Hosting Thanksgiving dinner can stress anyone who wants to make the day special. However, if you have the gift of hospitality, you may enjoy decorating your home and making every guest feel special, going out of your way to ensure your house is decorated for the holidays.
Although Jesus did not have a home of his own, he had a way of noticing the people who were ostracized or neglected by society. By creating unique centerpieces, you can acknowledge the people whom God has blessed you with as well. One of the ways you can make your guests feel loved and appreciated is to create customized centerpieces for the dinner table. At a dinner party, hosts have placeholders with guests’ names on them to designate the seating arrangement. This Thanksgiving, turn your ordinary decorations into extraordinary ones by incorporating the examples below:
For this craft, you will need the following supplies:
-Small Bucket/Pail (I found one at Hobby Lobby.)
-Craft Sticks
-Acrylic Paint in Autumn Colors (We used red, orange, and yellow.)
-Construction Paper – Brown, Orange, Red
-Googly Eyes
-Glue Stick
-Scissors
-Paint Brush
-Scotch Tape
-Black Marker
Cut a turkey face out of brown construction paper. Paste googly eyes for the eyes and use red construction paper for the gobbler. Draw or paint a turkey nose.
On each craft stick, write in black marker something each person is thankful for. It can be as simple as family and friends, or it can be a new possession God has blessed you with this year. Write one thing (no repeats) on each stick until you have about ten to twelve. Place them in the small pail and glue the turkey face and gobbler on the front of the pail. Let dry and place around the table.
When guests arrive, go around the table and ask them to read what is on the craft sticks. Ask each guest to add additional items of gratitude. This can be an interactive activity for every family member to enjoy, not only receiving blessings but also offering them by expressing their appreciation and joy for being present this Thanksgiving.
If you have children or grandchildren, they may bring home various crafts they made at school. They may make macaroni necklaces, turkeys out of their handprints, or feather headpieces to wear around their heads. Ask them to make enough crafts for each person around the table. Have your child or grandchild write each guest’s name on the craft, so the guest knows the craft is for them to take home. This will give a personalized touch to your Thanksgiving dinner, and each guest will know your child or grandchild loves and appreciates them. These centerpieces are ones your family members will treasure for years to come.
Look up different Bible verses on Thanksgiving. Write each Bible verse on a note card or a small piece of paper and put it in their placeholder around the table. You can even decorate each card for an added flair. Before you eat, have each person read aloud their Bible verse. Ask the person reading to tell the rest of the family their interpretation of the verse and why that verse is significant. Inform the group that Jesus celebrated his own Thanksgiving dinner by spending his last moments on earth around a table, eating bread, and drinking wine with his disciples. Before he ate, he thanked God for all he had done and would do. Segue into praying for the meal and pray for each member, specifically telling God why they are important to them. Some examples of Bible verses are 1 Thessalonians 5:18, which says, “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” Acts 2:46 says, “Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts….” Use the opportunity to tell your guests you are happy they are with you for this special day.
Write on a piece of paper some thought-provoking questions you would like to ask the rest of the guests at your table. Try not to get too personal, but stay away from superficial questions like, “how are you doing?” or “how are your children?” Instead, ask questions like, “What is one thing God has done in your life this year that you never thought possible?” or “If you could ask God one question in heaven, what would it be?” These questions avoid prodding too personally into people's lives but get the guests thinking and reflecting on the past year. Make sure you assign yourself a question or use the opportunity to answer each question as guests answer when it is their turn. This will help them get to know the people present, but your guests will get an inside glimpse into your life as well, making everyone feel seen and loved.
Instead of questions, you can create sentences with blanks. For example, you may write, “One of the biggest joys this past year was ________, “or “One of the biggest difficulties I overcame was________.” Once each person has taken his or her turn, go around the table and have each person pray to God, thanking him for the food and their answer to the fill-in-the-blank you provided. This is a great exercise and takes the focus off merely blurting out prayer requests and instead shifting our focus to thanking God for all he has done this past year.
You can offer your own version of the classic game Mad Libs by creating a fictitious story about how your guests arrived at your home for Thanksgiving. For example, the person to your left can start by saying, “On my way to my mother's house for Thanksgiving, I passed a___________. It was ________ and ________.” The person to their right can continue. “The _________started chasing after us in the car. I stepped on _________and hit a _________.” This game can continue until every person has gone, filling in their fictitious story without outrageous responses. This is a great way to break the ice and get people laughing and talking. Create a small gift bag for the best response and award it to the person whose answer was the best. This is a hilarious spin and an old tradition of simply eating around the dinner table.
Thanksgiving can be a stressful event or a joyous occasion, depending on which we choose. By creating some decorations to adorn your dinner table, your house may be the favorite to host every year due to your creativity. Not only will those decorations and new centerpiece ideas unleash your creativity and make your day fun and exciting, forcing you to reflect on all the ways—and people—God has blessed you with during this holiday season. You will also ponder one reality: you are never alone when you have family and friends around you. And you are never alone with Christ by your side.
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