Ideas for “Be Thankful” Family Traditions At The Dining Table

It’s become a tradition for the members of my family to write down what we are thankful for after the Thanksgiving meal and then share them aloud with each other.   Each year I bring out the ones from the previous years for us to read again.

Here is what I’m using this year.  I got this idea from Pinterest.

I already had cardboard placemats that were gold-foiled with the word “Thankful” on one side.   I used the reverse side and stamped them using a wood stamp and added the lines.

I just off-set the plates to the left of the placemat.

I’m going to set out toile ink pens to write with.

I think these will be fun and be a constant reminder during the meal why we celebrate Thanksgiving.

Here are some ideas I’ve used in the past.  I have kept them so we an re-visit them each year.

One year I just used yellow cardstock and calligraphy pens to create the thankful cards and last year I ordered lovely small word press cards to use.

One of my favorite ideas was using small glass jars placed at each place setting.  Instead of having other write what they were thankful for, I typed of strips of paper with good things about each person and why we are all thankful for that person.

I began each by saying, Thank-you, NAME HERE, for ……..

Everyone seemed to enjoy these and I filled each container with candy.  They also served as name place settings, too.  Below is one I un-rolled for you to see the entire sentiment.

My family has enjoyed this tradition during Thanksgiving.  It’s just one way of focusing on the real reason we celebrate and not just about the food, parades, and football games.

Maybe you’ll try one of these ideas this year or maybe you already do something similar.

Hope your week is blessed,

Kim