Table Ideas for Thanksgiving!

I have always loved to help my kids do something special with the table for Thanksgiving. Here are some ideas of things I have done in the past:

1. Place mats: I love to do place mats with brown paper bags. You can make turkeys on it, by using your kids hand. Paint each finger a different color. Then put it on your place mat and make a print of it. When it dries you can use markers, or something to draw a face and make a turkey. I also love to dress my kids like a pilgrim or Indian and put their picture on it. After everything is dry and glued on then wad it into a ball. Then smooth out and it looks like leather. Ink the edges with a stamp. Then laminate. Eat with it on Thanksgiving Day!

Don't forget the Date, and Name of your kid! This will always be a great memory for you.

2. Name Cards: It is so easy to print name cards for all of your guests (or grandmas guests) for Thanksgiving dinner. Then give each of your children a stack and let them decorate around the name. It will keep them busy while you need a break!

3. Individual Centerpieces: Sometimes we decide to make each person a little take home treat or thought. One idea is taking a sugar cone and steaming the end of it with a boiling pan of water, and turning it so it curves up like a cornucopia. When it dries you fill it with Runt candy, candy corns, etc. Put one at every persons seat.

4. I have also done this mix a few times:

Thanksgiving Blessing Mix

Bugles: Shaped like a cornucopia or Horn of Plenty, a symbol of our nation's abundance.
Pretzels: Arms folded in prayer, a freedom sought by those who founded our country.
Candy corn: Sacrifices of the Pilgrims' first winter. Food was so scarce that settlers survived on just a few kernels of corn a day.
Nuts or seeds: Promise of a a future harvest, one we will reap only if seeds are planted and tended with diligence.
Dried fruits: Harvest gifts of our bountiful land.
M&Ms: Memories of those who came before us to guide us to a blessed future.
Hershey's Kiss: The love of family and friends that sweetens our lives.

I put them in a bag and then printed up a cute card with the blessing above. It took a little bit of time. If you don't have time, you can have it already done for you by going to this site:

http://organizedchristmas.com/thanksgiving-blessing-mix

5. Thanksgiving Turkeys: I also love taking big pine cones, sticking or gluing feathers in the bigger side, then winding a pipe cleaner like a snail for half of the pipe cleaner and sticking that into the smaller end of the pine cone. Glue a small eye on that and you have a turkey center piece.

6. Other Center Piece Ideas: Indian homemade stuff, pilgrim homemade stuff, Indian corn, Drum, etc.

It doesn't matter what you do, but I do think it makes Thanksgiving special and it gets your kids to do an activity, and it will make them proud of Thanksgiving Day.