Cheap Thanksgiving Decorating Ideas for 2009

Thanksgiving is approaching and you are already thinking about decorating the house. Finances might be tight, or you might just want to be frugal in this area because you have other plans for that extra cash.

What things could you do to bring a Thanksgiving atmosphere into your home, without financially splurging?

With your children search the yard, or a nearby park, for colorful fallen leaves (with stems when possible) and pine cones.

Try to gather different sizes to give variety to your decorations.

The leaves can be used for different types of decorations: a wreath to hang on your door, garlands, centerpieces, coasters, and place-mats.

The pine cones can be added to the wreaths, and turned into little turkey centerpieces.

Let's look at how to assemble these decorations.

Wreath:

You will need a wire hanger you will take apart and shape into a circle. Next, use the cardboard rolls from toilet paper to cover the wire hanger and tape them together to avoid "free rolling around." Cover the base of the wreath with brown paper bags or brown construction paper. This does not need to be perfect as non smooth surface will give it a rustic feel.

Once that is done, begin attaching the leaves alternating colors, shapes, and sizes. You may want to glue a layer of flat leaves first, and then add a second layer with leaves that are wrinkled and curled to give it dimension. If you have small pine cones, you may want to add a couple of them on one side (upper or lower), and add a ribbon as a finishing touch.

Garland:

Attach leaves of different colors, shapes, and sizes to yarn or ribbon facing in different directions. If you use ribbon or thick yarn, you can attach the leaves with hot glue. If you use thin yarn, you want to tie the leaves by their stem.

Once done creating the garlands of desired length, attach them to windows, fireplace, drape them over pictures, or arrange them on the table.

Centerpiece:

With newspaper, create a ring large enough to accommodate a candle (the shorter, larger ones) and cover with brown paper bag or construction paper. Once the ring is formed, attach small leaves around the outside of the ring.

Coaster:

Create a circle large enough to place a glass or cup on it. Find a leaf that will fit and attach it to the circle. Cover both sides with clear contact paper.

Place-mat:

Have your family write on small pieces of papers the things for which they are thankful. Attach one per leaf (use tape in the back of the paper), and glue the leaf in the center of a piece of construction paper (yellow or orange so the leaves will stand out). You can leave that one leaf in the center, especially if it is big enough, or you can add other leaves. Make sure thought to not make it too busy. Once done, cover with clear contact paper on both sides of the mat.

Turkey Centerpiece:

This is a classic that has been made many times from preschools to elementary schools.

Trace your child's hands on different colors of construction paper; you can use just one color or four different ones. Glue the four little hands to the bottom of the pine cone as if they were turkey's feathers. On the front, glue a pom-pom; attach googly eyes, and a piece of red ribbon (or cloth, or paper) to represent the tongue.

Although these decorations are inexpensive to make, they are rich in family fun, memories, and warmth.

One final tip: if you choose to have your family members write things they are thankful for, or if you choose to make turkey feathers by tracing your child's hands, make sure that you write the date on those items.
When the place-mats get too tattered to be used again or when the turkeys start coming apart, you can keep those notes and hands and place then in a scrapbook to enjoy for years to come.