Feng shui your Thanksgiving dinner

Photo: alamedabrad/Flickr

Looking to make this Thanksgiving as stress-free as possible? Or maybe you'd just like some tips on keeping the chaos to a minimum? This Thanksgiving, why not try feng shui to ensure a warm, happy and positive environment for you and your guests. Here are some tips ChicagoHealers.com practitioner Dr. Andie Pearson, DMD on how to use feng shui for the holidays: 

 

Clean and clear: No matter what the occasion, the first step in feng shui is clearing clutter and cleaning the area.

 

Analyze: After you have cleared, cleaned and organized the area where you will be entertaining, you need to decide on themes, purpose, how many people will be invited, who will be there, and what activities and foods will you have. This should help you with the rest of your planning.

 

Color it warm: Plan the decorations with warm relaxing colors. Use goldenrod, earthy greens, tans, amber, deep rich reds or maroons etc. You want a color scheme that will be both relaxing and welcoming. Fall and Thanksgiving colors lend themselves to this very well.

 

Be a traffic cop: Create a good flow of traffic through out your dinner area. If you are having a formal dinner, have that room separate from the rest of the party, allowing the rest of the party area to be designated as the place for social gathering. For a buffet-style Thanksgiving, have an area for the food and a section for drinks. You will also need to have seating scattered about in organized fashion that doesn't block flow of traffic. A Thanksgiving party that is just snacks, appetizers and cocktails has a bit of free flow. You can arrange several areas for food and drinks scattered throughout the room so that people can stroll from place to place and socialize.

 

Go bare: Decorations should be pleasing to the eye but kept to a minimum. Overly large or overwhelming items or too much clutter can create an environment of anxiety. The stimulation will be too much and will make it hard to relax into the party. Flower arrangements on the table or throughout the room should be conservative and moderate to short. Anything big or tall will not allow for conversion across the table. Because people will be visiting and talking, music would be very nice, but it needs to be low and soft so that it doesn't compete with the conversation.