5 Thanksgiving Traditions To Start This Year

November 9 2020

With the Covid19 epidemic, 2020 has turned into a year of change and a new norm for families around the world. So many people lost their jobs, felt isolated and perhaps had family members affected by the illness. We can’t think of a better year to spend time reflecting on what you are thankful for. If you haven’t started any family Thanksgiving traditions yet, here are some great ideas to start incorporating this year.

.... and if you are looking for more Fall inspiration check out our 5 FUN AND UNIQUE THANKSGIVING SIDE DISHES and 7 GORGEOUS THANKSGIVING TABLE SETTINGS THAT WILL INSPIRE YOU

5 thanksgiving traditions your family will love 2020

If Covid is keeping you from your loved ones this year, send them a cute, personalized, Fall gift box from Rebel Villa to let them know that you are thankful for them this holiday season. We also have Holiday Scented Candles available in scents Spiked Cider and Winter Forest... they are 100% soy, hand poured in our studio in California and you will LOVE THEM! Purchase a 2 pack of 4oz candles or 9oz candles in any scent we offer including the holidays scents, get yours today at RebelVilla.com/Candles

Oh and before we forget - if you are looking for gorgeous gold votive candle holders to add to your thanksgiving table check out our 12pc set of Matte gold Metal votives on Amazon. We also have larger options available on our website you can get a set of 4 Medium Gold Votives here.

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Gold tea light candle holders table setting for fall thanksgiving

1. GRATITUDE TREE

This tradition could be a day of activity or could actually start weeks prior to Thanksgiving. Take a walk through the neighborhood or local park with your kids and have them pick up sticks that they think will work well in a vase. Then, cut out a few stacks of leaves from colored paper or, do what I do, and simply buy fabric leaves like these from Amazon to use with fabric markers. Write what you are thankful for on each one, hole punch and tie to the tree with twine. Encourage your kids to add one thing that they are grateful for each day throughout the month of November and spend time on Thanksgiving Day to read and reflect on each leaf. This post was created by HGTV found HERE

Thanksgiving traditions covid 2020 giving tree

2. FESTIVE NAME CARD HOLDERS

My kids love helping with the Thanksgiving table decor and making place card holders has become a tradition for us. Every year, we spend time looking for the perfect idea to adorn our table scape. They love making them and then, probably more importantly, being able to decide who sits where at dinner!

Here are a few ideas that we have so far this year that would look great with names on our table.

These cornucopia place cards can also serve as Thanksgiving favors. Fill with M&Ms or any of your favorite candies. This post was created by EverMine.com

Cornucopia m&m thanksgiving favor placecard

Your kids can help you pick out leaves and decorate mason jars to create placecards or centerpieces for table decors. Such a great idea from SparkAndChemistry

We love these so much!!! This is going to be a hit at my house. Simple to make using toilet paper rolls, pictures and paper. Love this so much from Debbee's Buzz

Last but not lease the kids will love this sugar filled place card idea making turkeys out of Oreo cookies, candy corn and chocolates. Great idea from AlwaysTheHolidays.com.

3. THANKSGIVING MEMORIES TABLECLOTH

Buy a solid, or minimally designed, tablecloth and some fabric markers this year to document the specific things that each attendee is most thankful for. Use a different color fabric marker for each year so that you can continue to build on this tradition annually. This is such a great idea! Example below is from Tabler Party of Two

ABC News also did a story on the tradition of signing names on a table cloth (with embroidery) over the years which is pretty inspirational.

4. ANNUAL GRATITUDE QUESTIONS

Every year for my kid's birthday, I ask them the same 15 questions ranging from who their best friend is, their favorite activity or toy, favorite foods and finally to what they want to be when they grow up. It’s so fun to compare their answers year after year to see how they change and both of my kids look forward to their “birthday questions” every year. I decided to use this format for a Thanksgiving day activity that kids and adults can all participate in. You can make up your own questions or check out this list of questions to get you started from AcademicWritingSuccess.com.

Below is a printable activity with gratitude prompts from A to Z from Fun Loving Families Blog

Gratitude A to Z printable writing prompt Thanksgiving Tradition

OfTheHearth.com also has some downloadable gratitude questions that you could print out and read together.

In addition, we keep a Polaroid camera on the table and take a picture of each person labeled with the year and what they are most thankful for. We keep the cards/photos in our Thanksgiving decorations so that we can go back and review them every year. I think this is most meaningful for families that lose someone over the year and can spend time remembering them each year there after.

5. ANNUAL CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT

Each year after Thanksgiving dinner (and dishes!), we break out supplies to make a new themed decoration that we collect for our Christmas tree. If it were up to me, we would spend time after dinner putting up the tree and decorating, but my husband doesn't agree. I'm guessing that this year, we may likely be doing our tree decoration to represent our year of Covid19... like this one from buzzfeed.com

Or something like this reindeer with a covid mask. Cute patterns from Fresiadeor on Etsy.

And a few more 2020 mask ornaments can be found at Reviewed.com

**Bonus Tradition**

VOLUNTEER

Pay your blessings forward by volunteering at a local shelter throughout the year. There is nothing that will truly make your children feel more thankful than seeing, and experiencing first hand, how other families struggle, but continue remain positive through it all. So many kids think that homeless is a term associated with people pushing a grocery cart full of belongings along a street or standing with a cardboard sign at freeway exits. It really hits home when they realize that there are many homeless families and this means kids that are their age, who don’t have a stable living arrangement. It’s a great conversation to have, a good experience to see, and we have found that it causes our kids to be more giving and thankful in their every day lives.

Fun Family Thanksgiving Traditions to start 2020

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