Thanksgiving Hostess Gifts

Thanksgiving means turkey...

turkey means cooking...

So, why not make Thanksgiving potholders as the perfect Thanksgiving hostess gift from the grandkids!

I considered having the girls make the usual handprint turkeys (which they are super fond of). But after seeing this idea on The Charmed Mom's blog for fingerprint turkey cards, I figured why not translate these turkeys to our potholders.

So it was off the Bed, Bath & Beyond armed with my 20% off coupons to find potholders to use as our canvas. After scouring the 'kitchen textiles' department, I found fabulous yellow oven mitts for our project.

We began by making rows of thumb print turkey feathers which slightly overlapped the previous row. We then added the brown thumb print turkey body in the center. And another brown thumbprint as the head.

 Once the body & feathers were dry, we added details like eyes, legs, beak and waddle.

 And of course, we used our extra paint to make these happy handprint turkeys!

We delivered one potholder to each of the grandmas on our double turkey dinner marathon day. The turkey plates made great gifts for the aunts on hand that day!

A Thanksgiving Tradition

After our yearly trek into the city for Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Clarke girls also participate in the annual making of the place mats. Back in 2008, when Kirsten was just 2 years old, I began a Thanksgiving tradition. Thanks to Better Homes and Gardens, I found this adorable printable placemat. The link to it no longer exists on their site, so thank goodness I saved it here:

Each year, the girls and I spend some time completing our placemat, which I then laminate. I am not really sure which I enjoy more, the ideas they choose to record, the details they include in the self-portraits, or the progression of their handwriting.

Let's take a trip down memory through our Thanksgiving placemats.

Kirsten's First Thanksgiving Placemat, 2008

2009

2010

2011

2012