How to Make DIY Thanksgiving Dinner Place Cards

The Turkey is cooking and everyone is busy getting ready for the meal. The table is being set and you need something extra in the center of the plate to make the table look nice. You want to keep it simple. You have ideas. There are several caramel applies sitting on the counter. You can put one in the center of each person’s plate as a place card. You are one caramel apple short. What are you going to do? You check the refrigerator and you find enough apples in the drawer for everyone. For those of you who do not know what DIY means, it stands for do-it-yourself.

Instructions on how to decorate an apple
You will need enough apples for each plate on the table. Wash and dry the apples. Take the cloves out of the spice cupboard. Put one clove in each apple making the eyes; then put several cloves in the apple making up the mouth. You can use five to ten cloves to make the mouth. Set an apple in the center of each place setting at the table. To help everyone find their place at the table you can make a name card for each person by drawing a leaf, naming it with a family members name and cutting the leaf pattern out and pinning it to the top center of the apple. Each apple should have a smiley face and a labeled leaf attached to the top center of the apple with a stick pin or clove. Before you put the clove in the leaf make a small hole in the leaf with the stick pin. You could use a paper punch to make the hole but the hole might be too big.

Supplies you will need
Apples, cloves, construction paper, scissors, stick pins and a magic marker. If you are worried about people getting poked from the stick pins you can use the stick pin to poke a hole in the paper leaf and tie the leaf to the apple stem. If the apple does not have a stem you can poke a clove through the paper leaf and then attach the paper leaf by poking the clove into the top center of the apple. This is an idea that all ages can participate in.

It is important to remember history on Thanksgiving Day. We are taught in school that the Pilgrims came over from England on the Mayflower. The first year they worked hard in Plymouth establishing a village and growing crops. One year later, November 1621, after the Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth they celebrated their First Thanksgiving with the Indians which lasted three days. Governor William Bradford sent four men to help with the celebration. The four Indians arrived with five deer. They had plenty of corn so they were celebrating the successful corn harvest. The sugar supply had dwindled and there were no ovens so there were no desserts. The Indians taught the Pilgrims how to extract sap from the maple trees. You would have thought that they would have had a dessert made with maple sap.

In 1941 President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving Day up one week to make Thanksgiving the fourth Thursday in November in hopes that he would increase retail sales during the Great Depression. Today it is not much different other than we have added a Thanksgiving Day Parade and a Football game to the Holiday. Each year, since 1924, we televise the famous Macy’s department store parade, located in New York City. The 1941 Great Depression is how Black Friday came about.

Instruction on how to make a pilgrim and an Indian
Using paper and a pencil draw a female or male pilgrim or Indian. Color each one. Name each one with a family member’s name. Cut the pilgrims and Indians out. Place one pilgrim or Indian on each family member’s plate.

Supplies you will need
Paper, scissors, pencils, crayons, colored pencils, colored markers, paint and paint brushes. This is an idea that all ages can participate in.

Resources for Further Reading:
Thanksgiving History.
Teach Your Kids about Turkey Day! The Thanksgiving Story for Kids.