Parents can start simple Thanksgiving traditions on November 26 to help children enjoy the holiday and create lasting family memories.
Families can celebrate at home or in their neighborhoods through activities such as sharing gratitude, helping others, serving desserts and enjoying sleepovers.
These eight Thanksgiving traditions give children ways to connect with loved ones and create happy holiday memories year after year.
1. A Basement Sleepover the Night Before
Push the couches back, carry the sleeping bags downstairs and let everyone camp out on Wednesday night. Nobody will sleep much, but that is part of the fun.
In the morning, the kids are already together and already in pajamas, which makes it easy to turn on the Thanksgiving Day Parade. If your home doesn’t have a basement, the living room floor works just as well.
2. Take on a 30-Day Fall Activities Challenge
Keep the family entertained with a new fall activity every day. A 30-day fall activities challenge gives children and parents plenty of ways to enjoy the season together. Here are a few activities to try:
- Prepare a bowl of homemade soup.
- Decorate and paint pumpkins.
- Enjoy a family hayride.
- Make s’mores together.
- Create leaf patterns using thread and leaves.
3. Giving Something Back
Thanksgiving often gets pushed aside by Black Friday sales, so it helps to focus on giving on purpose. Let the kids choose the project, because a child who picked the recipient will remember why they did it. A few ideas to get your family started:
- Bake cookies for your local firefighters or police men.
- Prepare gift packs for the homeless at a shelter home.
- Write a personal handwritten note for your isolated neighbor.
- Give out compliments to those around you during the day.
4. A Movie Marathon
Pick some movies and turn the afternoon into a cozy family event with blankets and snacks. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving is short and well-known, so it works great to start with children.
Older kids can decide on the movie. The movie titles don’t matter much; what matters is the habit of sitting on the same couch with the same snacks every year.
5. Bake Something New
Choose one recipe that people experiencing homelessness have tried before, such as pumpkin bread, apple pie, pumpkin cookies, or homemade mashed potatoes. Kids can measure the ingredients, crack the eggs and get flour all over the counter.
Some years the result will come out flat or a little burned and that’s fine. A kitchen mishap usually turns into a family story faster than a perfect dish does.
6. Let the Kids Run Dessert
Hand the dessert table over to the children for the evening. The youngest ones can scoop, plate and serve the adults, who finally get to sit back and be waited on.
It’s a small job, but kids take it very seriously. Being trusted with a real responsibility at a grown-up event stays with them and the adults usually enjoy it more than they expect.
7. A Thankful Jar
Place sticky notes and an empty jar where everyone can write down what they are thankful for, one thing per sticky note. This way, the jar can stay on the shelf until someone needs cheering up and then they can pick a note or two.
If you keep adding new notes every November, the jar will become a long list of what was important to you and your family in previous years.
8. Family Check-in List
Gather a list of people you want to contact, including your grandparents, a distant relative or even a neighbor who had a hard year.
Once a week, pick a name from the jar and contact the person by calling, sending a postcard, or dropping something off at their door. You can also apply the idea to families who practice spirituality in their lives.
Try to try all eight traditions in one year. Pick two or three that suit your household, and tell the kids about them so they know these are now part of your family’s Thanksgiving.
Next November, somebody will ask when the jar is coming out and that’s how you’ll know the tradition has taken hold.
