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?
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This is really beautiful. And I love the color of the bucket. What a sweet idea this is. Love those little cards, too.
I love the color of the bucket too. Did you buy the bucket that way? If so, where? And if you didn't, did you just paint it? I love it. I think this will soon become our family tradition.
Thanks for the cute idea. What a great way to celebrate a whole month of blessings.
What a great idea and crafty design for the "Thankful Buckets!"
Starting from Thanksgiving until Christmas we compile our family top 100 thankful list. It's tough getting to 100 at first but hopefully in a few years we can start a nice book compiling our lists together to see God's sweet gifts to us throughout the years!
What a great idea, and such a great gift idea for families in my church! Thank you so much for sharing!!!
I love this idea!! How sweet to share your cards too! Thank you!
The bucket is so pretty but I especially love the sentiment and that your Mom gave you each one! I'm going to FB and tweet about this. :)
I think this is a really sweet idea – and a helpful way to remember to be thankful this season :)
Thanks for sharing! Love it!
We do a Thankful Turkey each year. Years ago I copied a turkey "body" from a coloring book I then cut out different colored feathers from constuction paper for his tail. We all get together one monday night and write what we are grateful for on each turkey feather. We are still using the same turkey body and it is the thing the kids want to pull out of the thanksgiving box first. Every year we try and make our tail the biggest ever!
Thank you for such a wonderful idea! We will be doing this for sure!
This is such a great idea. I will definately be on the look out for a "bucket" I can use to make my own. Thanks for sharing!
~Danylle
I. Love. This. I am going to Goodwill over lunch and am going to look for the perfect container to make my own. Thanks for the great tradition and idea! Happy Friday!
http://www.strungbycolor.blogspot.com
I am making a "Thankful Garland" this will be these cards will be perfect to tie on there and let our family write what we are thankful for. Thanks for the free download
LOVE this idea!!!!! Now to make a bucket…
What a great idea, I love everything about this:)))
What a sweet idea! This is my first Thanksgiving away from my family, so this will be a fun tradition to start with my husband :) Thanks for the great idea!
I tried to download your cards because we do the same type of thing in our house but it wouldn't let me. What type of format/program do you use for your cards? Can you just e-mail the pdf by chance?
Just an FYI, that then I downloaded, it also opened an "adult" site with it that I could not close. The cards did save and are cute, though!
This year Thanksgiving is at my house with all of my brothers and sister, and parents. I have never had Thanksgiving at my house before. We sometimes go around the table and say what we are thankful for. But this year I wanted to try something different. I am putting a book together, and there will be a space for their name, what they are thankful for, and the date. Then after years go by we will be able to look back and see what we were thankful for. :) I might change it up every year. I was thinking this year I could use cut out leaves, and then glue them in the book, or just what ever! But I think it will be a fun tradition to start!
Thanks for the great idea! I love the color of the bucket too!! very cute!
You are SO cleaver! I am going to gather up the other four buckets, along with my knife block and head on over to your house! I can't believe how much more appealing the buckets look. When are you available??
I love the simple touches and the idea of the buckets are great! Oh and too cute your mom commented. ;-)
This bucket is so pretty. the color is perfect. I'm thinking that when you all sit by the fire and start reading your thankful notes, the rest of your family is going to be like "whoa!" when they see your fancy bucket and pretty cards. They will be seriously impressed. Who knows, maybe you will inspire them to decorate their buckets as well…it might even turn into a friendly competition every year. I think that would be so fun!
Turned out great! I love this idea!
We do a "Thankful Tree" each year. Each family member adds a leaf to the tree each day with something they are thankful for written on it up until the day of Thanksgiving. Last year I saved all of our leaves and we read them on the first day of November this year and then we started our new tree. It was a nice reminder of where we were this time last year in our lives and how much more we have been blessed since then.
I love this idea so much that I mentioned it in my newsletter. When I finish decorating our bucket I will photograph it and post it on my FB page so I can mention your site with a link. Thanks so much for such a wonderful idea!!! :-)
we also do a Thankful tree. Thank you for the cards, I am going to use them this year at the dinner. I am going to write questions on them and put them in a jar for my guests to answer.. specific questions such as " what are you most grateful for that your mother taught you" etc etc.
Thanks again!
love this idea!!! If you have time next week come by and link up to Handmade Tuesdays @ Ladybug Blessings. http://www.ladybug-blessings.com
SUCH a great idea. I love the physical reminder of the bucket to help us keep gratitude on the brain for the whole month of November. A great way to foster conversation with the kids as well. I just may have to borrow this idea for my own home.
I would so love to print out the thankful cards. Is the link closed? Thank you!