While the Turkey Bakes

If you're like our family, you're heading to the place of festivities late Wednesday night, which means you will have plenty of time to fill between when the kids get up on Thanksgiving Day and when the food is served.  :)  With that in mind, I've been turning my ear towards those with fun family traditions for Thanksgiving Day. 

Of course, these activities don't need to be done before the turkey is eaten.  They would all be wonderful ways to spend time together after all the tummies are filled.  Whenever you incorporate them, here are a few ideas (that I think) are worthy of incorporating into our family's traditions, maybe yours too. 

Make Christmas Ornaments 

There is a plethora of options out there for ornaments kids of all ages can make.  The awesome thing about this activity is that then your child has an ornament from every year.  You could hang them on your family tree, or maybe on your child's own tree to showcase his/her treasures.  Here are a few of my favorite ornament ideas.  For instructions to make these ornaments, click here.

 
Bingo
You could do this just for all the kids, or for the whole family, and you could have grandma grab some prizes from the dollar store or give out nickels and dimes.  Of course, if your family is not into bingo, you could play a different card game or board games.

Gingerbread House Making Contest
I got this idea from a teacher and she seemed to have the perfect plan for making gingerbread houses.  First, she gathered used, cleaned milk cartons, which provide the perfect shape for a house. 

The kids then used graham crackers for the siding/roof and decorated the houses from there.  Perhaps the most clever part of all is that she had the kids decorate the houses on an upside down ice cream pail lid so that when they were done, you could put the pail over the house and transport it safely home.  Brilliant!