Easy and inexpensive decorating fun for kids this Thanksgiving

November 13, 9:34 PMEarly Childhood Parenting ExaminerAngele Sionna

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Getting the house ready for Thanksgiving doesn't have to be expensive or hard. I asked several holiday planning experts for ideas to decorate for Thanksgiving that the kids can help with that won't break the bank. (You can check out a few of my ideas HERE.)

Andrea Correale, Celebrations.com elegant catering expert

• Make autumn placemats out of fallen feaves. Simply take and glue onto a 12” round of newspaper or a doily.
• Carve out mini pumpkins and use them for soup or as votive candles.
• Decorate the table with things “of nature”: pumpkins, gourds, branches and whole fruit, or arrange colorful leaves in a bowl.

Kim Danger, Family Savings Expert for Coupons.com

• Make leaf collage placemats. Use butcher paper or construction paper. Have the kids collect pretty fall leaves and glue them onto the blank mats. To finish them, you can coat them with decoupage (mix liquid glue and vinegar to create a thin coating), laminate them or slip them between clear report covers.
• Create “thankful” paper chains. Use construction paper in yellow, orange, red and brown for a festive decoration. Ask the kids to write things they are thankful on each loop of the chain before it’s put together. You can have your guests also contribute to the chain.
• Create mosaics out of jello jigglers. Make jigglers out of different colors of jello, and have the kids create mosaics combining the different flavors into pictures. Bonus – they’re a tasty dessert. Look for online coupons or sale prices to make this even less expensive.

Anne Byrn, author of several cookbooks including What Can I Bring?:

• One year I gathered all the Thanksgiving art my children had created in elementary school and placed it down the middle of the dining room table interspersed with little vases of roses. There was the outline of a 3-year-old hand, stuck in a pine cone to resemble a turkey. There was a first attempt at sculpture...a crude yet heart-warming clay turkey. There was a Pilgrim hat fashioned out of black and white construction paper. If parents are keepers, meaning they stash away all the art projects their children produce, then dust them off for the holidays. The kids may be older but they love to reflect on the younger days.
• Treasures abound in the outdoors in the fall. Leading up to Thanksgiving, children can take walk in the local park, in their neighborhood, through their yard. They can collect pine cones and fallen leaves to decorate a fireplace mantel or entry table. We have three large glass cylinders of different heights that we stuff with seasonal things like cranberries or small pine cones or pretty leaves, and fill two-thirds with water, pushing the stuff down into the water. Then we place on top a candle that floats perfectly in the top of the cylinder. When lit the three candles are a tribute to fall, Thanksgiving, and the winter holidays around the corner.

Clarky Davis, who's known as The Debt Diva:

• Thanksgiving Dinner Turkey Place Cards – Have the kids gather fall leaves, pinecones and acorns. Glue the acorn on the front of the pinecone like a head. Stick the leaves in the back of the pinecone to make a tail. Insert a place card in the pinecone. Make one for each person, so that everyone knows where he or she is sitting.
• Cornucopia of Thanks – Place a drawing of a cornucopia on your refrigerator. [print one free HERE] Ask your children to cut strips of colored construction paper and then ask them to write something they are thankful for on each piece of paper. Staple or tape each entry to the Cornucopia. Before Thanksgiving dinner, have each person select one of the children’s entries to read aloud.

Hannah Keeley, author of Hannah Keeley’s Total Mom Makeover and spokesperson for GetBacktotheTable.com:

Going overboard with holiday décor can be tempting, but blowing a bundle on fancy decorations will not necessarily lead to long-lasting memories. In fact, decorating the home should be part of the family’s celebration. I like to incorporate the fun into dinnertime. Lay out a large sheet or white tablecloth and fabric markets, and create a holiday keepsake together that you can launder, save and place on the table year after year.

Catherine Gentile with Bed Bath & Beyond has these ideas for kids to help on the day of your feast:

• They can help make the place cards for guests
  
• Tell them how many forks, plates, cups and glasses you need no the table and ask them to “take inventory” once the table is set
  
• Help set up the “kids table” by covering a spare folding table with construction paper use paper bags from the grocery store so the kids can keep themselves occupied.