Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and many of us are excited about the holiday. While most of us connect Thanksgiving with the Thanksgiving dinner meal, football, or the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Thanksgiving is also a great time to make crafts.
Ever since I was a child, I have loved making crafts for various holidays. My mom used to always pick our crafts for us to do together, along with my sisters. Maybe you also have a passion for making crafts during the holidays. If so, here are five Thanksgiving crafts for Thanksgiving for you to try.
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1. Pumpkin Mason Jars
One Thanksgiving craft you can do this year is pumpkin mason jars. To make this craft, you will need mason jars, orange paint, a paintbrush, wine corks, artificial leaves, ribbon or twine, hot glue, a hot glue gun, and scissors.
Even though there are many supplies needed for this craft, it is not an overly difficult craft to make. The end result will be that the mason jar will look like a pumpkin, which will be perfect for Thanksgiving.
The exact instructions and supplies needed for this craft can be found here. This is a great craft to do before guests come on Thanksgiving Day, or you could do the craft with your guests. If a child wants to do this craft, make sure they are supervised. Supplies such as the hot glue gun can be dangerous for children, including the use of scissors.
This craft is fun to do on Thanksgiving that will last for years. You can even keep the pumpkin mason jars up for the entirety of the fall season if you would like. Pumpkin mason jars are beautiful crafts that will bring the holiday season into being. Whether you choose to do this craft by yourself or with others, it will be a decoration that can return year after year in your home.
2. Handprint Turkey
A second Thanksgiving craft is a handprint turkey. This is a craft my sister and I did a few years ago that was really fun to create. You make this craft by tracing the outline of your hand, including all of your fingers, and then you color your handprint to look like a turkey.
You can use markers, crayons, or paint for your turkey. I used markers and crayons to make mine a few years ago, but it is totally up to you.
When you are coloring your turkey, the outline of the thumb is the turkey's head, and the other four fingers are the turkey’s feathers. You can draw a beak on the outline of your thumb to give the turkey a beak.
The outline of the palm of your hand is the body of the turkey. This is a fun craft for kids of all ages, as well as adults. It is fairly simple to make, yet it is a very enjoyable craft.
You can be creative in the colors you use for your turkey. You can use traditional colors for a turkey, or your turkey could be multi-colored. Be unique and spontaneous when you’re making your handprint turkey.
There are no rules as to what your final product looks like. It’s your own handprint turkey, and you can make it look however you want. After you have finished coloring and decorating your handprint turkey, you can put it on your refrigerator or set it up somewhere else for the holiday season.
3. Paper Pumpkins
A third craft for Thanksgiving is paper pumpkins. This craft idea comes from DIY Inspired. For this craft, you will need colored paper (orange or any color/design you would like), double-sided tape, a paper cutter, hot glue, a hot glue gun, sticks, twine, and scissors.
Similar to the pumpkin mason jars, if a child wants to do this craft, make sure they are supervised. Nobody wants to get hurt while they are making a craft.
This craft is a little more difficult than the previous crafts, yet the results are amazing. The paper pumpkins are a great decoration that you can put up for years to come.
This craft brings in the holiday spirit for the Thanksgiving season, yet it can also be used for Halloween. Whichever holiday you choose to make this holiday for, it is sure to be a beautiful craft that you can show to your friends and family.
4. Thanksgiving Suncatcher
A fourth Thanksgiving craft is a Thanksgiving suncatcher. This is more of a nature craft because you will need to gather some leaves outside. Collecting autumn leaves is always fun and an adventure all in itself.
Once you have collected the autumn leaves, you can gather the rest of your supplies. In addition to the autumn leaves, you will need paper plates, sticky black paper/contact paper, pipe cleaner or strings, scissors, and a hole punch.
The complete instructions are from Messy Little Monster. This is a great craft that isn’t too difficult to make. It is perfect for the Thanksgiving season because of the leaf pattern on the plate, which will ultimately be the sun catcher.
With the setting of the sun being earlier in the fall and winter months, this is a great craft to help you enjoy the time that the sun is up during the day. It will also be fun to show this craft to your family and friends.
5. A Pumpkin Garland
A fifth craft for Thanksgiving is a pumpkin garland. This craft comes from Somewhat Simple. Pumpkin garland is a festive craft for Thanksgiving that you can use as decorations too.
For this craft, you will need orange paper, green paper, a pen, scissors, a hole punch, brass fasteners (brads), glue, ribbon, and a stapler. This might sound slightly complicated, but once you start the craft and have all your supplies, it is not as difficult as it sounds.
You can be creative with this craft as Somewhat Simple includes writing special messages about how much you love the other person on the strands of paper. In this way, your loved one will be reminded of how much you love them.
Once you have finished, the pumpkin garland will be a beautiful decoration as well as a reminder to your loved ones of how much you love them and care about them. Thanksgiving is all about giving thanks, and this is a great way to extend thanks to your loved ones this holiday season.
Happy Thanksgiving
Each of these five crafts is unique and fun for the upcoming Thanksgiving season. While many of us love crafts, others don’t enjoy them as much as we do. We should invite others to make crafts with us, yet we shouldn’t push others to make crafts if they don’t want to at the time.
No matter what craft you choose this holiday season, it is sure to be fun and filled with the holiday spirit of Thanksgiving.
If none of these ideas look specifically appealing to you, there are numerous other Thanksgiving crafts you could research and try. No matter what craft you choose, make sure you enjoy it and make lasting memories for years to come.
Crafts are also physical items that we can keep with us; therefore, it won’t be as easy to forget the memories we create while we are making crafts during the holiday season.
For further reading:
24 Beloved Thanksgiving Songs to Enjoy with Your Family
What Does it Mean to ‘Come into His Presence with Thanksgiving’?
5 Things Not to Say to Family Members at Thanksgiving
Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/Natalia Bodrova
Vivian Bricker loves Jesus, studying the Word of God, and helping others in their walk with Christ. She has earned a Bachelor of Arts and Master's degree in Christian Ministry with a deep academic emphasis in theology. Her favorite things to do are spending time with her family and friends, reading, and spending time outside. When she is not writing, she is embarking on other adventures.