The Thankful Tree

The Thankful Tree: This is a great way to put your Thanksgiving guests in a thankful mood. Cut as many leaves out of autumn-colored papers as you have guests. Ask each person to write down what they are thankful for, and place them on the tree or in a basket or bowl on the dinner table. If you have one of those little wrought iron trees that you can set on your Thanksgiving table, this will make a beautiful centerpiece. Tie little ribbons through a hole in the top of each leaf, so they can be hung on your "Thankful Tree." Take turns reading them as you enjoy dessert, then collage them into your Thanksgiving album as an after dinner activity. Everyone, especially children, will enjoy looking back over the years and reading what they were thankful for.

Our Holiday Album is a photo journal of your family's holiday together and gives each family member a wonderful sense of belonging and pride. This 9" x 12" album is designed to hold pictures & holiday cards collected over the years. Create a tradition by sitting down with your family after the holiday season and pick out four or five of your photos and place them in this album. It's a wonderful way to look back and remember how your family celebrates life. There are twenty-five acid-free pages.

H-A-L-L-O-W-E-E-N

H is for haunted houses
A is for apple picking
L is for looking for treats
L is for listening to spooking stories
O is for the October harvest
W is for wicked witches
E is for eerie ghosts
E is for eating lots of candy
N is for neighborhood haunting

Gather your family to create spooky, funny or cute Halloween poems. Have each person read his or her poem aloud during dinner or at your Halloween party. Once your poems are perfected, type them on the computer in a Halloween-y looking script on ivory paper. Then collage the poems onto one sheet and feature this keepsake in a black frame sitting out among the Halloween décor for all to see every year.

Host a Pumpkin Carving Contest

With neighbors, friends or family, host an annual pumpkin-carving contest. Invite judges to select the winners, and prepare some fun Halloween ribbons to hand out. Try black construction paper ribbons with an orange pumpkin on top where you can write the category. The scariest, the silliest, the most original, or just the best all around, are all examples of great rewards. Everyone in the family will want to help choose and carve the “Family Pumpkin.” After the awards ceremony, bring out your Halloween refreshments and watch a spooky movie together! Don’t forget to take photos to add to your Halloween book.

Halloween Idea - Spooky Spiders & Creepy Crawlers

Start a new Halloween tradition and bake a scary cake, using a mix or one of your favorite recipes. Once the cake is baked, frost it with dark chocolate frosting and sprinkle crumbled chocolate wafers over it. This layer will transform the cake into the “dirt” grounds of a cemetery. Insert shortbread cookie tombstones with various messages like ”BOO” or “RIP” written with frosting. Add whatever little plastic (or edible) spooky spiders and creepy crawlers you can fin at your local craft store, and you’ll be sure to raise the dead. Once the cake is sliced and served, each person not only receives a delicious treat, but a delightful scare!

Halloween Tradition Idea - The Magic Pumpkin Patch

This tradition is sure to spark the magic of Halloween for your kids. Tell the children that this year you have found some magic seeds to grow pumpkins. Gather your kids together and give each child 3-5 pieces of candy corn, the “magic pumpkin seeds.” Have them bury each piece of candy in the front or backyard and place a toothpick marker for where they buried their seeds. While they are sleeping place a small pumpkin, which you purchased at the grocery store, one each place they planted a seed. Watch as in the morning they are amazed by the beautiful pumpkins their magic seeds have grown into. Take a picture of each child with their favorite pumpkin in the patch and put it into your holiday tradition Book.

October tradtion -- The Ghost Hunter

This is a game that you can play with children of all ages and is fun year after year. Take white tissues; fold them in the middle and glue on plastic eyes, which can be found inmost craft stores. Poke a hole in the top and insert a piece of string and tie a knot on the end. You can make as many as you want, but be sure there are at least a few for each ghost hunter to capture. String up your little tissue ghosts all over the house and/or outside on tree branches and plants. Right before it gets dark have your children collect as many “ghosts” as they can find. The winner is given the official ghost hunter crown, which can be a black construction paper hat with ghosts drawn on it or a plastic crown you purchase at the costume store. Take a picture of the official “ghost hunter” of the family and put it in a sectioned frame, add a new picture to the frame each year.

October Tradition Creative Communication

Start a new tradition this month that will open up communication with you and your family members. Using orange construction paper and the templates provided, cut out small pumpkins and put them into a clear jar with some black magic markers. Decorate the jar and keep it in a place for everyone to see. Throughout the month, choose one time during the day when your family is together (breakfast, bedtime, after school, etc) and have everyone decorate a face on the pumpkin that will show how they felt that day. Mom might put a big smiley pumpkin face and share how happy she was that everyone got dressed that morning by themselves. Little Joey might draw a sad face and share that someone had been mean to him on the playground. When Grandma is visiting, she might show a happy face because she is so happy to spend time with her grandchildren. Make this a new tradition during the month of October to decorate the refrigerator with all the faces that your family felt throughout the month.

Thanksgiving Tradition -- The Thankful Tree

This is a great way to put your Thanksgiving guests in a thankful mood. Cut as many leaves out of autumn-colored papers as you have guests. Ask each person to write down what they are thankful for, and place them on the tree or in a basket or bowl on the dinner table. If you have one of those little wrought iron trees that you can set on your Thanksgiving table, this will make a beautiful centerpiece. Tie little ribbons through a hole in the top of each leaf, so they can be hung on your "Thankful Tree." Take turns reading them as you enjoy dessert, then collage them into your Thanksgiving album as an after dinner activity. Everyone, especially children, will enjoy looking back over the years and reading what they were thankful for.

"You've been Booed" Poem

This phantom haunts you happily
From now through Halloween,
And was delivered by a friend
Who (we hope) was not seen.

The spirit of the neighborhood
Has come to wish you well.
Somewhere, someone selected you
To find this happy spell.

You must display the phantom
On your door so all can spy
That you’ve already been boo’ed by
This happy little guy.

Then fix three snacks with goodies
Like this one brought to you,
Ring someone’s bell and leave a bag
And make them happy too!