Thanksgiving - 7/8 - The Idea Room

Thankful Bucket

Do you have any special Thanksgiving traditions at your house? This is one Thanksgiving Craft we enjoy each year.

Each year my mom gives each of her children and their families a Thanksgiving Bucket. Then each family is supposed to fill the bucket with things that they are thankful for. Then after our Thanksgiving dinner, we sit around the fireplace, while are tummies are digesting our meal, and take turns sharing what we have written for our buckets.

It always invites a special feeling to our Thanksgiving Celebration. And though some of the kids (and adults…*ahem*) complain a bit, they always end up participating and enjoying the activity.

So this year I spiced up our bucket and have it on the kitchen table to remind of all month long to be thinking and adding things to the bucket that we are thankful for.

First, I added the word Thankful, then I simply took a rectangle piece of chipboard and decorated it with some scrap book paper. Glued some brown ribbon inbetween the paper and the chipboard and then tied it to the back of the bucket handles.

Then I added a small green leaf and some red berries that I snipped off the back of a wreath where you wouldn’t notice they were missing.

Then I whipped up some papers for the family to write down their blessings on. The kids are encouraged to write something each time they think of something they are grateful for and drop it in the bucket. It is a good reminder to us all of just how MANY blessings we enjoy and take for granted on a daily basis! It’s amazing how focusing on all the positives can change your outlook and give you some much needed perspective.

I love Thanksgiving for that very reason!

I have provided you with a free download of our “Thankful” cards. I simply printed them out on white paper and then glued them onto some colorful scrapbook paper. They aren’t very fancy, but if you would like to use them for your family, you can get them here.

What about you and your family? What are some of your Thanksgiving traditions that you enjoy?

November 5, 2010 · Filed under: Thanksgiving Tagged with thanksgiving activiites, thanksgiving crafts, Thanksgiving decor, thanksgiving gift, thanksgiving kids crafts, thanksgiving table, thanksgiving tree

Personalized Embroidered Hand Towels

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Make a festive hand embroidered dish towel to celebrate the season…every season. Do you remember these handtowels I made for some friends last Christmas? Well,I just made a Thanksgiving version for my kitchen.

I typed out the word blessing and then traced it onto the bottom half (in the middle) of a flour sac hand towel with a pencil. I found mine at Ben Franklin for $1.50. I have also seen them at Wal-Mart, etc. I then cut out some material (the same material I used for my oven hand mitts) and applied the flowers as an applique to the towel under the word I had penciled on the towel

Then I placed an embroidery hoop around the letters and embroidered the word using a backstitch. I wanted the word to be thick, so I used 4 strands of the embroidery floss.

The fun thing would be to have one for every holiday and season. I had planned on making one for Halloween with the word Boo, but never got around to it. Since the flour sac towels are so large, I think I will just turn the towel around and add the Boo to the other side. Then you could use the same hand towel for both seasons. Just turn the towel to the right side for the season. These could not be simpler to make.

I have this hanging on the handle of my oven door and have tied a ribbon around it, I don’t have to hang it back up anytime the kids get near the towel (if you know what I mean). When the kids dry their hands on it, it actually stays in place!

If you are interested, I have posted the pattern I used along with patterns for Boo!, LOVE, and Gratitude. Click here for the downloadable version.

November 5, 2009 · Filed under: Crafts, Embroidery, Fall Decor, Gifts, Teacher Gifts, Thanksgiving Tagged with

Oreo Cookie Turkeys

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These Oreo turkeys are really cute and are really easy to make and are the perfect cookies for Thanksgiving.

I made several of them for a party last year in just about 30 minutes. I had a friend show me how to make these after she made them for the preschool our kids attended together. You will need the following:

Double Stuff Oreos (2 per turkey)
Small Reeses’ Peanut Butter Cups (1)
Whoppers (1)
Candy Corn
White Frosting
Black Frosting

thanksgiving-treats

First place your peanut butter cups in the fridge. They will cut cleaner cold. Then take an Oreo and carefully separate one of the cookies from the frosting. Gently press the pointed tips of 6 candy corns around one half of the Oreo. Take some white frosting and cover the frosting and re-attach the cookie.

Now, take the second oreo and lay it flat on the table. Pick up your Oreo with the candy corn and put some icing on the bottom of the oreo opposite from the candy corn and attach the Oreo onto the flat oreo so that it is on the back half. Prop the stuck together Oreos against a book or a wall to hold it up while the icing dries. If it does not stand up well, add some more icing.

Now take a cold peanut butter cup and cut a small section off of it so that it will have a flat side. Place some frosting on the flat section and the top of the peanut butter cup and attach it to the Oreo with the candy corn so that it becomes the body of the turkey.

Take the Whopper and put icing on the back side of it. Attach it so that it is right on top of the peanut butter cup and iced to the Oreo and Whopper. Add two drops of white icing for the eyes and a smaller drop of the black for the pupil.

For the wings, I cut the very tip of a candy corn and glued a wing on both sides of the peanut butter cup. For the feet, you can use the same tip you cut off when making your wings. Let dry for about 20 minutes before handling.

thanksgiving-treats

These would be so cute to give to a friend, child or neighbor. They would also be really cute holding a name place card for your Thanksgiving Dinner. You could just put the name card behind the candy corn on the top of the turkey. So cute and easy!

Here is another adorable turkey treat that my sister made for us last Thanksgiving.