How to Set a Thanksgiving Table

The plate. Centered in the setting, about an inch in from the edge. On a charger if you have them — the charger stays put when the dinner plate is cleared, which keeps the table from looking half-dismantled between courses.

Forks, left. Tines up. If there is a salad or starter course, that fork goes outside the dinner fork, because you work from the outside in.

Knife, right, blade turned toward the plate. The blade-inward convention is old and practical — an outward blade points at the neighboring guest.

Spoon, right of the knife. One spoon covers most holiday meals. Dessert cutlery is better brought out with dessert than laid across the top, where it gets in the way for two hours.

Glasses, upper right. Water directly above the knife tip, wine to its right and a little lower. Keeping glasses above and right leaves the left side of each setting clear for elbows and the bread plate.

Napkin. On the plate is the simplest and looks intentional. To the left of the forks is equally correct. Folded the same way at every setting — consistency matters far more than cleverness.

This is the number that decides whether twelve people fit or whether eleven of them are uncomfortable.

Divide the usable perimeter of your table by 24 and that is your comfortable capacity. A standard six-foot rectangular table seats six comfortably down the sides and two at the ends — eight. Getting to twelve means a second table, borrowed leaves, or accepting 20 inches each.

Also allow about 24 inches behind each chair for people to get in and out. A table that seats twelve in a room that only lets six of them stand up is not seating twelve.

An 18-inch platter needs an 18-inch clear space, and it needs to be reachable by whoever is serving. Work this out before the cutlery goes down, not after.

On a long table, the platter usually wants to be at one end, near whoever carves, rather than the middle. That also keeps the center free for the decor and means the platter is not being passed the length of the table.

If you are serving buffet style — which we would recommend above about eight guests — the platter never comes to the table at all, and this problem disappears along with several others.

Dessert cutlery laid across the top. Formally correct, practically a nuisance for two hours. Bring it with dessert.

Bread plates, unless the table is genuinely spacious. They are the first casualty when space is tight, and rolls sit perfectly well on the dinner plate.

Place cards at a family table. Everybody sits where they always sit. Place cards earn their place when you have guests who do not know each other and you are deliberately mixing them.

More than two glasses per setting. Water and one wine glass. Anything more and the upper right corner of each setting becomes an obstacle course.

A separate children’s table is not a demotion if it is framed properly. It is usually more fun for them and considerably easier for everyone else.

If they are at the main table, set them with fewer pieces — plate, one fork, a cup rather than a stemmed glass — and seat them where a spill will not reach the tablecloth center. And this is one more reason the candles on the table should be flameless.

Lay the whole table the evening before. Then sit down in one of the chairs and check two things: that you can see the person opposite over the decor, and that you can reach your glass without moving anything.

Both problems are two minutes to fix at nine at night and much harder at five the next afternoon. The full layering method is in our tablescape guide.