Need Ideas for Making Thanksgiving Special

Make some extra food - could be cookies, or cranberry sauce, or a pie or even your special recipe of stuffing or whatever you love.

Take it to the police station or the fire station - those people work on every holiday! The fire station might be better for your daughter. Obviously if you get to the fire station in the middle of an emergency, they won't have time for you. However, their down time is really quiet. She could probably understand what they do for a living, and they will let her sit in the fire truck and turn on the lights, they'll show her the hoses, and they will teach her to run TOWARD the firefighter in an emergency.

You'll feel good, your daughter will get a taste of helping those who help others, and you'll bring some warmth into the lives of people we don't appreciate enough! And you can go at whatever time of day is convenient for you.

Your 4 year old is the prefect age to volunteer at a nursing home or hospital with elderly people. They LOVE the little ones, and don't get to see children often. You might call local places and see if they need any volunteers to keep the people company.

Have your 4 yr old decorate the house of dining area. make pilgrim hats to hang on the wall, turkeys of all shapes and sized, paper chains in Thanksgiving colors, write something you or she is thankful for on each link of the chain, buy colorful Thanksgiving paper goods,
As for volunteering you and she could make cookies and drop them off at a soup kitchen or....

We spent a few like that. it is actually very relaxing. How about the special food, start your own tradition, like making a certain cookie or dipping pretzels in frosting or something, a special movie and walk somewhere or starting with the beginnings of Christmas decorating. My favorite part large groups or small is FOOOOOOOOOODDDDDDD!!!

Set the table really nice. real cloth napkins and tablecloth.
let your daughter help make some place cards and napkin rings. (these can be made with construction paper. handprint turkey's with a name on them and a loop to go around the napkin.
make a special dessert that you only make at the holiday.
go to church in the morning
watch a holiday movie
start the tradition of making an ornament for the christmas tree on that night.
call the extended family to say happy thanksgiving

I've hosted Thanksgiving every year for about the last 13 years. When the kids were younger we played games like one of the other posters suggested. We played "pin the hat on the pilgrim" and Turkey Bingo, which I got from my son's kindergarten teacher. We had a basket of prizes. I also had a glass jar of candy corn and you had to guess how many were in the jar. Does your daughter like simple board or card games yet? You could have a game night.

One year instead of the traditional prayer I assigned everyone a letter from the work "Thanksgiving" and we went around the table and everyone had to say something they were thankful for that started with that letter. The answers varied from touching to creative to very funny. This year is our first Thanksgiving without my mom and we are going to go around the table and say something we all appreciated about her. It will be a tear jerker, but an appropriate tribute, or at least I hope so. Those suggestions might not work with such a small group, but you could tailor it so that the two of you are showing your daughter the meaning of the holiday.

We've also either rented a favorite movie or even gone out to see a movie. Your daughter is too young, but the Home Alone movies were always Thanksgiving favorites for us. A movie night is another option.

Happy Thanksgiving.

We play some Thanksgiving themed games. I'm sure you can google it to see what your daughter would like but here's a couple we like:

1. Have you or Daddy stand at one end of the room and pretend to be Plymouth Rock. Blindfold your daughter and turn her around a couple of times and tell her she is the Mayflower ship and must find Plymouth Rock. When she finds you/Daddy scoop her up in a big hug. (Plymouth Rock can talk to guide her, of course and when they are older you can set up an obstacle course.)

2. Pin the feathers on the turkey - self explanatory. :)

3. Find the Turkey - the FAVORITE at our house. One person closes their eyes and counts while the others all are "turkeys" and hide. Then the person tries to find the turkeys and catch them before they get to their "nest". (Any pre-designated spot.) If it's at all agreeable outside it is a great game to play in the backyard.

Afterwards you can all cuddle and watch a Thanksgiving show like Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. Have fun with your little family this year!

I did this when mine were younger and my 6 year old still likes to do it. Have your daughter put her hand on a piece of construction and trace it. Then have her color the palm part brown and the finger parts different colors and give the thumb part a lil squiggle turkey neck and you have a Turkey place mat or wall art.

You could make some extra pies or something and deliver them to a nearby soup kitchen and or a church.. Allow your daughter to help in some way and come along with you when you deliver..

Another thing to do is bake sugar cookies/short bread in the form of leaves or Thanksgiving themes or even hearts and on each one using piping, write something you are thankful for. E.g. Family, Love, Health .. whatever comes to mind... it's a nice way of doing something together while at the same time a lesson in gratitude..

If you belong to a church there are always people that need a place to go.
I would love to know how to cook enough to be at home just with my family.
Go to a nursing home, people would love to see kids and what about hospitals go see little kids like in a cancer unit or go to soup kitchen.

Enjoy the time as it is just your close family call and talk to others on the day. I like the people that said fire station I am sure they would like to see some little kid say thanks for the hard work.

My son and I like to decorate the table. It's fun, and easy to do. His favorite is to make placemats, cards, and name cards for everyone. He writes why he is thankful for each person who is coming, and then draws a little picture for each of them.

We also bake cookies, and he can decorate them.

I enjoy small dinners, as well as large. You can have fun and make it special either way.

I remember one year, my parents just had the four of us( mom,dad, and my brother and I). We actually video taped it. It turned out quite hilarious. My mom burnt the rolls, and we just sat there laughing at each other and then saying what each was thankful for that year.

What an exciting opportunity to make some memories! I have always lived close to my large family and got used to the traditions they had until years ago when I met my (now ex) husband. My family celebrated from afternoon well into the night and it was big. So during the morning of Thanksgiving we all were lazy and relaxed. My ex had kids when I met him and they were all early risers so this created a problem of what to do on Thanksgiving morning until about 3pm. We started some great traditions. Going to the movies is one that we still do. In our town the movie theater was close to empty several years and the kids loved that because they could sit rows away and they didn't have to be completely quiet. But we also did other things that stick in my mind. Watching the parade on TV and discussing the floats. Making homemade ornaments (some with kits, some not). Good Luck and have fun!

We have a Thanksgiving scrapbook that we add to every year. The pages are filled with pictures from each year and also what each person is thankful for that year. For example, the first year I handed out paper in the shape of a leaf and had each person write on it something they are thankful for to put in the book. Now that we are 4 years into our tradition, it is so much fun to look back at what we wrote from previous years. Also, each year on Nov. 1st my kids paint a big tree trunk with some branches for a "Thankful Tree" We cut it out and tape it to a door. There is a bag of
paper leaves with a pen next to the tree and we write what we a grateful
for on the leaves and tape them on the tree. The tree is really full of
leaves by Thanksgiving Day each year. Happy Thanksgiving!