Category: Thanksgiving

Gingerbread House Tradition -23

Our family Thanksgiving tradition is making Gingerbread Houses. This year we used a Wilton House Kit with the icing and candies.

We use the icing like the glue to hold the gingerbread house together. Then once it was pretty sturdy, we used the glue to attach the candy decorations.

This is a tradition that my little sister and I started when we were teenagers. I have continued it with my kids (and sometimes their cousins) for over 20 years now.

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Family Thanksgiving Minute-to-Win-it

We visited some family for Thanksgiving. We played a few Minute-to-Win-it challenges together. Our family has a large age difference, so we tried to choose games that would be equally challenging for each of all.

Corn Cob Roll

Corn Cob Roll

Materials:

  • 1 minute Timer
  • Corn Cob
  • Wooden Spoons
  • Masking tape

Directions:

  1. Make straight lines with your masking tape that are at least 12 feet long and 1 foot apart.
  2. In less than 1 minute…
  3. Players should slowly roll the corn cob down the lane
  4. If the corn cob rolls out of the lane, players have to roll it back to where it left the line and keep going
  5. No sliding the corn cob with the spoon

Pumpkin Seed Suck It Up

Pumpkin Seed Suck It Up

Materials:

  • 1 minute timer
  • 10 Pumpkin Seeds
  • Straws
  • Plates

Directions:

  1. Player needs 2 plates with 10 Pumpkin Seeds on one plate.
  2. In less than 1 minute…
  3. Use the straw to suck up the seeds, one at a time and place them on the second plate.
  4. Try to get all of the seeds to the second plate in less than a minute.
  5. You can adjust the difficulty of this challenge by adding or taking seeds.
Pumpkin Seed Suck It Up
Pumpkin Seed Suck It Up
Pumpkin Seed Suck It Up
Pumpkin Seed Suck It Up

Thankful Plate Stack

Thankful Plate Stack

Materials:

  • 1 minute Timer
  • 6 Plastic Cups
  • 3 Large Paper Plates

Directions:

  1. In less than 1 minute…
  2. have players stack the cups starting with 1, then a plate, 2 more cups, plate, 1 cup, plate, 2 cups!
Thankful Plate Stack

Match Maker

Match Maker

Materials:

  • 1 minute Timer
  • 9 Pumpkins
  • 9 Acorns
  • 18 Cups
  • 2 Empty Cups (across the room)

Directions:

  1. Place a pumpkin under each cup and an acorn under each cup… and spread them out on the table.
  2. Place an empty cup several feet away.
  3. You have just 1 minute to…
  4. uncover 1 pumpkin and acorn at a time and run it to the empty cups across the room
  5. Sort the pumpkins and acorns into the appropriate cups.

Candy Corn Shake!

Candy Corn Shake!

Materials:

  • 1 minute Timer
  • 5 plastic cups
  • 15 pieces of candy corn
  • card stock
  • glue

Directions:

  1. place candy corn into cups with 1 in a cup, 2 in the next cup, 3 in the next cup, 4, then 5
  2. Cover the opening with card stock and glue – write a little number of how many candy corns are inside for your eyes only
  3. In under a minute…
  4. Players should shake the cups and order them in order 1-5 candy corns.
Candy Corn Shake!
Candy Corn Shake!

 Shake Your Tail Feather

Shake Your Tail Feather

Materials:

  • 1 minute Timer
  • an empty tissue box – the rectangle kind
  • pantyhose
  • 1 bag of feathers
  • scissors and tape

Directions:

  1. Tie the hose through the tissue box with the legs for the hose extending out of the backside
  2. Fill the tissue box with feathers
  3. In under a minute…
  4. players should shake their tail feathers – emptying feathers out of the box
Shake Your Tail Feather
Shake Your Tail Feather

Inertia Yank

Inertia Yank

Materials:

  • 1 minute Timer
  • 3 plastic cups
  • 2 pieces of card stock

Directions:

  1. Place a cup with a piece of card stock on top of it.  Then a cup on top of that with another piece of card stock on top. Place 1 more cup on top.
  2. In under a minute…
  1. Players should yank the card stock out from between the cups
  2. If they are quick enough the cups should stack up without toppling over.

Pumpkin Bop

Pumpkin Bop

Materials:

  • 1 minute Timer
  • Orange Balloons

Directions:

  1. Players keep one hand in their pocket and try to keep two orange balloons up in the air for one minute.
  2. You can adjust the difficulty of this challenge by adding or taking away a balloon.
Pumpkin Bop

Leaf Blower

Leaf Blower

Materials:

  • 1 minute Timer
  • leaves, they can be real leaves that are dried out or fake leaves
  • straws (or turkey basters)

Instructions:

  1. In less that 1 minute…
  2. Player will use a new straw (or turkey baster) to blow/race the leaf to the other end of the table.
Leaf Blower
Leaf Blower
Leaf Blower

Turkey Trot

Turkey Trot

Materials:

  • 1 minute Timer
  • Wooden spoons
  • candy pumpkins or candy corn

Instructions:

  1. Place one candy pumpkin on a spoon and stand at the beginning of the obstacle course.
  2. In less than a minute…
  3. Have players race holding onto their spoon with one hand (you can allow younger kids to use both hands).
  4. If their candy drops off, they have to start back at the beginning.
  5. To make this game more challenging for adults, you can create a bit of an obstacle course.
Turkey Trot
Turkey Trot
Turkey Trot
Turkey Trot

Acorn/ Pumpkin Toss

Acorn/ Pumpkin Toss

Materials:

  • 1 minute Timer
  • 10 Acorns or Candy Pumpkins
  • Halloween Pumpkin Bucket

Instructions:

  1. Place the bucket on the floor 10 feet from where the player will be standing.
  2. In under a minute…
  3. The person with the acorns needs to throw all of the acorns into the bucket.   
Acorn/ Pumpkin Toss
Acorn/ Pumpkin Toss

Turkeys of a Feather

Materials:

  • 1 minute Timer
  • 2 feathers
  • Turkey basters

Directions:

  1. The object of the game is to keep your feather in the air without touching the ground or any other surface by blowing on them.
  2. players need to attempt to keep their feather in the air for a full minute by blowing it up.

Buckets of Acorns

Buckets of Acorns

Materials:

  • 1 minute Timer
  • 2 bowls
  • Jumbos kids tweezers or chopsticks
  • 10 acorns

Instructions:

  1. 2 bowls side by side.  All of the acorns in 1 of the bowls.
  2. In under a minute…
  3. Players will try and get all of the acorns into the empty bowl using only the tweezers.
Buckets of Acorns
Buckets of Acorns
Buckets of Acorns

Pumpkin Head

Pumpkin Head

Materials:

  • 1 minute Timer
  • Mini pumpkins

Directions:

  1. Give each player a mini pumpkin to balance on their head.
  2. In under a minute…
  3. The players must run from one end of the yard to the other without the pumpkin falling off their heads. If you want to make it more difficult, you can set up an obstacle course.
  4. (our pumpkins were too small and light for this one… I suggest an actual tiny pumpkin)

Thanksgiving Baking

My brother and his family came to visit us for Thanksgiving this year. We had fun playing inside and outsied!

Gingerbread Men

Making gingerbread houses is our family Thanksgiving tradition. This year we tried something new and decorated home made gingerbread men…

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups flour
  • 3/4 cup melted butter
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup molasses
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp ginger
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 egg
  • Icing
  • Decorating Candies

Directions:

  1. Combine all ingredients in a medium mixing bowl. Once dough begins to form a ball in the center, dust generously with flour.
  2. Cover dough with plastic wrap or wax paper and chill for at least 4 hours, or overnight.
  3. Dust a smooth surface with flour, and roll out a section of the dough to about 1/4 inch thick.
  4. Use a gingerbread man cookie cutter slice out your Gingerbread Men.
  5. Bake at 350ËšF/180ËšC for 10-12 minutes.
  6. Cool completely before decorating with icing and candies.

Hershey’s Freezer Pie

We love chocolate freezer pie for Thanksgiving dessert…

Ingredients:

  • 8 oz. Hershey’s bar
  • 8 oz. Cream Cheese
  • 16 oz. Cool Whip
  • 2 Prepared 8 inch Graham Crust
  • 1/4 cup milk

Directions:

  1. Heat the chocolate and 2 tablespoons of the milk in a saucepan over low heat, stirring until melted.
  2. Beat the cream cheese and add the remaining milk. Add chocolate mix and beat until smooth.
  3. In a bowl, fold the chocolate mix into the cool whip and blend until smooth.
  4. Spoon the mix into the crusts. I decorated the pies with some extra cool whip and shaved chocolate bar for my son’s birthday.
  5. Freeze for 4 hours.

Cinnamon Rolls

I made homemade cinnamon rolls for Thanksgiving day breakfast…

Ingredients:

Dough

  • 1 cup warm milk
  • 1 tablespoon instant dry yeast
  • 2 tablespoons white granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3 tablespoons softened butter
  • 1 large egg
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour

Filling

  • 1/2 cup melted butter
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

Icing

  • 4 ounces cream softened cheese
  • 1/4 cup softened butter
  • 1 to 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons milk

Directions:

  1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine warm milk and yeast… let set for 5-10 minutes.
  2. Add sugar, salt, butter, and eggs. Add in flour. Using a dough hook, turn the mixer on to a low speed.
  3. Once the flour starts to mix into the dough, increase the speed to a medium range. Add more flour as necessary so that the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. It should be soft, but not stick to your hands.
  4. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased mixing bowl. Cover with a towel and let rise until double in size, about 1 hour.
  5. Lightly grease a baking pan. Punch down the dough and roll into a 12inch by 18inch rectangle.
  6. In a small bowl, combine the butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. Spread on top of the dough. Roll up tightly lengthwise so you have one long roll. Use a sharp knife to cut the dough into 12 one-inch slices.
  7. Place the slices onto a lightly 9×13 pan. Cover and let rise 30 to 45 minutes.
  8. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Bake the rolls for about 20 minutes, until the tops have a touch of brown.
  9. While the cinnamon rolls are baking, make the cream cheese icing by using a hand mixer to whip together cream cheese and butter in a bowl until light and fluffy. Whip in powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Add enough milk to get a super soft consistency.
  10. Frost the rolls while still warm. Serve immediately or cool and store. Stays good for 4 to 5 days.

I made them the night before and placed them in the refrigerator before the last rising. In the morning I set them on the counter for an hour before I baked them.

Kids Thanksgiving Treats

One of our family Thanksgiving traditions is making Gingerbread Houses. This year we continued our tradition with mini Gingerbread Houses and Waffle Cone Christmas Trees. I also tried something new this year, I made a Thanksgiving Charcuterie Board with foods that my family enjoys.

Mini Gingerbread Houses

Ingredients:

Directions:

  1. We each chose our houses and gently broke apart the pieces… one of the houses broke in the mail. But we were happy with the rest of our houses.
  2. We helped each other hold the pieces together as we used the icing to “glue” them into place.
  3. Then we decorated our houses with the candies using the icing as the “glue”.

Waffle Cone Christmas Trees

Ingredients:

  • Waffle Cones
  • Royal Icing
  • Green Food Coloring
  • Tiny Christmas Candies

Directions:

  1. We dyed some of the icing green and covered our waffle cones with it.
  2. Then we used the candies to decorate our Christmas trees.

Thanksgiving Charcuterie Board

Ingredients:

  • Wooden Board
  • Small bowls or containers
  • Small spoons, knives, tongs, etc…
  • various Meats and Cheeses
  • various Crackers and Breads
  • fresh and dried Fruit and Berries
  • Candy Pumpkins or Candy Corn
  • Sage or Thyme

Directions:

  1. Place your bowls on your board. We put olives, craisins, frosted cranberries, and roasted pumpkin seeds in our bowls.
  2. Place your cheese. We used a sphere of Gouda cheese and a bacon ranch cheese ball.
  3. Place your meats around the cheese. We like pepperoni and hard salami.
  4. Place your crackers and breads. We used 3 different types of crackers, blue corn chips, and a sliced baguette.
  5. Place some herbs around the edges of the board.
  6. Place your fruit and berries. We used grapes, blackberries, strawberries, and clementines.
  7. Last we placed our candy pumpkins and added the utensils.

Thanksgiving Treats

This is the first Thanksgiving dinner that I have ever made. My family came for a visit from the west coast, so I had a lot of help 🙂 I also tried to make some fun Thanksgiving Treats to snack on during the beginning part of the day!

Carmel Apple Turkey

My boys LOVE carmel and apples so I made this little guy to snack on.

Thanksgiving Cornucopia

I used Pillsbury Crescent Dough to shape and bake the Cornucopia, then added the fruit that my family likes.

Fruit Dip

I also made my fruit dip that the boys LOVE! Mix one package of cream cheese with one jar of marshmallow cream!

Vegi Dip

Mix one tub of sour cream with one Ranch packet for the vegetables.

Turkey Cake

I made a turkey cake for a friend’s birthday on Thanksgiving day this year. I used Nutter Butter cookies, Candy Corn, and Fruit Roll-up to decorate the turkey cake.

Buttercream Recipe

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup butter
  • 1 cup Crisco
  • 4 cups powdered sugar (2 lbs)
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1 tablespoon milk (if thick)

Directions:

  1. Cream together the butter and Crisco with a mixer.
  2. Slowly add in 1 cup of powdered sugar at a time.
  3. Add the vanilla, if it seems too thick you can add a bit of milk.

Cousins Thanksgiving Fun

My Thanksgiving tradition is to make Gingerbread houses; so I decided to build them with my nieces and nephews this year. It was so much fun, now there are 11 cousins and J is the oldest!

We used Graham Crackers and Waffle Cones for our Gingerbread Houses and Christmas Trees this year.

I used a pear for the Turkey’s body and then cut up fruit to place around the pear for the Turkey’s feathers. These cousins just LOVE fruit.

I read “The Night Before Thanksgiving” to the cousins before bed… It is a great book with cousins and other extended family members. These cousins just love reading too.

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