What are you thankful for?

Last week was truly crazy around here.  A week off school (yay!), family heading south to celebrate with us (yay!) and a quick trip east planned for the weekend.  I had lots of fun crafts for the kids planned as well, but it looked like all of that was heading down the toilet instead - Sunday and Monday were spent saying goodbye to our beloved Otto and Tuesday Snacks woke up with a fever and croupy cough - no fun!!  Needless to say, the Thanksgiving decorating ideas went by the wayside until the very last minute.  Luckily, I do some of my BEST work at the very last minute, and for that I am VERY thankful!  (Incidentally,  I am also very thankful for my God, my family, my friends, my country, my health, my Aggies AND my wine)

So even though the Christmas season has officially begun, here is an idea for your next Thanksgiving get together.  It's simple, cheap and best of all, it keeps the little hands in your house occupied while you're prepping for the feast!

Footprint Turkey Napkin Rings

Supplies:

Toilet paper rolls, cut in half

Brown, red and yellow or orange construction paper

1 small, clean foot

Googly eyes

Good ole Elmer's glue

You probably have most, if not all, of these items around your house already!  So get everything together and do a lil' cipherin' to figure out how many napkin rings you're gonna need.  Then add one more because you're going to want to make sure you have one to keep for yourself - those little feet grow fast!!

If you don't save toilet paper rolls like we do, well then you are MISSING OUT!  There are just tons of things you can do with those things and you know you're not remembering to put them in your recycle bin anyway - ha!!  Around here, we have much more trouble finding a small CLEAN foot than an empty toilet paper roll.  In fact, it seems like there's an empty roll on the holder whenever I sit down.  I don't know how it is in your house, but I am apparently the only one who knows how to change the toilet paper . . . but I digress!!  If a clean foot's not possible, I recommend chasing down a dirty one with a wipey and proceeding!

Step 1:

Trace around your small, clean foot on brown construction paper to create a template for your turkeys (Let's face it, that foot's not gonna stick around to do a dozen, so just trace once and then set Snacks, I mean the foot, free.)  Use template to create the number of turkeys you need for dinner.

Step 2:

Glue your feet to your toilet paper rolls, using the heel of the foot as the head and the toes as the body of your turkeys.  Glue The rolls closer to the toes than the head, especially if you want your turkeys to stand up on your place settings.  Let dry.

Step 3:

Cut out small diamonds in yellow construction paper and small wavy red shapes for waddles.  Embellish your feet.  Remember to use the heel of the foot as the head and the toes at the body.  They sort of look like feathers now don't they?!  Fold diamonds in half to make beaks and glue over or next to your waddles - your call.  Add your eyes as well and let it all dry.  Sheep is 6 and did a great job with this while I played 'Oh my Gosh, He Has the Scissors/Sharpie/Glue' with Snacks.  This game is played in rounds!!!

Aren't they looking cute?!?!!

Step 4:

Take your napkins and lay them flat.  Fold your napkins into pleasts, back and forth accordian-style.  Once it has been pleated, fold in half lengthwise, the same way you used to to make paper fans when you were a kid!  Sorry I didn't take a picture of this step, but  hopefully you get the idea.  Sheep got pretty good at this too, but I'm not sure anyone younger (she's almost 7) would be able to do this part.  You also have to decide how much 'imperfection' you're willing to have at your Turkey Day Feast, so I will leave that up to you.  I will tell you that sometimes, after she's moved on, I have been known to redo straighten things a bit, but I would NEVER tell her that!!!

Step 5:

Stuff that turkey!!  In this case, with your pleated napkin, folded side down so that the napkin fans out behind the turkey foot- voila!!

I was having trouble getting my pleats to stay together at the top, because I did not iron (much less starch) my napkins beforehand, but I would recommend adding that step if you like the look of them standing up.  Sheep seemed to think they looked better laying down so - problem solved!!