Football fans will love this festive table runner! Whoever you cheer for come football season, this is the perfect way to bring more fun to the party! The role of the 12th man has always been a big part of the excitement of game day.  The first recorded use of the term “twelfth man” was in a magazine published by the University of Minnesota in September, 1900, that referred to “the mysterious influence of the twelfth man on the team”, the fan. Themes and decorations always get everybody in the mood and what’s more fun than a little friendly rivalry?

Each Thanksgiving my childhood friend Kathy and I get together with spouses and family to celebrate all the things we are grateful for. We have a grand time in the kitchen making the traditional turkey, dressing, potatoes and gravy while the rest of the gang is recruited to bring a variety of side dishes and wine. It’s always quite a feast! 

This year our favorite team, the 49ers, are playing the Seahawks on Thanksgiving Day! It goes without saying, we will all “suit up” in our 49er gear for the game (except for Brandon who will be wearing his Viking jersey….) with flags flying and  49er pennant lights strung around the game room. But then we thought, we need to take this to a whole new level. A theme started to take shape. Now it’s pre-game tailgating style appetizers, dinner is scheduled to conclude before the game starts – no flags on this play – and dessert is on the rooster for halftime!

As Kathy and I talked about decorating the Thanksgiving table with something other than fall decor, cornucopia and and candles, our minds went to a sports/fall theme and an equally appropriate tablescape. A football field! After much strategizing, we brought the game plan into perspective and came up with a table runner. Ours will feature the 49ers but you can make it with your teams logos and cheer them on to victory!

It’s a really easy football field table runner but it should get everyone in the mood for football!

Here’s what you will need:

– a hard surface to cut the felt on

-scissors

– a length of green felt (based on the size of your table)

– white grosgrain ribbon

– fabric glue

– numbers for 50 yard line (Craft store)

– your favorite team’s logo (Duck Tape Brand Duct Tape or pennants with Logo)

– small plastic/rubber footballs (Party City)

– small vases for Fall or team color flowers

– wet floral foam ( Craft store) 

– flowers

How to assemble:

Measure the length of your table. Allow enough room for a place setting of dinner wear and glasses at each end of the table. No one wants to dine in the end zone! Back that amount out of the length of the table and you have the length for your runner. Typically 14 inches is wide enough. Our table will be 96 inches long, with 18 inches on each end for a place setting, so our runner is 60 inches long.

Once you have the measurements, cut “the field” out of the green felt. Felt is great because you don’t have to hem it or do any sewing!

Cut 3 -16 inch lengths of white grosgrain ribbon. One for the 50 yard line and the other two for the end zone lines. Next find the center of the piece of felt and that is your 50 yard line.

Glue the back of one of the ribbons and place it on the felt. Wrap the ends around the back side of the felt and glue down the ends.

Measure about 7 inches in from the end of the felt on each end and that is where your end zones will be.

Glue the other two grosgrain ribbons on to each end of the felt, wrapping the ends around the back side of the felt, like you did with the 50 yard line, creating the end zones.

Place a “5-0” on the felt at middle ribbon on both sides of the felt . Voila! Your 50 yard line!

Now it’s time to decorate the end zone. You can do as we did and make it all about your team with their logos in both end zones. That way you can use this runner for all your football theme parties. Or you can be specific to that days game and put your teams logo in one end zone and the opponent in the other end zone. Totally up to you.

We found the 49er logos on duct tape at our local craft store. Duct tape! Who knew? (Makes me think of my brother who always says if duct tape won’t fix it, it can’t be fixed!) Another option could be to use felt pennants with the team logos on them.

While it is very clever to have the logos on duct tape, we ran into a bit of a problem. Duct tape is sticky for a reason…..so when we tried to cut out the logos, the tape stuck to the scissors! We cut the logos out in a square shape and pressed them onto wax paper. Then we cut around the logo, glued the back and pasted them into the end zones. Where there’s a will, there’s a way!

Cut out 6 logos and glue 3 in each end zone. Or if your logo is large from a pennant, just center it in the end zone.

Ta Da! You have a football field table runner and now you can dress it up to fit the occasion. Regular Season or Super Bowl Games!

Since we are combining Thanksgiving and Football, we got small vases (a gift from my girlfriend Amanda’s wedding centerpieces) and placed a piece of wet floral foam in the bottom and used carnations in the 49er red and gold. How convenient that the fall colors just happen to be 49er colors too!

Place a vase of flowers on each side of the 50 yard line (2 per field) and scatter your footballs along the runner. Now all you need is great party food and cocktails! Go Team!

PS ~ Don’t forget to bring a gift for the hostess! Thanks Kathy and Brandon for having the whole gang for Thanksgiving every year! Hopefully next year it won’t be 90 degrees!