It’s autumn and time for a series of holidays that will keep your kids busy throughout the next few months. First up was Halloween which now leads into Thanksgiving only 4 weeks later. What is wonderful about these holidays is they fall within the same season and use the same color scheme. As a result, many of the things you purchase for one can be used for the other. This reduces the amount of money you need to spend on the kids’ fun during this season.
Here are some examples:
Cookie Cutters: A simple pumpkin cookie cutter you chose to create marvelous pumpkin invitations and decorations for your spooky Halloween party can be used at Thanksgiving time to make pumpkin sugar cookies, pumpkin bread, brownies, etc. Pumpkins are as festive at Halloween as they are at Thanksgiving.
Tablecloth: Use an orange tablecloth for your Halloween party table, and then trim it up using brown ribbon and scalloped scissors to create a formal tablecloth for Thanksgiving.
Purchase plain orange and white tableware, e.g. napkins, plates, cups, for Halloween. Use the leftover supplies for Thanksgiving as well. Provide your children with brown markers and draw turkeys on their cups and napkins to make them into festive Thanksgiving tableware. You may use the good china for the Thanksgiving meal itself, but this will be great for snacks before the meal and for serving leftovers.
The bales of hay and Indian cornyou purchased to make your yard, front porch, door, and even serve as a table centerpiece during the Halloween season can all be used during Thanksgiving as well. The items will keep fresh throughout the entire autumn season. You can also use the cornhusks to create dolls and puppets for more Thanksgiving decorations or plain fun!
Mini pumpkins and gourds look as festive for Halloween as they will for Thanksgiving. Have the kids draw faces on the small pumpkins and turkeys on to the gourds.
Any leftover orange balloons can be blown up for Thanksgiving and the kids can either draw with brown magic markers or use other craft materials to create turkey balloons.
Have the kids roll up large orange napkins that you may have used for your Halloween party and create napkin rings using white and black construction paper rings (the Pilgrim colors, of course!)
Did you bob for apples at your Halloween party? Use apples to create Apple Candlestick Holders. Core out the center of the apple to fit a candle snugly and have older children carve out patterns on the skin of the apple, or keep them plain red.
Happy seasonal decorating!
Submitted by Lisa Kothari
Lisa Kothari is the Founder and President of Peppers and Pollywogs, a kids’ party planning company. Visit our experts page to read more about Lisa Kothari and our party planning experts.
