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Crafty Thanksgiving Decorations

Daytime

Published: November 11, 2010

Simple and budget-friendly crafts and home décor projects are some of the holiday trends Sandy Sandler, founder of non-profit Crafters 4 Kids and creator of the Bowdabra, is seeing.

"Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to be with your family and realize your many blessings," Sandy says. "You do not have to spend money on decorations and family activities to have a glorious day. With a little creativity you can have a splendid festive frugal Thanksgiving Day."

This Thanksgiving season, Sandy has outlined some ideas to be thankful as a family from recommended activities to frugal decorating projects for the kids to Thanksgiving dinner budget tips.

Thanksgiving Dinner on a Budget:

- Make a meal plan. A meal plan is extremely helpful when making your grocery list. It stops you from buying more food than you actually need. This also helps with coupons and coordinating with upcoming sales.

- Shop the sales. A couple of weeks before Thanksgiving Day grocery stores start to have great sales and in-store promotions. For an even bigger savings; match the store sales with manufactures' coupons for twice the savings! Also, don't forget to check the stores and manufacturers online coupons! Many stores even have electronic coupons that will be automatically loaded to your frequent shopping card.

- Ask guests to bring side dishes or dessert. Guests never mind bringing food. It lets them feel like they are contributing to the dinner. It cuts down on your cost, cooking time, and lets you have more time to socialize.

- Make it yourself. Instead of buying pre-made, make your own. It is very easy to make your own biscuits, pies, stuffing, and side dishes. Freshly baked food is usually more nutritional, has no preservatives, and is often half the price. NOTE: Sandy can provide a great frozen chocolate mousse recipe for dessert that even the kids can make!

Frugal Decorations – Get the little Kids Involved:

· Adorable cork turkey name cards
· Turn a popcorn popper into a turkey
· Fall Wreath
· Terra cotta turkey treat holder
· Turkey fan decoration
· Turkey card for friends or to send to your guests

Other Frugal Home Décor Projects for Thanksgiving Include:
· Turkey Handprint: Have your children trace their hands on construction paper. Cut out their hand prints and have them draw a turkey face on their thumb cut-out.
· Glam Leaves: Cut leaf shapes out of foam sheets with adhesive backs. Attach rhinestones and glitter to the sticky side (no glue needed). Hang with a ribbon.
· Original Thanksgiving Decorations: Cool Indian corn décor you can make with tissue paper and construction paper.
Family Thanksgiving Activities:

"Thankful Tree". Draw and cut out a tree full of tree branches. Cut out 10 to 20 leaves. Ask your family to write what they are thankful for on each leaf. Place the leaves on your "Thankful Tree". Your family will feel so blessed when they see all they have to be thankful for.

Take a Nature Walk. Spend time with your children outside walking off your turkey dinner. Identify types of trees by their leaves. Take lots of pictures and you can use these for home made holiday cards and gifts.

Play a game. Before or after your Thanksgiving dinner gather the family around the table and play your favorite card or board game!

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