A good idea is to get the kids involved in preparing Thanksgiving decorations for the Thanksgiving dinner table. This can be a great help, and a good way to keep the kids occupied on colder Fall days. What’s more, grandma and grandpa will be impressed by their efforts. There are heaps of ideas for the kinds of arts and crafts activities that the kids could be doing. Here are a couple of suggestions on where you could look for some good ideas. Click on this link for a lot of free Thanksgiving activities for kids. They could make pilgrim hats, a Turkey centrepiece for the table, a scrapbook of the day, edible turkeys made from cookies, pine cone turkeys and lots of other arts and crafts.  Click on this link for a book with even more craft ideas for kids, including hundreds of ideas for arts and crafts activities year-round.

Perhaps preparing a traditional Thanksgiving Dinner is a scary prospect. Earlier generations seemed to have more time, and stay at home Moms often were excellent cooks. However, today we have better equipment, and, with a little planning using reliable Thanksgiving recipes and some sound tips on how to get things done efficiently beforehand, there is no reason why you can’t impress everyone with a wonderful dinner. The solution you need may be these step by step instructions and Thanksgiving Dinner recipes.

Another fun idea is to have your family dress up as Pilgrims and Indians to recreate the First Thanksgiving Dinner in 1621. You could do this just with craft Pilgrim hats and Indian headbands made by the children, or you could go all the way and buy ready made Pilgrim costumes.

Whatever you choose to do to make the day a little special, just getting everyone in you family together for Thanksgiving Day is sure to be a lot of fun.

Elvis Jumpsuits

Found an interesting post with pictures of the jumpsuit stage costumes that Elvis Presley wore.

It’s astonishing how nearly everyone instantly identifies this get up with Elvis, even generations born long after he died in 1977.

I had no idea these rock and roll costumes were so elaborately decorated and costly, with intricate embroidery, rhinestones and other embellishments.

There is more depth to the history and design of the Elvis jumpsuit stage costume than I thought.

Pumpkin Faces

Pumpkin carving for Halloween is a great example of Fall crafts for kids, but it seems to me it can be a little on the dangerous side for younger children, what with all those sharp knives and a hard pumpkin skin to cut through. Making pumpkin faces by simply painting them is another and safer way for kids to decorate a pumpkin for Halloween.

There are a lot of creative ways of decorating a pumpkin just with pumpkin painting – imagine what fun a group of kids could have coming up with imaginative faces, like in the picture to the left. With a jack o’ lantern there are not a lot of variations from the basic idea, but with face painting on a pumpkin the possibilities for fun are endless.

Pumpkin Carving Example

With Halloween just around the corner perhaps your one of the thousands who are thinking about pumpkin carving and pumpkin decorating ready for October 31st celebrations and fun.

Maybe you, like most people, are just thinking about getting a pumpkin carving template to make a jack o’ lantern face. But check out the picture to the left and see what can be done when you put your mind to it and apply some artistic skills!

The scariest carved pumpkin ever!

The artist is offering a free pumpkin carving tutorial. He goes into a lot of detail as to how to carve a pumpkin and what are the best tools you need. He has some much simpler designs you could tackle more easily than this extreme example in the picture, and it really looks like it could be great fun, especially as a Halloween craft activity for kids.

Three Wise Men Costume

With Christmas fast approaching you might be thinking of putting on a nativity play this year, to tell the Christmas story. Perhaps you are involved with a church or school group, or even have thoughts of doing something to raise money for a good cause this Christmas.

I found a suggestion for a nativity play script that comes with both the words and the music, as well as tips for producing, casting and arranging the performance.

One great idea that impressed me was that the Christmas play could be performed as a pantomime, without the actors having to learn the words. This is done by having a narrator, with the actors playing out the roles as the words are spoken. Seems to me this would work out well with children as the actors, and make for a more professional show that tells the story more clearly.

The music can be mostly popular Christmas carols that the audience can join in with to sing along. That should ensure a great audience reaction to your Christmas nativity play performance if it is close to Christmas Eve.

What’s more, I discovered there are biblical costumes readily available, especially childrens nativity costumes, to dress up for the parts in a nativity play. Some families may like to make their own biblical character costumes, but that can be a challenge to get it organized if parents don’t have time to spare at this busy time of year. There are some wonderful and reasonably priced ideas for more elaborate costumes for the Three Wise Men, that would be difficult to make for the price – I guess mass production has put a lot of home dressmakers out of business! A collection of biblical costumes at a church can always come in handy at other times of the year as well, and can be reused next Christmas.

Racy Robin Hood Costume

Russell Crowe is seeking to repeat his success with Gladiator in a gritty remake of the Robin Hood legend, and popularity is heating up for anything to do with Robin Hood. Pirate costumes have been the “big thing” for the last few Halloween party seasons, because of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and the new Robin Hood movie could have a similar fashion impact.

Robin Hood Costume

There is no denying the ladies version of the Robin Hood costume on the left is one of the hottest selling costumes this Halloween, complete with a feather in the cap.

For the guys the Robin Hood Halloween costume has all the look of leather and studs and rackish hat, but maybe not the very tight tights worn by Errol Flynn in an earlier version of the movie.

Going as a couple, these costumes would make a great combination. Another combination to consider is a Robin Hood and Maid Marion couple, reflecting a legendary romantic tale of love. There are some gorgeous Medieval gowns as Maid Marion costumes for a lady to wear, and some of them are perhaps more suited to the plus sizes than the racy version to the left.

We must not forget Friar Tuck, whose costume was a monk’s habit, which also perfectly suits the costume needs of a plus size man.

There are some super choices of costume available this year for Medieval knights, men at arms, peasants and even kings and queens that also fit into the era of Robin Hood. Enough choice and variation for you to even consider a Robin Hood versus the Sheriff of Nottingham theme for a Halloween costume party. Who cares about dressing up as ghosts and zombies yet again when there are much more interesting costumes about?