Thanksgiving is this week! Thanksgiving is going to look a lot different this year for many people. Last year we traveled to North Carolina and rented a giant beach house with all of the kids’ cousins and had a Thanksgiving dinner with about 25 people. This year we will be staying home. For our family, Thanksgiving has always been all about big celebrations with extended family. The kids have been feeling a little down about that being cancelled this year. I’ve been trying to think of ways to make it fun and festive even though it’s different. Here are some of our fun Thanksgiving ideas for kids.

For the big kids: I told them this year they get to add something to the Thanksgiving feast all on their own. This meant: looking up a recipe, writing down all of the ingredients for me to get and then making it. They are excited to contribute something to the meal this year all on their own.

For the little kids: I came up with 3 easy crafts that would let them feel like they were contributing to the Thanksgiving table too. They’re in charge of “the drink”, the centerpiece and the place cards. Once the big sisters saw the crafting fun, they wanted in on creating some too. So while we may not have as many guests at the table this year, we sure will have lots of turkeys (crafts!). Here’s what they made:

Fun Thanksgiving Ideas for Kids

Toilet Paper Roll Turkey

Supplies: toilet paper roll, brown paint, google eyes, orange and red construction paper, feathers, glue, masking tape

Directions: Paint the toilet paper roll brown. This is not totally necessary since most toilet paper rolls are brown-ish. Feel free to skip the paint if you want to skip the mess! Glue on the turkey’s face. Once it’s dry, add the feathers to the back of the turkey. I think it’s a little tricky for the kids to use glue for this step, so we added the feathers by holding them in place with a piece of masking tape. If you don’t have any feathers, you can also cut feather shapes out of construction paper and use those. Use your toilet paper roll turkey for a Thanksgiving table centerpiece. It looks extra festive to make a few turkeys!

DIY Turkey Place Card Holders

Supplies: clothespins (I used short ones), brown paint, mini google eyes, orange paper, other construction paper, leaves (craft, made from paper or even real ones!)

Directions: Start by painting the clothespins brown. Once they are dry, glue on the mini google eyes and a “beak” cut from the orange paper. Next glue a leaf to the back of the clothespin. Last, make place cards out of the extra construction paper and write everyone’s names. These will look so cute on your Thanksgiving table!

DIY Thanksgiving Juice Box Wrappers

Supplies: Juicy Juice Juice Boxes, construction paper, tape, foam leaf stickers (or any fall stickers).

Directions: Cut out strips of construction paper. You want to make the strips of paper about 1 inch shorter than the juice box. Next wrap the construction paper around the juice box and hold it in place with a piece of tape. Now it’s time to decorate! Use the festive fall stickers to decorate the juice box wrappers. They are now ready to decorate your Thanksgiving table and be the drink for the kids at dinner.

If you like this festive juice box idea, visit Juicy Juice’s site for so many more cute ideas. We love this Turkey Juice Box! Juicy Juice has plenty of themed at-home recipes, activities, and crafts. They all incorporate their 100% juice and juice boxes.