A fun Thanksgiving craft: turkey-drumstick hats

If your kids are anything like ours, the idea of a day centered around eating and talking is a yawner. So we spice up our Thanksgiving with some kid-friendly activities. We make and decorate gingerbread houses (that was our new tradition as of last year) and also do some kind of Thanksgiving crafty thing. This year we're going to have everyone at the table make and wear turkey-drumstick hats. Classic!! Just warning the guests in advance... heh heh.



I got the instructions from Family Fun magazine and we had a ball doing a couple of practice hats today. These turkey heads are hilarious! You can make them too, with stuff you have sitting around the house. Here's what you do: Grab some big brown grocery bags, white paper napkins, small brown lunchbags (we didn't actually have any of these lying around, but we did have plenty of "art projects" the girls brought home from preschool, so I ruthlessly peeled off faces and stickers and reused the priceless art), tape, scissors, stapler, and scrap paper.


For the headband, cut a 5" wide strip from a grocery bag and fold it in thirds lengthwise. Wrap it around your head to see how big you need it, cut off the excess, and use tape or staples to secure.


To make each drumstick, trim a lunch bag so it's about 7" long.

Fold the bag around your fist and kind of scrunch it into shape, then stuff it half full with balled-up scrap paper.


To make each bone, unfold two white paper napkins and crumple one napkin into a ball. Drape the second napkin over the ball and twist it to form the narrow part of the bone. Insert this end into the stuffed bag. Twist and tape the two parts to secure them.


Staple the legs to the headband and use tape to cover any staple ends inside the band.

If you can get your sibling or a relative to wear one too, bonus! You're not laughing at them, you're laughing with them, right?


I'll post later with a picture of the whole table wearing their drumstick hats. Hee! And if anyone makes these (or any other nifty fall crafts), please leave a link in the comments or email me a picture. We'd love to see what other crazy folks are doing during turkey day. Happy Thanksgiving!