Thanksgiving-2007.com

Need tips for Thanksgiving...ideas to make it special/meaningful/memorable?

Do you have other ideas to make things special before we all start eating? In addition to adults, there will be: ~6 big boys – 12-17 y/o ~2 girls – 5 & 7 ~2+ little ones In the past, kids have read out of a book of sayings and prayers...looking for additional ideas/suggestion. Tx-in-advance.

Public Comments

1. We always went on a family walk right after we ate. Gave everyone a chance to talk. When we got back, we made homemade ice cream. Then we let the men settle down to their football games....... You need to just find a common denominator that the whole family likes to do and do it. When we visit my cousin, she wants each person to bring a Christmas ornament. Every year she puts up a family tree in the den with just the ornaments we give her. Pretty cool. Everyone tries to out compete in bringing the nicest ornament.
2. One by one have everyone say 1 thing that they are thankful for and say Thank you Jesus individually.
3. Did your mother have any favorite dishes that she liked to cook??? Would you enjoy making for your family??? If she did you could make some and tell your family the reason for the special dishes of food is that your mother cooked them for you when you were growing up and you wanted to make the day more special for everyone...be creative and good luck Happy Thanksgiving...
4. Have them all write what they were thankful the most for this year, keep the papers and scrapbook them into a layout, next year u can put the book out and every year their after, u can look back each year and the kids will get a kick out of what they said,
5. We have a large family also and the most fun we ever had at Thanksgiving was a couple of years ago when I made a Family Trivial Pursuit Game. I used a Trivial Pursuit board and made my own questions on index cards. I asked some other family members to contribute and I had to ask some answers that I did not know. We all played individually and the only rule was you could not answer a question about yourself. But your husband, children was okay, just the luck of the draw. I had categories like: MIDDLE NAMES, BIRTHDAYS, FACT OR FICTION, EMBARRASSING MOMENTS, AGE, SCHOOLS, GIRLFRIEND/BOYFRIEND, ETC. Middle names was just that, a card with someone (always a family member) first and last name and you had to know the middle name. Birthdays the same, someones name and you had to know the birthday. Fact or Fiction was something about a family member and you had to say if it was true on not. (This one was a lot of fun because you would be surprised what some people don't know about their relatives) Embarrassing moments, named some thing that happened to someone and you had to say who it happened to. (Really fun and you can go over all the family stories) Age was just a name and you had to know the exact age of the person. Schools was the a question like "Where did Aunt Mary go to 6th grade?" and you had to know where. Girlfriend/Boyfriend was a name of a person and you had to know whose girlfriend or boyfriend it was. And then I had a Misc. category for all the rest of the stuff I found out from researching the game, like "Who's afraid of frogs" or "Who had an imaginary friend named Bimber". We must have played for hours before we had a winner. If you missed three questions, you were out of the game and my mother ended up winning the whole thing. We still talk about it every holiday and everybody wants me to do it again, but I am out of trivia and it was a lot of work, but entirely worth it.....Happy Thanksgiving.
6. after dinner, we use to clear off the table, and get out the games, and while playing, dad would ask us what kind of things we were most thankful for, he also, got into our heads at that time, whats up in your world kinda of thing, cause he was thankful we were with him, and as a family, he was always, wanting to be close, but he worked, so Thanksgiving was thankful we had each other, and time for TV off, radio off, and only family music of voices could be heard. But I think its the holding hands around the table, and saying grace, and then looking at each face, and have to say I Love you because, I'm so thankful your in my life because, Then at the end the sparkling cider comes out the toast of Family and friends for the year, and the pie, with that, Then as the host, you can say, I'm thankful I have so many to help me clean up.