Every year when the holiday season is approaching, I can’t wait to see what Pinterest has in store when I search Thanksgiving place cards. There’s nothing wrong with some store bought tent cards and a nice pen, but it’s fun to play with nontraditional materials to add an unexpected design element to the table.  We’ve collected ten ideas below that will keep your table feeling fresh and festive this year, without too much effort!

1. A placemat that doubles as a place card is not only an elegant time saver, it’s also a space saver, leaving more room on the table for Thanksgiving goodies. This version from Country Living couldn’t be easier to make.

2. Show me anything made from honeycomb paper and you are guaranteed two thumbs up! These turkey place cards from Say Yes are so simple and cute. You can attach a little paper flag if you want to add names.

3. These painted wood slice place cards from FamilyFun also double as a sweet take-home favor with a pin on the back. Mix up full names and initials for a playful display.

4. How cute are these emoji acorn place cards? These silly place cards from Bustle are sure to be a crowd pleaser with both the youngest and oldest Thanksgiving guests. Plus, your kids will love the assignment of making these while you’re getting the rest of the meal prepared.

5. Before pine wreaths start popping up everywhere, these tiny rosemary wreaths hint at what’s to come while still fitting in perfectly with your Thanksgiving spread. Wreaths via Camille Styles .

7. I love the simplicity of these pumpkin shapes from Oh Happy Day, and the ombre coloring is a modern alternative to a fully orange gourd.

8. These Plymouth Rocks (hehe!) from Parents are super simple…have the kids find rocks in the backyard, paint them, then glue on alphabet pasta letters to make cute place cards. Guests can take them home to reuse as paper weights!

9. These elaborate looking egg dioramas aren’t actually as tricky as they look. They guarantee plenty of oohs and ahhs, plus they can transform into ornaments for Christmas. (via Oh Happy Day)

10. This place card idea is cute enough to eat – and luckily you can! You can start using your leftovers before Thanksgiving day is even over. You Are My Fave uses pie dough scraps and alphabet cookie cutters to create these sweet letters.

Don’t get me wrong, I love love love a sophisticated Thanksgiving tablescape, set with pumpkins, leaves, candles, and gorgeous autumnal tones. But my favorite table to set on this holiday (and let’s face it, every holiday) is the kids’ table. There, I can play with color and the place settings in a more lively, whimsical way.

You have a lot to do, I know, so don’t go TOO nutso. I think if you can tackle these three parts of the table, you’ll have it made: the centerpiece, placemats or a tablecloth, and, obviously you can’t have a Thanksgiving table without place cards. (I say that because place cards are in my top five favorite things in the world to craft.)

So here’s how my kids’ table is going to look this year, and believe it or not, I did all my craft shopping at Paper Mart. Beyond bags, boxes, and bows, they have an awesome selection of craft supplies (Did you know that?).

SERVING TRAY PLACECARDS

What you need:

—Mini Plastic Trays

—Acrylic Paint

—Paintbrush

—Black Construction Paper

—White Paint Pen

—Glue Dot

Make It!

1. Paint as many trays as you have little guests and let them dry.

2. Cut black construction paper to fit inside tray, and write names with a white paint pen.

3. Once the trays are dry, attach name card to the center of the tray with a glue dot.

PAPER PLACEMATS and CUTE CUTLERY

What You Need:

—Colored Corrugated Paper Sheets

—Circles Felt Trim

—Bamboo cutlery

—Hot-Glue Gun

—Scissors

—Ruler

Make It!

1. Cut the paper into 13-inch by 18-inch rectangles.

2. Cut two pieces of 13-inch trim and two pieces of 18-inch trim per placemat. 

3. Attach trim to the edges with glue gun. (Your kids can definitely make these, just use white glue instead of a hot-glue gun.)

4. Cut three circles of trim and attach to the end of each utensil with hot glue. (You can substitute glue dots or white glue here so the kids can get involved.)

TURKEY CENTERPIECES

What you Need:

—Two balls of yarn in contrasting colors

—Two small white pom poms & two smaller black pom poms

—Scraps of orange and yellow felt

—Acrylic Paint

—Paintbrush

—9-inch Metallic Cake Circle (Or just buy this set. It’s way more affordable and you get bonus goodies!)

—Exacto Knife

—Ruler

—Scissors

—Hot-Glue Gun

—Pencil

How to Make It:

1. Draw three even pie-shaped sections on the cake circle and cut them with an exacto knife

2. Use two paint colors in the same family to cover the cardboard side of two sections, then paint vertical orange stripes that line up with the scallops on the third piece.

3. While the paint is drying, create two pom-poms of contrasting colors for the head and body. To Make Pom-Poms: Wrap yarn around four fingers, for the head wrap around two – the more you wrap the fuller the pom pom. Once the bundle is about an inch thick on either side of your hand, slide the yarn off your fingers and tie a tight knot around the center with a separate piece of yarn. Use scissors to cut through the loops on each side and fluff it out – trim the edges until it looks round.

4. Glue little black pom-poms onto white pom-poms to create eyes, then glue them on the head pom-pom. Glue on a small triangle of yellow felt for a beak and attach a bright orange or red tear drop shape on the side for a waddle. (We used pieces of the circles felt trim for the beak and waddle!) Hot-glue the head to the body.

5. Once dry, glue the three painted cake circle pieces together so that they overlap slightly with the striped piece in the middle. Finally, cut off the point on the bottom piece (to help it stand) and hot glue the body in the center.

Want my advice? Kill two birds with one stone…visit Paper Mart to stock up on your holiday wrapping supplies now (you’ll thank me in 4 weeks!) and while you’re there, grab a few extra items to add some pop and play to your kids’ Thanksgiving table.

Photography and creative direction by Amanda Kingloff. Craft assistance by Clare Yaghjian.

This post is in partnership with Paper Mart, where you can shop for wrapping supplies, craft goodies, and cardboard turkey feathers. 

Before you know it, it’s going to be glove season, and if you’re like me, you dig and you dig and you dig to find a matching set from years’ past, only to come up one glove short.

Don’t throw the glove away…no, no no. It’s the perfect base for many-a-craft. Think turkey for Thanksgiving, 5-legged octopus, or a monster puppet like these—obviously.

Here are the instructions for the Daring Dragon, and you can head over to Ebay to find the how-to’s for the other two! (Or just invent your own!)

What you’ll need:

Materials:

Knit Gloves

1. Cut a pipe cleaner in half and put one half in the thumb and the other half in the index finger.

2. Except for the pinky finger, stuff the rest of the glove, including the thumb and index finger.

3. Fold and glue the pinky to the back, then glue five pointy beads onto the index finger and thumb as the teeth.

4. Cut pink yarn and glue in front of the teeth as the lips.

5. Glue on small gems and a white and black pompom eye.

6. Cut a paper straw into 1-inch segment at an angle.

7. Glue the angled edges together to create spikes. Then glue them to the “back” of the dragon.

8. Stick dowel up into the batting and glue to seal.

I could live with these sweet angels on my mantle all year round.

You can also use different color boas and felt to make these into sweet fairies, sans halo of course!

What you’ll need:

• •Clothespin
• •Black and red markers
• •White yarn
• •White boa
• •White pipe cleaners
• •Scissors
• •White felt
• •1” wood doll head/knob
• •Tacky glue

Make It!

1. 1. Paint hair onto the wooden doll head and let dry.
2. 2. Color the bottom 1/2-inch of the clothespin black to make the feet.
3. 3. Wrap the clothespin with white yarn to make the body. Tie a knot in the back.
4. 4.  and glue a short piece of the boa around to make the angel’s tutu.
5. 5. Fold felt in half and cut a 1”-wide half-heart shape; when it’s unfolded it will look like wings. Glue a half of the pipe cleaner in between the back of the clothespin and the heart.
6. 6. Draw eyes and mouth on, then push head onto the closed end of the clothespin.
7. 7. Make a little loop with the other half of the pipe cleaner, bend the straight end down, and glue to the back of the head as a halo.

I was born into a family of stitchers, on both sides. My father’s mother was an extremely skilled needle pointer, my mother’s mother excelled in knitting, but also did embroidery and crewel work, and my mom knit through most of my childhood but has now perfected her needlepointing skills. She is so good that even the backs of her canvases could be framed!

When Family Fun magazine asked me to develop a three-tiered embroidery craft, I got so excited to see if the skill trickled down to my generation. The verdict is still out…I may still be at level 2, but I had so much fun with these! If you’re looking for a satisfying and easy craft for kids, this is it!