How to Make Thanksgiving Party Decorations

Thanksgiving is a time for being thankful, and throwing a Thanksgiving party is a thoughtful way to share our bounty with others. Gather your kids around for family quality time to craft these simple decorations for your festivities. Create an edible Thanksgiving centerpiece for your table, or a buffet that will have your friends drooling, or a friendly fall door hanger that will give a warm welcome. All of these holiday projects can be successfully completed in an afternoon.

Things You'll Need

• For bread dough cornucopia:
• 14-inch aluminum pizza pan
• Spray vegetable oil
• 2 frozen loaves of bread dough
• Flour
• Rolling pin
• Pizza cutter
• Cookie sheet
• Tea towel
• Oven
• Egg
• Bowl, fork and pastry brush
• Aluminum foil
• Serving platter
• Mixed nuts in the shell
• For scarecrow door hanger:
• 18-inch straw hat
• 12-inch straw hat
• Scissors
• Hot glue gun
• Excelsior
• Felt scraps
• Ruler
• Craft glue
• 6 inches black rickrack
• Raffia
• Silk sunflower blossom

Instructions

Bread Dough Cornucopia

1. Roll the edge of an aluminum pizza pan, forming the pan into a cornucopia cone shape. It will not look pretty, but it will be discarded after the bread is baked. Spray the outside of the shaped pan and a cookie sheet with spray vegetable oil.

2. Roll the thawed bread dough to a 1/4-inch thickness on a lightly floured surface using a rolling pin. Cut the dough into 1-inch strips using a pizza cutter.

3. Wrap the strips around the point of the pan and continue in a spiral until the outside of the cornucopia shape is completely covered to the wider open end. Cover the cornucopia with a tea towel and allow it to rest for 30 minutes.

4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Crack an egg in a bowl and beat it with a fork. Remove the tea towel from the bread dough shape. Use a pastry brush to paint the dough surface with an egg wash. Bake the cornucopia for 20 minutes. Cover the cornucopia with aluminum foil and bake for 15 minutes more. Reduce the temperature of the oven to 300 degrees F and bake for 10 minutes more.

5. Allow the bread to cool for 10 minutes. Remove the aluminum form, carefully, from the inside of the dough shape. Allow the bread to cool thoroughly. Place the cornucopia on a platter and fill with mixed nuts in the shell.

Scarecrow Door Hanger

1. Lay the large hat on your work table with the dome side up. The dome is the head and face of the scarecrow. Cut the small straw hat in half. Apply hot glue to the cut edge and place it on the scarecrow dome head, above the face, with the glue side adhering to the large hat brim.

2. Apply hot glue under the left and right side of the small hat's brim. Place a handful of excelsior in each dollop of glue for the scarecrow's hair.

3. Measure and cut three 1-inch triangles from assorted felt colors. Hot glue one triangle to the center of the face and the other two 1/4 inch above the nose and 1/4 inch apart. Apply craft glue to the back of the rickrack and place it on the face, forming it into a smile.

4. Gather eight strands of raffia together and tie into a bow. Hot glue the bow under the chin of the scarecrow face. To finish, hot glue a sunflower blossom to the brim of the small scarecrow hat.

References

• Cyndee Kromminga; Craft and Interior Designer, Kro Crafts; Winfield, Kansas