Fun and Practical Ideas for the Kids’ Table at Thanksgiving

A full house for Thanksgiving dinner makes for a festive occasion but creates some logistical challenges, such as where to put the kids. Sitting through a long meal with the adults can be challenging for many children. One solution that will make your youngest guests feel like VIPs:  Create a kids’ table for dinner.

Here are some great ways to make a special spot for kids this Thanksgiving.

Kid-proof table settings

Colorful, unbreakable dishes, cups, and utensils are handy items to include in a child’s Thanksgiving setting. Or use paper table settings featuring a Thanksgiving theme.

Protect the table with a vinyl tablecloth or keep the kids busy by covering the table with brown craft paper, setting out crayons and encouraging them to decorate the table with their own artistic creations. Add to the fun by cutting out placemats from the craft paper, labeling one for each child and inviting them to decorate their own placemat, which also gives them a keepsake to mark the occasion.

Festive holiday decor

Have fun decorating the kids’ table. Create holiday cheer by including items like a centerpiece featuring a pumpkin carved with a Thanksgiving theme and illuminated by a flameless candle, a trio of Mayflower dishes filled with condiments like gravy and cranberry sauce, paper napkins folded like turkeys, or scatter the table with multi-colored fall leaves.

Provide fun activities

Help ensure that the adults enjoy a leisurely meal and good conversation by packing the kids’ table with a variety of activities, such as Thanksgiving word searches and crossword puzzles, holiday-themed coloring books and games like pin the feathers on the turkey.

Serve kid-friendly holiday fare

Make it likely that the kids enjoy their meal byserving up tasty, kid-friendly foods like turkey nuggets, ham cubes, marshmallow-topped yams, carrot sticks and buttery rolls.

Top the meal off by serving fun, homemade desserts featuring a Thanksgiving theme, such as sugar cookies decorated like turkeys, “cornucopia” made from sugar ice cream cones filled with multi-colored candies and pumpkin cupcakes. Let the kids decorate their own cupcakes by setting out orange, brown and white frosting, cake decorating tools and tasty sprinkle toppings.

Keeping the kids busy and happy this Thanksgiving with their very own table leads to plenty of time for you to enjoy good food and lively conversation with your friends and family.

Julie Bawden-Davis

Julie Bawden-Davis

Julie Bawden-Davis is a bestselling journalist, blogger, speaker and novelist. Widely published, she has written 25 books and more than 4,000 articles for a wide variety of national and international publications. For many years, Julie was a columnist with the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle and Parade.com. In nonfiction, Julie specializes in home and garden, small business, personal finance, food, health and fitness, inspirational profiles and memoirs. She is founder and publisher of HealthyHouseplants.com and the YouTube channel Healthy Houseplants. Julie is also a prolific novelist who has penned two fiction series.