Thanksgiving birthday party? Bring on the fun!

Thanksgiving falls on the fourth Thursday in November, so a late November birthday may fall around or even on Turkey Day. Are you looking for some unique turkey-themed party ideas to incorporate into your child’s big day?

Holidays and birthdays mix often — after all, you can find holidays on nearly every page of your calendar. A Halloween birthday party may be easy to pull off, but Thanksgiving may have you scratching your head a bit as you try to think of clever ideas to make your kiddo’s birthday extra fun with Thanksgiving touches. The good news? The icons — and flavors — of fall are easy to incorporate into a fabulous Thanksgiving birthday party.

Think of Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving probably brings to mind many classic images — turkeys, autumn leaves, pilgrims and pumpkins. Even though Christmas decorations have been in stores since before Halloween, it’s still easy to find Thanksgiving decorations featuring these images. Craft stores — or online — may be your best bet if other stores are a little too holly jolly for your needs.

Thanksgiving cake

Instead of a regular birthday cake, serve a pumpkin pie with candles — and you can even decorate it with frosting letters for a personal touch. If you are all tired of the Thanksgiving classic pie, try a different variety, such as pumpkin cheesecake. If your kiddo is looking forward to cake instead of pie, make a cake or cupcakes that feature a fun turkey or pilgrim motif.

Drinks and other food

One idea is to serve traditional cold-weather hot drinks like apple cider or hot cocoa. If your guests are too small to be able to handle hot drinks, try a cranberry juice blend. And you probably don’t want to create yet another Thanksgiving feast, but there are some fun ideas if you want to serve other food besides cake or pie. Rolls go over well with most kids, especially if you are brave enough to let them wield the butter knife themselves. Try raw veggies with several fun dips, like ranch and hummus, and apples and pears.

Activities

The turkey drawing you probably did as a child never grows old. Give each child a piece of construction paper and help them trace their hands. After you demonstrate how to do it , let them decorate to their heart’s content — have plenty of markers, crayons and stickers available for them to use.

Another idea, also involving art, is to have them decorate a large sheet of butcher’s paper that you roll out onto the floor. The birthday boy or girl will probably love to hang onto it as a fun keepsake. And instead of pin the tail on the donkey, try pin the feathers on the turkey, with a small prize for everyone who tries .

There are plenty of ways to create a memorable Thanksgiving birthday party — bring on the turkeys and party away.

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