmas decorating. Such great texture! They were placed around the vases first.

For the greenery, I used branches from one of our blue spruce conifer trees and also clippings from our juniper bushes. I placed the larger spruce branches first and then layered in the smaller juniper branches next.

If you do not have access to any or much natural evergreens, I have sourced some lovely faux options below.
Finally, the finishing touch was the pheasant feathers! So warm and cozy for fall. The softness of the feathers really balances out the harder textures.

Bonus Fall Vignette!
I ended up cutting more evergreen branches that I needed for the centerpiece, so I could not resist using them over on my antique console.

For Christmas, I will simply change out the pumpkins with Christmas ornaments. Easy peasy!


For more fall centerpiece ideas and to see how I have used a variety of pine cones in my fall and holiday decor, check out these posts…
Pine Cone Themed Christmas Table Settings
Pine Cone Themed Christmas Home Tour
Simple Woodland and Pine Cone Christmas Table Setting
Fall Centerpiece with Green Apples

Hopefully, you have enjoyed seeing the details of this Easy and Budget-friendly Natural Fall Centerpiece. One of the best things about this centerpiece is that it will also work beautifully for Thanksgiving but it can also be easily transitioned to Christmas just by adding in a few Christmas ornaments. What do you think?!



So elegant. Thank you for sharing.
And, so inexpensive, to boot!! Thank you for your kind words. XO
I think your tray for decorating is perfect! Look at the calendar for all of the festive occasions. Then take another look at the calendar for family occasions. TRAYS of any size can always be used for decorating. Your tray is beautiful and filled with inexpensive items for the season.
Thank you so much for your kind words and comments. Trays are so perfect for creating centerpieces and other vignettes. XO