Thanksgiving Traditions, Crafts, Snacks and More!

I never really paid attention to all the fun and cute Thanksgiving crafts that were out there until I had a child. I always just thought Thanksgiving was about stuffing my face full of too much food, hanging out with family and being thankful for all of my blessings. Don't get me wrong, all three of these traditions are wonderful, but now I've discovered there's even more fun to be had.

While I might not get a chance to try all (or even any) of these ideas this year, I wanted to share with you some of the Thanksgiving crafts, snacks, and generally cute things that I've found. I'll make my best effort to bring some of these ideas to life this year, but I'm making no promises. (It's already late on Tuesday and Thanksgiving is only a little over a day away.) I'll report back on my success after Thanksgiving. There are absolutely tons of great ideas for Thanksgiving crafts, desserts and more available, but these are some of my favorites:

1) Handprint Turkeys - Not a new idea, but a good one. I remember making handprint turkeys as a kid myself and I think the idea is just as good now. Send a simple Thanksgiving card featuring your child's handprint turkey, decorate a plate (paper or ceramic), make an apron or a table-runner to use year after year. This instructions for this cute turkey plate, can be found on Kaboose.
2) Cute Turkey Snack - Stella loves fruit and I'm sure when she's old enough to appreciate it in the shape of a turkey, I'll be happy to make her this adorable healthy and delicious Thanksgiving-themed snack. This recipe is compliments of Family Fun Magazine.

3) Thankful Tree - There are so many ways to celebrate your gratitude on Thanksgiving. You can write in a journal, craft a paper chain, simply go around the table and announce your gratitude, or you can make a Thankful Tree. With all the ideas out there, this is my favorite because it doubles as a beautiful and unique centerpiece for your Thanksgiving Day feast. I found this idea on PBS Parents.

4) Wild Turkey - This looks like a great craft to make when Stella is a little older. Not only does it involve a little nature hunt to gather sticks, bark, seeds and more, but it's just plain cool-looking. I'm sure it would keep a child busy for a long time as they glue on all the various pieces to design their own turkey masterpiece. I can't wait to make one! Idea courtesy of Better Home and Gardens.

5) Paper Pilgrim Hats -  These are just too cute and I think Stella and her cousins would make some adorable pilgrims. Not to mention, if I could pull off getting the cousins to all wear pilgrim hats, it would be a nice photo op. While I might be able to manage making the hats before our get-together on Saturday, it will take an act of God to get all six kids to sit still, smile and look at the camera. Wish me luck and thank Martha Stewart for providing the instructions and templates for the female bonnet and the male hat. Thanks Martha!

6) Give Thanks Banner - Banners seem to be all the crafting rage lately and this Thanksgiving Day banner is right up my alley. I don't have a lot of Thanksgiving Day decorations, and I think my dining room could use a little sprucing up for our dinner on Thursday. We'll see if I can pull it off before then, but if not, there's always next year. This banner idea comes to us from Parents.

New Thanksgiving Traditions

I mentioned earlier that I was going to start a new family tradition and make a Thanksgiving apron with turkey handprints. As it turns out, I decided to upgrade the gifts for each Grandma to a tabler runner. I thought their aprons might fill up with handprint turkeys rather fast (given the number of grandchildren) so we needed something larger to work with. I had to run to a lot of stores to find table runners that would work, but after lots of shopping, I found plain (on both sides) gold table runners at Target that were perfect. I bought one for each Grandma. 

On Thanksgiving morning we painted up Stella's hand and attempted to make a handprint turkey for Grandma C's table runner. Needless to say, keeping a 4 month old's hand open is kind of tricky. The colored feathers all blurred together and the turkey resembles a kind of brown blob (sorry no pictures). Oh well, that will bring back memories each year of her little clenched hand covered in paint. We're still waiting for Ruby to come to Madison for Christmas so she can add her handprint to the runner.
A few days after Thanksgiving we celebrated the holiday at my parents house and with five grandchildren there, we were able to add five handprints to Grandma G's table runner. I have to say, the second time around went more smoothly for Stella's handprint. (One adult holding the fingers open, one applying the paint and a third to assist with any squirming.) All the other handprints turned out great too! I can't wait to see how it looks in a few years after we've added more turkeys. I think it will be a fun addition to our family Thanksgiving celebration.

I also made a whole rafter (yes, that's the proper term for a group of turkeys) of turkey cupcakes. They turned out cute and yummy too! I took the short cut and used a mix and pre-made frosting. I made German chocolate cupcakes with coconut pecan frosting. I used toasted-coconut marshmallows from Jet-Puffed for the head, a gummy fish for the beak, two chocolate sprinkles for eyes and candy corns for tail feathers. The turkey cupcakes are a great alternative to pumpkin pie for those of us that think that the best dessert is a chocolate dessert!

The Cupcake Craze

I don't know if you've noticed, but cupcakes are all the rage lately. (Wikipedia claims the cupcake craze started in the 1990's, but here in the midwest we didn't find out until we hit the new millenium.) It used to be that cupcakes were just a kid's treat, but they've taken a giant step up to become a gourmet food. There are entire bakeries devoted to the sweet mini cake, and both professional and home bakers are now creating miniature works of culinary art.

I think making and decorating cupcakes is a great activity for kids and adults. There are both simple and complicated decorating ideas for almost every holiday and season. I absolutely fell in love with the turkey cupcakes that my friend Anne made for a girlfriend get-together yesterday. She told me about two great cupcake books, Hello Cupcake and Martha Stewart's Cupcakes with all sorts of decorating ideas. Next time you're looking for a unique and tasty treat to make, try cupcakes, even better yet, make it a tradition.

A New Thanksgiving Tradition

I made a trip to Joann's today to pick up things for two projects (more info later). Boy, that the craft store is sure a dangerous place for me. There are a ton of things on which I could spend lots of time and money. Given that fact, I was amazed that I got out of the store with only a few more things than I actually had on my list.

The first project on my shopping list was fabric. I was so happy that I found the exact color of microfiber (raspberry) I was looking for AND it was on super sale. The fabric will be used to create curtains in Stella's room. She already has a cute valance and blinds, but I think too much light comes in during the day making it difficult for her to nap, plus the curtains will keep out any cold that might come in through the window this winter.

The second thing on my list was supplies for my Thanksgiving aprons. I bought fabric paint and simple black aprons. My plan is to use Stella's hand to make "turkeys" on the apron. Each year we'll add another handprint turkey with the year. In a few years I'll have an apron full of turkeys and will also be able to see how Stella's hand has grown. (Shhhhh..... don't tell the Grandma's, but I'm planning to make them Thanksgiving aprons too. I plan to get the handprints of the other grandkids too!) I'll post pictures when they're finished. I think it's a great new Thanksgiving tradition for our family and it doesn't cost much either, the aprons were about $5 and I spent about $7 on a few different colors of fabric paint.)

Shopping In Style

I just saw an ad for the day after Thanksgiving sale at Kohl's. They said the store is going to open at 4:00 am! Is that insane or what?!? When I was younger I used to look forward to the Day After Thanksgiving (DAT) sales. I would wake up at the crack of dawn and brave the crowd. I would get to the department stores early enough to get the special savings ticket or whatever little gimmick that lured me there. For the last 5-10 years, I've spent the DAT at home. I just don't have the patience to do it anymore... that is until I heard this.

I was talking to a friend of mine about DAT sales. She said last year when she was shopping she ran into four women who were wearing sweatsuits and hot pink boas and having a great time. She asked them what the boas were for. They apparently have a DAT tradition where they rent a limousine to drive them to all the stores so they don't have to deal with parking. They stock the limo with mimosas (champagne and orange juice) and snacks to get them through the day. They make shopping into a party and they have a great time because they make it unique!
I don't have my limo rented for this year, but I'm seriously considering adding this tradition to my list. And, if I ever decide to wake up early enough to make it to a 4:00 am sale, I might just bring my pillow so I can get a little shut eye in the limo between stores.

Do you have any Day After Thanksgiving traditions that you celebrate? Shopping, baking, decorating? Please share them here.

A Mexican Thanksgiving Feast

Today is Thanksgiving. We put a bit of a spin on the traditional Thanksgiving this year. John's parents came to visit so we decided that rather than cooking a big Thanksgiving turkey for four, we would do something a bit different. This year we made a Mexican feast. Don't get me wrong, we still ate like pigs, but no turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes. We made red mole, green mole, steak fajitas, Mexican rice and refried beans. We kind of switched gears for both our appetizer and dessert course... I guess you could say they were more American. For an appetizer we had stuffed mushrooms and for dessert Rocky Road ice cream with chocolate syrup. We had great conversation and great food. Who knows, maybe it could become a tradition.

I have to admit it felt a bit funny without a turkey. That's the first time ever, but tomorrow I'm having turkey with all the fixings at my parents' house. I guess somethings never really change (and probably shouldn't).

Happy Turkey Day!