Create Thanksgiving Centerpiece

photo credit: David Boyle in DC

Your centerpiece is the main decoration on your Thanksgiving table. Make it special with these ideas. Of course these decorations will also look stunning if you set them on a counter or the mantle over the fire place.

Fall Vegetables

Begin with a pumpkin and gourds. Loosely arrange them on the table or mantle.  Set a natural-color candle on each side of your display. Finish your free form art center piece by sprinkling colorful fall leaves all over and around your center pieces. Make sure they are not too close to the candles, of course.

Fall Leaves

Simply find a large glass bowl and fill it with beautiful fall leaves. Set a candle on each side of the bowl to showcase the leaves. Then, cut leaf shapes out of construction paper and use them as place cards. Of course you could also press small leaves, and glue them to a plain white place card.

Floral Display of Abundance

Make a dried floral arrangement from fall flowers. Gather some of the plastic sticks that the florists use to hold notecards. Stick them into the floral display, but put photos of the things you are thankful for in them, instead. Or, if you don’t have photos, just write words on notecards and display them in the floral arrangement. Some words you may start with are “family”, “friends”, “food”, “laughter”.

Carve A Pumpkin

Yes, you heard right, carve a pumpkin. Of course you don’t want to go with the traditional jack-o-lantern design here. Instead carve some geometrical designs, or some flowers, leaf-shapes etc. on your hollowed out pumpkin. Add a candle inside the carved pumpkin and light it just before your guests arrive.

Pumpkin Candle Holders

Get some small pumpkins and hollow out enough room on the top of the pumpkin to stick a candle in it. Group of few of these candle holders together for a festive center piece. Finish your candle arrangement with a few pieces of native corn placed around your pumpkin candle holders. Give the arrangement more dimension by using different size pumpkins and candles. Use some scented candles to give your room that Holiday smell.

Are you feeling inspired yet by all these ideas? Dig through your Thanksgiving supplies or take a stroll through your local craft store and you will come up with your own versions of these suggestions, or even a creation all of your own.

Great Crafts To Do With Your Kids For Thanksgiving

photo credit: DeaPeaJay

Spending time creating Thanksgiving crafts with your kids can turn a holiday that isn’t quite as exciting as getting Halloween candy or Christmas gifts into a fun kid’s day!

Turkey Apple

Turkey apples are a fun craft to make with the kids as well as a healthy snack. You will need an apple, 6 toothpicks, 1 large and 5 miniature marshmallows as well as some raisins and one piece of candy corn for each turkey.

Set the apple stem up on a flat surface. Stick a toothpick in the top part of one side of the apple. Add the large marshmallow to the top of the toothpick. Decorate the face of the turkey with two raisins as eyes and stick the candy corn in upside down into the marshmallow to make the beak.

Thread each of the remaining toothpicks with 3 raisins, and then top it off with one of the miniature marshmallows. These will be the tail feathers of your turkey. Stick the 4 toothpicks evenly spaced on the opposite side of the top of the apple.

Corn Collage

Cut a basic corn shape out of yellow construction paper. Tear little pieces of yellow and purple tissue paper and crumble them into little balls. Glue them on the corn shape to represent kernels of corn. Cut leaf shapes out of green construction paper and glue them behind your ear of corn.

Pilgrim Hat

You need a large paper grocery bag and some construction paper in black and yellow for each child. Fold the rim of the bag over to make a brim for the hat. Then cut a large strip of black construction paper and tape or glue it around the hat. Cut a belt buckle shape out of the yellow construction paper and glue it to the belt in the front of the hat.

Turkey Handprint crafts

This craft is a family tradition in many homes. First, outline your child’s foot once on a piece of brown construction paper. Then, outline her hands twice on red or yellow construction paper. Cut a beak out of orange construction paper.

Of course, if you visit craft stores like Michaels or online craft supply stores, like Oriental Trading, you’ll find thousands of craft ideas for your kids. Oriental Trading offers foam leaves, felt Pilgrim hats, quilts in fall colors, foam turkeys, stickers, craft kits and more.

Thanksgiving Centerpieces

We know that Thanksgiving is just a little over a week away, and you want the perfect centerpiece for your dining table. Well, there are definitely some quick, simple and beautiful ways to create the perfect Thanksgiving centerpiece.

Have you thought about using some of the following items:

Candles and leaves. That’s a right, simple pillar candle on beautiful rod iron candle-holders with some fall leaves nestled at the bottom. These leaves can be the embellished silk variety or even some freshly fallen different colored hues you pick up from your very own yard.

Mini pumpkins, a hurricane lamp and some ribbon. Gather a half dozen miniature pumpkins, and a deep hurricane lamp and some beautiful wired ribbon. Place the miniature pumpkins inside the glass hurricane lamp at a variety of angles and then tie the ribbon around the base of the lamp, and there you have it, a perfect festive centerpiece.

Large pumpkins and dark green ivy. Nestle together various sizes of pumpkins in the center of the table and intertwine the dark green ivy between, over, around and through the pumpkins creating a pumpkin patch inspired centerpiece.

Gourds, pumpkins, and moss. Locate some gourds and pumpkins of various sizes and arrange them in the center of your table. Take the moss and place it coming out of the hole of the gourd as well as near the bottom of the pumpkins and gourds.

These are just a few simple, all natural ideas for creating a centerpiece on your table that will have others wondering, “Why didn’t I think of that?”