Can you believe it’s November the 4th?? I can’t! I had a bit of a panic attack this weekend, because Christmas is RIGHT around the corner!! I quickly rectified that with a little “Santa” online shopping. I’m feeling much better. But…before we start chatting about Christmas, first let’s discuss Thanksgiving!
Every year we stay here for Thanksgiving. Usually my parents and Marla are in town. Sometimes my brother and his family join us. Really it’s a random mix every year of who will be in attendance! No matter who is here though, I want it to be fun and special! I’m always looking for a fun new tradition to start. I was all over Pinterest this weekend looking for any great new ideas.
Do you guys remember my handmade graphic this summer?? I realize I have a LONG way to go, but let’s make note that I’ve come a long way!! hahahaha!
This is basically a scrapbook that you pull out every year and each guest signs your page for that year. They also include a little blurb about one thing they’re thankful for. You take a group photo and glue it on the page. How fun would this be to look back on year after year?? I also love that the kiddos could draw a picture depending on age! Such a fun and easy tradition!
I’m a sucker for a game at any holiday. My family loves playing games, so as soon as I found this I knew it was a keeper. You could play this game at any party! You split up into teams of three or four. You choose a host. The host calls out a category like, “The Tallest”. You have no clue what the criteria will be, but each group chooses one candidate to participate. After each group has thrown in their candidates, then the host continues….”The Tallest Thumb”. The candidates measure and the winner’s team gets a point. Does that make sense?? It’d be super fun for all ages!
This idea is probably more for the entire month of November…not just Thanksgiving Day. Each child makes a box. This family used old diaper wipe boxes and decorated them. Just use something easy that you already have on hand. Then daily they wrote on a slipper of paper something they were thankful for. On Thanksgiving, they read everything they were thankful for that year.
Here are a few more ideas that didn’t make the Top Three list….
*Go out for a movie on Thanksgiving night. (We’ve watched a movie last year the night before Thanksgiving. Maybe that will be a new tradition in our family?)
*Go for a nature walk after your meal.
*Get everyone involved in a group football game. (It’s Thanksgiving after all!)
*Write a thank-you note everyday in November to someone your family is thankful for. (LOVE this!)
*Get a light color tablecloth and every year let your guests sign the tablecloth. It’ll be great to look back and see the guests who were together on Thanksgiving.
Last year I blogged other “Top Three Thanksgiving Tradition Ideas”. Check those out HERE.
Thank you for sharing… I will surely use numbers of these
First of all, your graphic looks fabulous and second of all, I love all three Thanksgiving ideas!! 🙂
We go to good friends house every year. They have a white tablecloth which someone writes, with a sharpie, the names of everyone that is there. It's neat to look back and see the different people that joined us, babies born, name changes because of marriage, etc.
OBSESSED with the book idea! LOVE!!!
Fun! Here's my tradition: eat until I feel sick. Hoping to break tradition this year. 🙂
Love these ideas, especially the book of thanks, the Thanksgiving box and writing daily thank you notes to others. Easy to do but help families practice gratitude in simple but effective ways.
What wonderful ideas!!!!
Erika! I love these ideas. Will definitely be doing the thankfulness box.
Such a great list!!!!
Last week I was looking for games to play with the kids of my Sunday school class and I came across #2! It sounds like such a fun game
We combine the book and the tablecloth ideas. Every year everyone writes what they thankful for on the table cloth…we also have the kids make handprint turkeys with fabric paint on the table cloth and write their names and the year. It is bittersweet to see those turkeys getting bigger each year.
Just our little family goes out to eat Mexican food the night before. It's something different to eat than what we will have all weekend, I don't have to cook, and it's time for just us!