Our Fun & Simple Family Thanksgiving Gratitude Activity & Decor Craft
I am deeply in love with this thanksgiving gratitude activity. It has everything going for it:
- It truly encouraged and celebrated gratitude!
- It was engaging for the whole family – teenagers to grandparents jumped in and created and shared together!
- It was beyond simple to organize and execute!
- It turned out super cute – despite what my typically ho-hum photos show. In person it’s pretty enough to leave up for ages.
This year gratitude is at the forefront for our family – especially given my recent health battle. (You can read about it here, if you like: I Just Beat Cancer. Here’s what I wish YOU knew…). I was very sick, but it was truly a battle for our whole family in our own ways (emotionally, physically, financially and more).
As a result, while doing this craft many of us got teary with thankfulness (and likely it’s cousin-feeling: relief). But we also laughed. It was a perfect blend of feels that resonated with what Thanksgiving is really all about.
Here are the super simple steps and materials for our new annual Family Thanksgiving Gratitude Activity:
Supplies:
- these paper maple leaf tags
- So easy and affordable!
- or you might want to choose these tags with more variety of leaf shapes
- or these pumpkin ones could be cute too
- metallic coloured pencils
- at first these may not seem essential, but a variety of colours of pencils are helpful:
- some of the leaves are dark in colour so you’ll need a light coloured pencil (like silver) for the writing to show
- a little sparkle helps the activity feel even more special and look pretty
- at first these may not seem essential, but a variety of colours of pencils are helpful:
- 6 ft faux eucalyptus garland or one with lights could be lovely
How to:
Place them in a pretty bowl. (I used one of the bronze nesting bowls that Ed got me for our bronze anniversary.)
You could also use typical pencil crayons, just make sure you have a light coloured one for writing on the dark leaves.
I didn’t end up doing that because I want didn’t it to feel forced or be annoying: being obligated to do this activity while your food gets cold would definitely steal the joy.
What we did instead was I left the bowl out on the table all afternoon and encouraged everyone to drift over and write what they were grateful for whenever they were inspired.
No awkward pressure and the food stays hot!
A garland with fairy lights could give an nice ambiance to the table as well. Next year I think I’ll do that!
Another idea could be to hang the tags on branches. You could bring some dogwood branches in from outdoors and prop them in a pot.
It was so good for our healing hearts.
In our perfection-obsessed-Instagram world it could be easy to lose sight of the meaning of the activity in order to get things photo perfect. I think this would drain the joy and fun.
For example, you’d miss out when your kid is thankful for “memes” and writes it upside down. 😂
I get such immense joy out of reading what my loved ones are grateful for. Some are so beautiful – and some are silly – and I love them all.
We’ve added this activity to our Collection of 20+ Thanksgiving Thankful Crafts ~ Gratitude Crafts for Adults and Kids
Is your family watching football this Thanksgiving? We’ve got a way to make watching the games fun for everyone: try playing our new Thanksgiving Football Pool Printable Game – truly fun for the whole family!
And, here are some more ways to make your home beautiful this holiday season: 20+ Elegant Dollar Tree Thanksgiving Decor Crafts
There are so many fabulous things to feed our families during the Holidays! Check out more of our holiday recipe ideas:
- 20+ Absolutely Delicious Non-Pumpkin Thanksgiving Desserts and Treats
- 20+ Best Recipes for Dairy Free Thanksgiving Desserts
- 20+ Holiday Crockpot Side Dishes
- 20+ Best Instant Pot Side Dish Recipes to Simplify Your Holiday Meal
- Stuffed Turkey Breast Wrapped in Bacon
- Christmas Cranberry Apple Cobbler in the Slow Cooker (a decadent breakfast idea!)
Robin and Ed are a DIY-loving couple with over 30 years of design and build experience. Also, Robin is a Nutritionist and former Registered Dietitian and Ed is an award-winning Business Educator. We share strategies for living a rich life on a DIY budget: creative money-savvy ideas for a stylish home, healthy meals and family fun. Our work has been published in the pages of Do It Yourself, Farmhouse Style and Better Homes & Gardens magazines.
