My house isn’t damaged, yet some lost everything. We have electricity, yet some sit in the dark with only candlelight. We are warm, yet so many are suffering in the frigid cold. My children have full bellies, yet others’ children cry from hunger, standing in long lines waiting for food. Hurricane Sandy didn’t harm my family. I have so much to be thankful for!
To help our family focus on having an attitude of gratitude, we decided to make a Thanksgiving Tree, a fun and meaningful Thanksgiving craft. Once a day, all during the month of November. Each family member can write one thing about that day that they were thankful for on a paper leaf and hang it on the Thanksgiving Tree. By Thanksgiving Day, instead of a leafless bare tree, this tree will be covered in reminders of how blessed we are.
To make a Thanksgiving Tree you will need just a few items.
Branches
vase
cardstock scrapbook paper in fall colors
ribbon
hole punch & scissors
gold metallic pen
I used the branches I had used on my Halloween Mantel. They were cut from River Birch trees in my yard. I placed them in a sparkly mercury glass vase. I next bought cardstock scrapbook paper from Michaels, in several shades of red, orange and green. I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out many maple leaf shapes, but you can also make a template from a leaf you have printed from your computer. Trace and cut out as many leaves as desired.
Punch a whole in each leaf, and thread a length of ribbon through the hole as shown below.
Place all the leaves in a decorative dish or basket along with a metallic gold pen and set it next to your tree. Each person can choose their leaf, write what they are thankful for on it and then tie it on a branch.
My sweet 5 year old was thankful for his home.
This cute little squirrel from Target sits under the tree.
I’m so glad we’ve decided to do this as family. I’ve been wanting to make one ever since I saw Décor Chick’s Thankful Tree last year. We have the Thanksgiving Tree displayed in our computer room which opens up to our kitchen. I placed my DIY Thanksgiving Subway Art behind it. It says “Give Thanks” in several languages.
This Thanksgiving Tree will be a good family tradition to start! On Thanksgiving we can read all the blessings together. Do you think your family would like this? Give it a try, and hopefully it will help encourage each other to always have an attitude of gratitude!
You might also like these other Thanksgiving ideas:
Thanksgiving Thankful Favors- Thanksgiving Place cards
Kim
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I seriously LOVE this!!!!!
Thanks Jess, We’re only on day 3 but it’s neat to see what everyone writes on their leaf!
what a lovely and thoughtful way to express gratitude.
Thank you Laura. 😉
I LOVE this! Simple. Cute. Creates a learning opportunity for children. Has a lot of meaning. Well done. I am going to share this with my fb and twitter fans. Thanks for posting.
Thank you Chrissie for sharing it! Our kids are so blessed and do not know suffering or need. A simple reminder of God’s blessings is needed every now and then. 😉
This is a lovely and sweet idea!
This is an awesome idea! I think this would be great to do at Thanksgiving with friends and family! We could create it that day, save it for next year, do it again and maybe even add to it year after year. Thx for sharing! I’m pinning!
Leslie
This is so cute! And a sweet idea. And even better that you made it as a family! Love it!
XO,
Jane
What a great idea….such a fantastic family project with so much meaning…Beautiful!
This has been on my list of things to do! Yours is beautiful!
Even in the most dire circumstances one can find something to be thankful for, and to increase blessings one must be a blessing to others, those suffering due to hurricane Sandy need a blessing……
I love this idea. This is something your kids will always remember. Your subway art is very cool too!
Kim that is a beautiful idea and a great project! We lost power during an icestorm for 14 days. (I will never take running water for granted again.) The thought that your tree will be full of leaves of gratitude by Thanksgiving is wonderful!
I can not wait to do this with my family I have teenage two boys and we are so blessed. This will be a reminder to us. I am all so going to share it with extended family.Thank you for your wonderful blog filled with so much inspiration.
I love this idea and it would be wonderful for my boys. Thanks for sharing.
XO
Kristin
I do this every year with my preschool class — it’s a lovely exercise in having a grateful heart. Love that you’re embracing it, Kim!!
xo Heidi
LOVE this!! What a beautiful reminder as well as a beautiful piece on top of your table 🙂 Sooo thankful you made it safely through the storm!
beautiful…so many things to be thankful for…xo
Super CUTE! I made a Thankful tree with my 3,4,& 5 year old Sunday School class yesterday. I used a mason jar filled with sand from a local beach to steady the branches. We will draw something we are thankful for each Sunday until Thanksgiving and plan to display it in the foyer of our church. It’s my first time to drop by your blog and I excited to be your newest follower! Hope you will find time to drop by mine too!
What a neat idea!
And its beautiful to boot!
Love it!
Really love this idea. After hurricane sandy … I have some great branches to use! Definitely going to try this.
This is so beautiful Kim! What a fabulous way to show your thankfulness. I’m so happy to hear you and your family are safe from the storm. Thinking about everyone else who wasn’t so fortunate. Thanks for sharing this with all of us.
Looks lovely! I did a similar kid’s version a couple years ago… you have inspired me to pull it out again. Happy Weekend! Malia
I love this – such a wonderful to celebrate and remember all we have to be thankful for!
I have seen many variations of the this, but I am drawn to this one. Thank you for sharing!