Craft Ideas for Thanksgiving Place Mats
- Handmade place mats can add your personal style to your Thanksgiving dinner.Jeffrey Coolidge/Photodisc/Getty Images
Thanksgiving is a special day to spend with family, a day to count the blessings of our bounty. It is also a time to bring the rich hues of the harvest into our homes. In addition to a specially prepared feast, decorating with custom-made Thanksgiving place mats can add a unique flavor and sense of style to the table. - Invite your child to bring out their inner Picasso with homemade place mats featuring a hand tracing as a turkey. Using appropriately sized poster board or craft paper, crayons, markers or stamps, ask the children to create a unique turkey for each placement, or to create several different designs on each one. When the place mat is finished, it can be covered with sheer contact paper to protect it from food spills, allowing it to be used and enjoyed year after year. This craft project can also become an heirloom of sorts, documenting the season and age of child, by signing and dating the back of the place mat.
- Red and golden autumn leaves are the colors of Thanksgiving. Place mats created with this easy-to-find item of nature are quick to make and decorate. Taking a walk through your neighborhood or a natural park or setting with interesting, colorful tree leaves will allow you to select leaves from a wide spectrum of sizes and colors. The leaves should be placed between two pieces of equally sized wax paper and ironed with a warm iron until the paper is fused together. Trim the edges of the paper so that there are no mismatched or frayed pieces. To personalize each place mat, you can add your guests' names among the leaves before you iron the sheets together.
- An ear of corn, when stamped in autumnal colored fabric paint, brings an iconic harvest decor to your Thanksgiving place mats. You can use ready-made plain white place mats or create and stitch your own from linen or cotton fabric. Attach a nail or pin to each end of a corn cob, which has been cut in 2-inch lengths. Place the fabric paint in a paper plate or other small pan, then dip the cob into the color and roll it in your desired pattern, such as across the edges, in vertical stripes along the full length of the place mat. Multiple colors may be used and/or mixed. Don't forget to follow any heat-set instructions for the fabric paint or simply allow the place mat to dry fully before use.
