Thanksgiving party!

I'm going to link this post to Raising Olives, another blogger I enjoy who is part of the "4 moms, 35 kids" group.

We had a Thanksgiving party today for the kids. We've done this several times in years past, and my kids always enjoy having their friends over to have their own celebration. This year there were 10 kids at the party (we just invited one other family) ages 10, 8, 7, 5, 5, 4, 2, 2, 1, and 1! We've enjoyed getting to know this family over the last few months, and we are happy to find any excuse to get together with them!

We started out by reading a short Thanksgiving board book "The Story of Thanksgiving"; it is one of my favorites. It covers the basics and holds the attention of the little ones.

I found some leftover Pilgrim and Indian hat craft sets in my Thanksgiving Decor bin, so we used those this year. As in years past, we had more Indians than Pilgrims this year (only one Pilgrim). The kids had fun putting them together, but these required too much help and did not hold so well (maybe there was a reason they were still hiding in the bin?). Next time we will do something else.We sat down to a Thanksgiving "kids feast" with Turkey sandwiches (and PBJ also), pumpkin muffins, craisens, orange cranberry bread, cheese, and apple juice.

After lunch I popped some popcorn for dessert and had the kids watch the Peanuts Thanksgiving DVD while the moms had a chance to visit. I was surprised the first time we watched the Peanuts Thanksgiving DVD, they worked in so many facts about the voyage and early struggles, but kept it very interesting for the children.

I like doing parties like this. When I keep them simple they are fun and relaxing for me, and everyone still has a great time. What my kids enjoy most is just getting to spend some extra time with their friends, throwing in a couple of spacial foods and a simple craft just helps remind them of the special season we are celebrating.