Thanksgiving Planning in a Day (And on a budget)

Throughout my life, I've been told once or twice that I put things off to the last minute. I would say, in some circumstances, this statement is fairly accurate. Halloween is a big exception to this, as I usually start thinking and planning it on November 1st of the previous year. Thanksgiving, however, definitely falls into the "oh crap, that's tomorrow" category.

I have rarely hosted my own Thanksgiving day, so I am not into the habit of thinking about it. However, I now live across the country from my own family so it's necessary that I become a host, if even only to my own little ones. The day before Thanksgiving I started searching for crafts, recipes, etc... Here is what happened:

The first thing I came across on Pinterest was Oreo Turkey and Pilgrim Hat namecards which I found here. Of course I HAD to make them, and they turned out swell -

I had to make pilgrim and native american hats, just like I wore in the second grade! Here's my little star in the making,  showing off her pilgrim's hat. It took FOREVER to find all of the designs. Here's the links- Boys Pilgrim, Girls Pilgrim Bonnet, and Native American Headdress (seperate website with ALL of the hat designs).

I thought this was such a neato idea, little pie tins filled with treats and toys, and below that I put a few coloring pages and activities. This kept the kids busy the ENTIRE day! Definitely worth it! For filling the pie tins you can go to your local dollar store and grab party favors. In fact, party favors from the dollar store are so reusable I used to have a tote filled with all those little toys from dollar stores and Oriental Trading because they are ALWAYS handy!

This was a great game idea - Turkey Bowling - and was easy to make. I printed out the templates on cardstock and used a hot glue gun to secure. Look at those guys, they look scared!

I printed out 6 of these (one for each of us) on 60lb cardstock paper. The kids helped cut and glue and the stuff they came out with was great! Here's the link to do it yourself.

No kidding, I picked up these placemats and napkins up at the dollar store and printed one sheet of these napkin holders on plain paper, and they held up well!

Coloring Activity Sheets kept the kids entertained! Here is a link to one I used. Here's another.

For six people we had LOTS of food. A few recipes were family recipes, but I will share one I found for pumpkin fudge, which was great and easy.

The kids had a great Thanksgiving! Here is a link to the Give Thanks banner (we also got some games from this site too), which you can attach to string but I just taped on the wall. Here is a link to the other cut outs.

As you can see, it all turned out well, even with no prior planning. Be inspired. This didn't take lots of money or time and the kids (as well as everyone else) enjoyed this Thanksgiving the best so far. (No offense to prior hosts and celebrations)

And now it's December 15th....I guess I better start planning Christmas soon!