Take Great Family Photos During Thanksgiving

This entry was written on Nov 22, 2008 by our Holidays Guru Katelyn Thomas

Have you noticed that your Thanksgiving photos are a bit dull? Are they all crowded group photos of people around the table? One or two of these snapshots are great, but if your style is to get as many people into each photo as possible, you may want to change things up this Thanksgiving.

• A fantastic photo has a focal point. Take close ups of a single person's face or of a couple leaning in to talk to each other.


• Try a posed group shot where shorter people sit in chairs on one side of the table and taller people stand behind them instead of attempting to sneak off surprise shots of the entire group.

Easy Kids Thanksgiving Craft Idea

This entry was written on Oct 29, 2008 by our Holidays Guru Katelyn Thomas

When you're rushing around cooking dinner and dusting off the good dishes, you don't have time to supervise complicated crafts. It's a good thing that there are plenty of easy kids' Thanksgiving craft ideas to help you out!

One of my favorite kid approved Thanksgiving craft ideas is to make the traditional handprint turkey. Kids love tracing around their hands to create all sorts of crafts and doting relatives treasure crafts that show how tiny those little hands are. Simply trace the hand shape onto white paper and then add details with a crayon. The thumb area is the turkey's head and the fingers become a colorful tail.

However, for older kids or young children who are more experienced crafters, traditional handprint turkeys can be a bit too simple.

To make a more complicated version of the handprint turkey craft, you will need:

• feathers


• googley eyes


• scissors


• glue


• crayon


• brown, red and orange paper


• orange pipecleaner


• hole punch


• yarn

Begin by spreading out the fingers on the hand you don't write with as wide as you can. Place your hand on a piece of brown or tan paper and trace around it. Cut out your hand shape. Cut out a red wattle and an orange beak. Cut the pipe cleaner in half.

Glue the wattle and beak to the thumb of the cut out hand. Add a googley eye to each side of the thumb. Glue feathers onto the fingers of your handprint. Shape the bottom of each pipe cleaner half into feet. Glue the pipe cleaner legs to your craft.

Punch a hole in the top of your turkey handprint. Thread your yarn through the hole and tie a knot. Now, you have a cute handprint turkey decoration that you can hang in your window.

For a messier version of this craft, use finger paints or a non-toxic washable ink to make the handprint instead of tracing around your hand.

Make an Easy Thanksgiving Card

This entry was written on Sep 30, 2008 by our Holidays Guru Katelyn Thomas

We love to give cards for every holiday, including Thanksgiving. Since I couldn't draw a turkey to save my life, I decided to create an easy Thanksgiving card using fall leaves. To make this card, you will need:

• Fall leaves


• Blank card


• Colored pencils


• Gel pen

Begin by positioning the leaves on the card in an attractive pattern. Then, trace around them with your colored pencils. Next, remove the leaves. Color your leaf outlines in. Don't forget to draw in some veins.

On the inside of the card, use your gel pen to write your Thanksgiving message. I wrote, "May your blessings pile up higher than the largest mound of leaves. Happy Thanksgiving!"