Thanksgiving Harvest Party

Thanksgiving Day is the annual holiday observed as a day of giving thanks and feasting. It occurs in the United States on the fourth Thursday of November and in Canada, it occurs on the second Monday of October. It commemorates the Pilgrims’ celebration of the good harvest of 1621, and for many of us, its a day filled with traditions and customs. Thanksgiving Party Supplies

Thanksgiving Harvest Party Plan

Thanksgiving Harvest Party Invitations

Invitations to Thanksgiving dinner are usually informally done over the phone or email since it is mostly a holiday that is traditionally celebrated with family and close friends. However, if you are doing invitations, the invitations can range from very casual to formal depending on the guests you plan on inviting and how formal you plan to make it.

Some Thanksgiving Invitation ideas:

• Stamped leaf invitations using stamps, sponge or real leaves.
• Layered invitations with colors of orange, browns and red. Use embellishments to decorate.
• Pilgrim hat made out of card stock.
• Pre-printed invitations using themed card stock and printed on the computer.

Thanksgiving Harvest Party Decorations

• Anything goes. Set the table with your best available china, crystal, silver and linen. Don’t worry if things don’t match. The whole point is to get together and enjoy each other’s company. Use paper plates if you don’t have enough plates and dress up the place setting with paper or cloth place mats, a centerpiece, and any candelabras you may have.
• Go with cloth. Try to use cloth napkins in neutral colors. This way you can reuse them for other parties, it helps save the environment, and they feel much better than using those printed napkins that just look good but feel like cardboard! The key is using a decorative element in the napkin holder to dress the napkins up and to emphasize your theme.
• Natural Centerpieces. Create Easy Natural Centerpieces using natural fruits, nuts, apples, gourds, Indian corn, leaves, mums and vegetables.
• Harvest Colors. Decorate using colors in orange, red, rust, gold, yellow or brown colors.
• Fragrant Candles. Use candles with a scent that are reminiscent of the harvest like apple, cinnamon and vanilla.
• Thanking Tree. Decorate the room with a Thanking Tree. Get a branch from nature without any leaves and insert into a vase. Secure with sand or glass beads. Cut out paper leaves and let kids make a hole with a hole punch on one end of the leaf. Let them write down things they are thankful for. Write their names on the back. Hang and decorate the tree with the leaves. At dinner, let each child pick one of their own leaf and share what they are thankful for.

Thanksgiving Harvest Party Crafts

• Placemats. Have kids make their own place mats using card stock. Print out the Harvest Word Find game and center it on the place mat. Decorate around the puzzle with stickers. If kids are older they can also use stamps with ink to decorate.
• Sit Upon. Have kids make a Thanksgiving Harvest sit-upon. This is perfect to take with them to the Thanksgiving Football Game and will keep their tushies warm! Great activity for adults too!
• Thanksgiving Coloring. If you have lots of younger kids coming, print out coloring pages and give them crayons to keep busy.
• Fragrant Crafts. Make Apple Cinnamon Scented airfresheners. Hang them in bathrooms, mudrooms, cars or kids’ school lockers.
• Place cards. Let kids help with table setting and let them make place cards for everyone. Kids love to help and this way they can also feel good about helping out.

Thanksgiving Harvest Party Menu

• Thanksgiving Turkey
• Mashed Potatoes
• Cranberry Dressing
• Gravy
• Corn Pudding
• Yams
• Green Beans
• Pumpkin Pie
• Stuffing
• Pecan Pie
• Rolls
• Snack for game time
• Serve Apple Cider hot or cold.
• Serve Hot Spiced Chai. Serve in a warm crockpot and it will fill the whole house with the spices of cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg and cloves.

Thanksgiving Harvest Party Cakes

• Pilgrim Hats
• Thanksgiving Turkey Cupcakes

Thanksgiving Harvest Party Games and Activities

• Print out Printable Games. These are easy to download. Just Purchase and Play Thanksgiving Harvest Picture Bingo
• Harvest Word Find. At the dinner table when everyone is waiting for the Turkey to be carved, let everyone play Harvest Word Find. Whoever finishes first, gets an extra piece of pie!
• Charity. Visit a Homeless shelter and help serve the homeless.
• Elderly visit. Visit an elderly person and bring a nice meal, or pumpkin bread.
• Historic Sites. Go for a family walk in an area of town you would normally not go to, or explore your town or state’s history, landmarks, museums and historic sites.
• Football Games. Go watch a local high school football game.
• Read out loud. Read a story together about the Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving traditions, first Pilgrims or the history of the first settlers.
• Thanksgiving Play. After everyone is full and in a food coma, get the kids together to act out a Thanksgiving scene using a Thanksgiving skit.  Make simple paper outfits like a Pilgrim hat, Indian head dress (paper strip with feathers), or Pilgrim paper bonnet.  Another easy option for example for a class play is to get a Pilgrim kit that comes with pilgrim hat, shoe buckles and bib/collar for quick easy costumes for kids.

Party Favors

• Thanksgiving Applesauce: Homemade cinnamon applesauce in canning jars tied with ribbon and custom “Made by” labels.
• Thanksgiving Scents: Wrap the Apple Cinnamon Air Fresheners in clear cellophane bags and tie with a pretty bow labeled “Thankful Scents by….(your name)”.
• Thanksgiving Tea: Apple Cider Tea Bags with cinnamon sticks tied with a pretty bow.