Thanksgiving ideas for parties are a great way to spend Turkey Day

People don’t necessarily associate Thanksgiving with throwing a party and that means not too many people will be doing it.  That means less competition for you, making it a great time to throw a party!  Here are some thanksgiving ideas for parties that will make you look great without spending too much time or cash.

Decorations

Decorating for a Thanksgiving party is similar to decorating your home or front yard for fall.  The colors you should be using are mostly yellow, red and orange, with some browns and greens thrown in. You can also pick up some theme party supplies to make your party stand out.

Streamers in these colors should be fairly easy to come by and if you look early enough, you may even find them in dollar or discount stores.

There are several ways to use streamers and you can do any of these or a combination of them.

• Run streamers in any openings inside the house such as doorways and open spaces between rooms.  Vary the lengths and the colors to make it more interesting.
  
• Let streamers hang in two or three foot lengths from a ceiling fan.
• Attach streamers from the outside of a room to its center, either in one length from end to end, or arching them at the halfway point.
• Like in the last suggestion, attach streamers from the outside of a room to its center (no halfway point on this one) but first take two colors and place them back to back, then twist the combined streamers to get an appearance of having a streamer that’s one color on one side and another color on the second side.  Twist them enough so that it makes a full corkscrew every foot or less.  This one is more time consuming, but it looks fantastic.
• For less work but an even better look, use the last suggestion and alternate it with the suggestion above it, making every other streamer bi-colored and twisted (maybe yellow and red), but each alternating one an untwisted solid color (maybe orange).  There’s only half the twisting and combining, but the end result actually looks more complex and beautiful.

Another thing people always associate with Thanksgiving is corn.  Corn is ubiquitous almost anywhere in the United States, so it’s usually not too difficult to get your hands on some corn stalks and ears of dried corn.  It’s pretty easy to find different colors of dried corn, which looks especially nice.  You can have the corn stalks placed in a couple of locations inside your house, as well as outside at the front door.  The dried ears of corn can be used as a centerpiece on a table.

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Corn isn’t the only centerpiece you can use on a table.  If you can find a cornucopia, place it in the middle of the table with a variety of gourds, which come in many shapes, colors and sizes.  You can also combine the corn and gourds for a better effect.

When people think of Jack O’ Lanterns, they usually think of Halloween, but a group of pumpkins (3 of different shapes and sizes) looks very nice, or if you have a bit of an artistic flair, a carved pumpkin with a fall or Thanksgiving theme looks great.

To make this effect even nicer, go outside and pick up a few fall leaves of different shapes, colors and sizes and place them at the base of the pumpkin.

The Food

If there is any one thing that is always associated with Thanksgiving, it’s great food.  Here are some suggestions you can use this Thanksgiving to serve at your party.

• Veggie tray with onion dip.  Make sure it’s a dip that has some orange in it, like bits of carrots.
• Corn chips and homemade Salsa using red, yellow and orange bell peppers for color.
• Rice Krispie treats with small amounts of yellow, orange, red and/or brown colored sugar sprinkled on top.
• Sweet potato balls, made by rolling balls of sweet potato in corn flakes or frosted flakes.
• Homemade Chex mix, using at least three types of Chex (such as Corn Chex, Rice Chex and Wheat Chex) and other yellow to brown colored crunchy snacks.

Fun Ideas

If you really want to get creative and have some extra fun for your party, especially if kids are involved, you can do the following:

• Have a theme party where everyone dresses like pilgrims or Native Americans.
• Read a story about the first Thanksgiving.
• Put on a small, simple play about the first Thanksgiving using the kids as actors.  Kids love to get all of the attention and adults get a kick out of watching this.  Make sure it’s fun for the kids though.  Don’t take it too seriously or you’ll make them miserable.