Simple Thanksgiving Kids Table

Kid Friendly Thanksgiving Tablescape

Alert. Thanksgiving is TWO weeks away which means I’m already behind. Good news is that we’re planning a quiet family Thanksgiving so I don’t need to worry about planning a fancy menu or making room for house guests. But I still wanted to set a fun, kid friendly, festive table for the holiday!

The first thing you’ll notice is that I set our everyday table in the kitchen. Which means that kitchen table has paint and pen and nail polish on it… You’ll also notice that I’m using colors that make me happy… greens and pinks. Not necessarily “Thanksgiving” colors, but they match the room and they didn’t cost a thing!

OK. When it comes to setting a table where kids are involved, I try to keep in mind the following three things: breakables, fire, entertainment. The centerpiece is a thrifted pink basket with a lavender plant from Whole Foods and two faux plants from Ikea. I fill it out a bit more, I grabbed some green glass from my collection, and stuck in some faux succulents. I thought about snipping some fall leaves, but we’ve had rain for the last few days so everything’s a bit soggy.

I love how candlelight looks on a table but… kids. So I swapped out candles and fire for those battery-powered string lights. They’re on a timer so I won’t forget to turn them off, and I love how they look wound around the green glass.

Last but not least: entertainment. Books and electronic devices aren’t allowed at our table, but that doesn’t mean conversation will flow! At each of the kids’ places, I put a simple white vellum envelope with their picture printed out on my Instax printer.

Inside the envelopes are crayons, and then I tucked a paint by number between the two plates for them to take out and color when they want.

Other activities are at either end of the table. I drew a tic tac toe board on the outside of some small paper bags, picked up some chestnuts from the grocery store and painted Xs and Os on these. (Anything would work really: acorns, rocks, buttons…) My kids could play tic tac toe for hours, so this self-contained version made it so much easier for them!

I also pulled some of those mini mason jars out of the cabinet and filled them with M&Ms (again… beans or non-candy items totally work too!). I counted the M&Ms first and wrote down the amount underneath a piece of paper that I inserted on the lid. The kids can try to guess how many M&Ms are in each jar!

This table came together in under 20 minutes and I love that it is casual but festive. I wanted the kids to feel like it was a special occasion without worrying about things getting broken or destroyed.

Make no mistake, the only thing about the Thanksgiving meal that the children will eat are the buttered rolls so I’m currently working on Thanksgiving nuggets or a Thanksgiving cheeseburger plan. But regardless of what I serve, I know that we will celebrate the holiday, sitting around the table, enjoying a family meal together.

Watch the video here: