Pilgrims- Decorate a Mayflower Thanksgiving Party

Plan your next Thanksgiving party for children or adults with a sailing theme twist. Remember the Pilgrim’s first autumn aboard the Mayflower in 1620 with this combined sea and autumn genre that will make a lasting impression on your guests. Themed room decorating, crafts, snacks, and costumes are some of the ways to bring this variation of Thanksgiving celebrating to life.

Design a Thanksgiving Party Ship

Recreate the Mayflower’s atmosphere by using party backdrops of old time sailing ships looking out across the deck toward the sea. Your ship can be surrounded by an ocean blue room roll of waves. Use posts connected by rope to outline the ship’s sides and then cover both inside and outside with patterned corrugated paper simulating wooden planks.

Place tables “inside” the ship and use nautical standees like an antique captain’s wheel to go back in time. Or go all inside by using plank paper and columns covered with black or gold tulle and string lights to imitate the inside of the ship. Place a few portholes around the room for a glimpse out to sea.

Think about using the typical orange, brown and golds of autumn mixed with blues and creams from the sea to create interesting combinations of fall decorations. Pumpkins, gourds and sprays of fall leaves amidst shells and sea decorations can make excellent themed accents for both the floor area and/or table tops. Soft or brightly colored lights can brighten up a corner or place emphasis on a special area of interest – such as the food line.

Thanksgiving Party Craft Ideas

Some party crafts to consider for the young ones are:

• Sugar cookies in the form of miniature sailing ships. Decorate with varied colored icing tubes
• Sand crafts-kits and bottles
• Pilgrim and turkey stick crafts for kids
• Table top decorations. Stand the stick puppets upright in a Styrofoam base. Add wreathes of leaves, straw, or orange ribbon.

Pilgrim Thanksgiving Snacks

Serve up autumn inspired treats like apple walnut cake, pumpkin muffins, caramel apples, popcorn balls, and trail mix mixed with candy corn. Fish crackers can be placed in several smaller bowls around a sea of blue punch made from lemon/lime soda and blue colored Kool Aid. Be sure to bring plenty of candy corn!

Thanksgiving Party Costumes

Fall wearables and costumes add that finished touch. Your guests will have fun looking up period clothing on the Internet. Find a suitable equivalent with something homemade or buy costumes from a thrift store.

By trying something new this season and hosting a Mayflower Thanksgiving, you may be surprised at how much fun it is to think outside the typical setting. Above all, enjoy creating, hosting and celebrating this wonderful season full of autumn’s bounty, family and friends.

Thanksgiving Activities, Games, and Prizes

Thanksgiving Party Entertainment Ideas 

Before you know it, turkey day will be here and you might be the one in charge of entertaining friends and family on this beloved American holiday. Luckily, there are plenty of fun activities, games and prizes that can keep your guests entertained long after a big Thanksgiving dinner.  Plan to donate some of your time to benefit others, too!

Thanksgiving Theater Games

Do you have aspiring child actors in the family? Not only will the dramatic love creating their own stick puppets, but they’ll also relish coming up with a Thanksgiving play. Use the puppets as a learning tool about what happened on the first Thanksgiving when the pilgrims arrived in America. Even adults can get in on the fun and can take turns presenting their puppets to show the children what they know about the first Thanksgiving.

Free Thanksgiving Games

Adults and children will get a kick out of playing Thanksgiving charades, but keep things interesting and go beyond the usual Thanksgiving symbols like turkey, pilgrims and Native Americans. Have each person in the group come up with five things they are thankful for and write each on a separate slip of paper. Put all the papers in a bowl, mix them up, and have players take turns acting out whatever they pull out of the bowl. As a bonus, see if anyone can guess who was thankful for that particular thing.

Deliver holiday gifts.

Turkey Pins

Nothing says Thanksgiving quite like a turkey. Imagine a craft your guests can make and keep for Thanksgiving celebrations for years to come. Combine foam, feathers and googly eyes to create miniature turkey pins. Have extra glue, glitter, and sequins around for those who wish to add a little sparkle to their turkeys. For personalized turkey pins, cut out pictures you have of your guests and paste their faces on the pins.

Reflections

This activity will get adults and children thinking about what they are most thankful for. After a delicious Thanksgiving meal, have each person say why they are thankful for the person to their right. Then, have everyone around the table name something they are specifically thankful for in the current year. Make it a Thanksgiving tradition and have someone serve as the designated “record keeper.” Each year, pull out the record of what everyone has been thankful for and enjoy reminiscing about Thanksgivings from past years.

Thanksgiving Football Fun

Not everyone wants to watch football all afternoon on Thanksgiving weekend, so make sure your guests have plenty of opportunities to participate in football-themed activities and games. Besides playing traditional touch-football in the yard, family and friends will get a kick out of a flick football game. This is a game that can be played inside if the fall air has gotten too chilly for a full-sized game outdoors.

Donate prizes and knick-knacks.

Thanksgiving Prizes- Don’t send them home empty-handed

Who had the best pumpkin pie this year? Who won charades? Did grandpa correctly predict the scores of the Thanksgiving Day football games? Don’t let anyone go home empty handed! A good host will find plenty of reasons to award prizes to each guest at their Thanksgiving party. Personalized items to commemorate the day always make for a special prize, as well as goodie bags. Fill orange and brown gift bags with candy and tie with Thanksgiving-themed ribbon.

Give Back to Those in Need

After giving thanks for all the fun you had playing games and working on activities together, donate your favors, toiletries, and nick knacks to Operation Christmas Child or another charitable organization.  Spread Thanksgiving love and well being to others!

Add Fun to Fall Functions with Photo Props & Stand-Ins

From the first of the harvest festivals to Oktoberfest and beyond, you can add both to décor and to event activities with a fun fall Photo Stand In from ShindigZ Party.

Here’s the scoop on our photo stand-ins. Colorful and theme-perfect, they have cutouts for attendees to place their faces for hilarious photo keepsakes. Some are right-sized for setting up on a table, counter or bar, while others are tall enough to sit on the floor near the entrance or other center of the party action. The tall stand-ins can be personalized with two lines of event information or seasonal message or greeting. All are free-standing cardboard pieces that are reusable if handled and stored with care.

For any sort of fall theme, pick out a fall harvest standup large or small. These photo ops feature scarecrows and harvest fruits and colors from down on the farm.

Greet Oktoberfest guests with a large, personalized Oktoberfest Photo Stand-In along with other pieces from our full line of Oktoberfest Party Decorations.

Looking for something a little more haunting? Our selection of Halloween photo cutouts gives you choices of classic Halloween characters and cut-out faces for one or two people at a time.

Photo props and stand-ins are sure to add an unexpected, extra punch of decorating flair as well as a favored activity to your fall events. Visit our Photo Stand In pages to match a photo prop to your event!

Moyle Family Enjoys a Fun Fall Homecoming

There’s nothing like a warm fall day, 3 soccer games, countless tennis matches, a handful of volleyball games and a school carnival to make Homecoming a success.  We were blessed to have a beautiful fall day.  Although we could have used a few more victories, Homecoming day was a great day to be a part of the Canterbury family.

Shep, Chase and Max all took part in the pie eating contest.  I’m not sure if Shep ate more or was wearing more.  He says it was rigged – he had a “bigger pie” – but the next contestant in age was likely 30 years younger.  I think watching was the most fun of all.

Max felt the need to have both his hair and his face painted!  It was a proud moment for the parents as he presented himself with a huge smile.  I’m not sure which was more enjoyable – Shep with pie all over his face, or Max in red and blue.  Toss up.

Special Kudos to the tennis team – they won all three matches.

Wendy

Oktoberfest 2009 Decorations and Favors

Oktoberfest is a great fall party theme for family parties or bigger events. Hosting an Oktoberfest party with great food, games, and music is fun for all ages and ShindigZ has some great new decorations to get your party going!

Custom Oktoberfest banners are awesome for welcoming guests to your Oktoberfest party. Our personalized banners are each printed on heavy-duty, weather-resistant vinyl and feature your custom wording. Plus, they’re available in several sizes to suit your decorating needs. Our Oktoberfest Oval Personalized Banner is an interesting banner choice which includes vibrant Oktobrefest colors and your personalized text.

For another fun entrance piece, try one of our Oktoberfest standees, such as our Tavern Girl Standee, Personalized Oktoberfest Standee, or Beer Stein Standee. Guests can pose for pictures with the standee, which will add a great touch to your event. Try using our Personalized Beer Mug Standee (pictured at right) for a focal point to your Oktoberfest party.

Our Oktoberfest Arch is another wonderful Oktoberfest decoration. The arch stands 8’6” tall and 10’5” wide and makes a fun focal point or entrance to your party.

Add some silly shine to your Oktoberfest party with our Beer Lights. The lighted beer mugs are strung on a 16 1/2’ long cord and are a hilarious accent to your Oktoberfest celebration.

Our Oktoberfest Party Canopy makes a fantastic accent to your party space or buffet table. The inexpensive party canopy covers about a 20” x 20” area and features awesome Oktoberfest accents too.

Set your party able with our Oktoberfest Tableware. The tableware features a blue and white checkerboard with a pretzel and beer stein logo. Choose an assortment of 9” plates, 9 oz cups, and napkins. The tableware coordinates with our Oktoberfest tablecover and Oktoberfest centerpieces too!

For an Oktoberfest party favor guests will love using for years to come, have one of our Oktoberfest Steins custom printed with your party details. You can incorporate the steins into your table decorations and then send them home with guests!

Check out all of our Oktoberfest Decorations and tell us about your Oktoberfest party!

Host a Haunted House Party

Old scary movies are full of haunted houses and even haunted house parties (see House on Haunted Hill). Create your own haunted house party this Halloween! With these Halloween decorations and some creativity, you’ll have your guests screaming with the fun! Haunted houses are also great fundraisers. Charge a small admission price to cover costs and earn a small profit on each ticket for your team or organization.

Start creating your haunted house outside with haunted house tape. Block off areas with it to create an ominous feeling or use it to outline the walkway to the entrance. Set up a skull crypt door set on the door for a really freaky look or use a Dracula door knocker for a frightening entrance. Put someone in charge of a classic special effect at the entrance. Have someone hide behind the door in the darkness. When guest knock, they’ll open the door, remaining hidden so it looks like the door opened by itself. You can also use Halloween door curtains in other doorways to section off the haunted house into other creepy rooms.

Use a Personalized Haunted House Banner to announce your haunted house event or welcome guests to the party. These vinyl banners are printed on heavy-duty, weather-resistant material and come in seven sizes to suit your needs. Now that’s something to scream about!

Make a big impression with a Haunted House Decorations Kit. Set up the haunted house silhouette and the hanging bats for an eerie look to kick off your haunted house fun. Decorate the rest of your party space with creepy accents like a freestanding mummy, wrapped in creepy cloths.

Our scene setters are perfect for covering your walls. Put up graveyard raiders, tombstone terror, or scary scene setters to add frightening accents to each room. You can even put a grim reaper ceiling grabber above your guests’ heads to add an extra dimension of fright.

Add more, subtle touches to your decorating with accents like a (plastic) severed leg for placing in frightening locations for guests to accidentally find. Set up a collapsible coffin in a basement room, warning guests about the vampires or zombies. Zombie standees are a great touch. Around the coffin, use a tombstone decorating kit or bag-o-bones to add an extra element of realism to the scene. Mini 3-D bats are great for hanging in a dark room along with a night-glow skeleton.

Add special effects to your decorations too. Hang cobwebs all over, especially in places where guests will run into them. Fill the haunted house with fog from a fog machine, to create an eerie mist that will add to the terror. A lighted spider web with a moving spider will really freak out arachnophobes or startle other guests. Set the bloody butcher heart, which actually moves with a heart beat, on the kitchen counter next to a plastic meat cleaver or other utensil. Have a Creep Show CD playing for scary background noises.

Lighting effects are another great way to add a spooky impact to your haunted house. Use a black light to give the room an eerie glow or a spinning skull strobe light to create uncertainty and weird movement in another space. Flashing bat lights and spider web lights are great for stringing along banisters and other surfaces. The fiery décor, including table torches and fiery pots are great for creating a dungeon.

There are all sorts of creative things you can do to make your haunted house scary and fun. Come up with your own ideas to frighten guests, or use these classics. Have volunteers dress in black or in scary Halloween costumes to jump out at guests to startle them. Just make sure they don’t touch the guests! Time special effects or have someone (dressed in black so they’ll be hard to see) in charge of setting them off as guests enter the room. If you have a strobe light, try setting it off after guests are already in the dark room. It will make them jump nearly out of their skin! Have a fun and creepy game. Put food or objects in bowls behind a curtain, have guests feel in and guess what they are. Then, tell them that they have their hand in something gross such as worms (cooked noodles), brains (pasta salad), eye balls (peeled grapes), fingers (baby carrots), etc.

Hosting a haunted house party or fundraising event can be as much fun to plan as it will be for your guests to attend! Tell us about your Haunted House party!