With Thanksgiving right around the corner, it’s time to start thinking about how you’re going to decorate the kid’s table! I married into a really large family and not including our kids, we have 13 nieces and nephews that usually come for dinner, so we have multiple kid’s tables – usually broken up by age groups – to accommodate all of our smaller guests.
That’s why I’ve put together two Thanksgiving kid’s table options for you – one that’s appropriate for little kids and one that’s perhaps more appropriate for the older kids – both with downloadable Thanksgiving printables! Go ahead and check them out for inspiration for your family’s Thanksgiving feast!
Thanksgiving Kid’s Table Idea – Gratitude Tree
The holidays get so crazy with all the focus on buying and busyness, that it’s nice to take a minute (even if the kids feel it’s forced) to remember that Thanksgiving is actually about being thankful! With that idea in mind, I designed this Gratitude Tree as a centerpiece for the kid’s table.
I took a Pumpkin Pie pumpkin, scooped out the insides and stuck some branches I found in the yard into a small floral foam disk which I placed inside. Then, I topped the opening with brown kraft crinkle paper to hide the hole. I added some decorative fall leaves, mini pumpkins, pinecones and candles around the base because even a kid’s table needs a little beauty and ambiance!
Next, I used our downloadable fall leaf printables (available in the Party Printables Library for free) to start the decorations on the tree and I also placed a few, along with a marker, at each place setting. The idea is for the children to write down a few things they’re thankful for this year, then attach those to the tree.
I used several different colored sheets of card stock to print out my leaves… deep reds, oranges and greens as well as a shimmery gold to make it feel like fall. For this photoshoot, I attached the leaves with glue dots… which kinda worked… for a little while. 🙂 My glue dots aren’t the best, so if you have some that work really well, use those to keep things easy and quick. Otherwise, I’d suggest using a pretty baker’s twine (which is what I’ll do come Thanksgiving dinner at our house).
For the actual place setting at this kid’s table, I started with a marbly green square piece of craft paper I found in Hobby Lobby and topped it with the cute “Give Thanks” plates I found there too. If you still need Thanksgiving plates, I think these Thankful pumpkin plates would be darling on a kid’s table as well!
This centerpiece and table setting is well suited for slightly older children, especially those who can write on their own. Actually, I think doing several of these Gratitude Trees down the center of any table – kids or adults – would be really lovely and refocus your family on what’s truly important this time of year.
Thanksgiving Kid’s Table Idea – Turkey Placemats
For the littler children at your family feast, what’s better than coloring on the dinner table?! That’s why I started by covering the table in kraft paper – it’s fun for them and easy for you to lay down and clean up afterwards. You can see I used the same centerpiece as well – it’s just so easy and festive I thought, why not?!
For each place setting I used an 11″ x 17″ piece of white paper to print out our downloadable Thanksgiving Placemats (available for free in the Party Printables Library). My kids loved coloring this silly turkey and choosing a different color for each of the Thanksgiving letters.
If those “Thankful” cups look familiar, it’s because I also used them to bake our Spice Cupcakes with Maple Pecan Frosting! As soon as I saw them I knew they’d be the perfect size for holding crayons too! I found these gold baking cups at HomeGoods, but there are several similar ones made by the same brand on Amazon.
Don’t forget that older kids – and adults – like to color too, so be sure to print a few extra copies of the placemat! Remember to keep things simple and fun for your kids tables this Thanksgiving! We hope you found inspiration with these two tables! Be sure to Pin this post for later and share your Thanksgiving tables with us on Facebook!