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If you’re hosting a family thanksgiving, you want to create a fun family environment that helps children understand the importance of thankfulness and reminds the adults of this as well.

Since Thanksgiving comes just before what many refer to as the “greedy” season, activities designed to remind people of the bounty in their lives are useful. For example, you might help children understand that while they don’t have everything they want, they do have everything they need.

How do you do this? Several ways. One is to help children create a cornucopia, which will sit on the Thanksgiving table. There are a variety of ways to do this. You can make a papier-mâché cornucopia using a balloon as the base to help you get the shape started. You can simply take large piece of poster board and shape them into a cone and fill those with whatever you like. As an extra activity, you can have the children decorate the cornucopia before it gets filled.

Since the idea of the cornucopia is to celebrate a bounty and appreciate that bounty, you can fill it as is traditionally done with squash, corn and the like. You might also ask each member of the

family to bring something that represents their personal bounty in life. A new mom might bring a baby blanket to put in the cornucopia while a newly retired grandpa might add a picture of his family, since that’s what’s most important to him. You can discuss the items in the cornucopia basket at the dinner table while enjoying your Thanksgiving feast.

Another family activity that kids like is the thankfulness jar. When each person arrives at dinner, they place a note with something they are thankful for in the jar. Ideally, each person will add more than one item to the jar. At dinner, someone (ideally, the matriarch of patriarch of the family) reads the notes. Everyone tries to figure out who wrote which note. The items can range from the serious (someone who struggled with an illness in the previous year might be thankful for life, quite simply) to the silly (the new mom might be thankful there’s a Starbucks within 5 minutes of her home). Kids enjoy adding their own touches to the thankfulness jar and their responses are often a surprise to the adult family members.

Some families have several tables set about at Thanksgiving. Many people buy professional floral arrangements to decorate the tables. You can make a game out of it to figure out who’s going to get to bring home the table arrangement to their home. You can do the old wedding thing and simply put a number on the bottom of the centerpiece and have someone’s chair match that number or you can make a game and perhaps create a trivia game out of Thanksgiving facts. For example, questions might look like this:
*How many turkeys are cooked on Thanksgiving throughout the US?
*Why are turkeys called turkeys?
*Which president set aside the last Thursday in November as Thanksgiving?

Be sure you research and know the answers and then quiz everyone. This is a great way to pass the time while everyone is waiting for the feast to be ready. Just tell the winners they can’t take the centerpieces until dinner is over!
You can have a similar game before dessert. Create a family trivia game and quiz family members before dessert. Only the people who get the answers right get to have their dessert. Everyone else has to keep trying until they get their trivia question right. Questions can range from the silly to the sublime. They might look something like this:
*Who got popcorn stuck in her braces at 12?
*Which man here wore boots with big holes in them until he was 20 and could buy his own?
*Whose grandparents immigrated to the US from Ireland?
*Which boy here got suspended from school for riding his bike into the classroom?

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will help that day to run smoothly, for all parties concerned. By planning efficiently, the day will be remembered as a source of joy by everyone for years to come.

Consider using fake flowers for your wedding. This saves a lot of money and most people will not be able to tell that they aren’t real. If you are crafty, you can put together the arrangement yourself in advance of your big day. You can also spray a floral scent on the bouquet if you want the flowers to smell fresh.

Research what flowers, fruits and vegetables are in season. By choosing the right products at the right time, you will save a significant amount of money on your wedding. The flowers will be more vibrant and the food will also taste better if you carefully plan what you are going to buy.

Help yourself plan for your wedding by going further with your plan and sketching it out. You don’t have to be a great artist to quickly sketch any ideas that you have. This also provides a clearer “picture” than words do in regards to how certain things should look and feel.

When you have eight to nine months left before your wedding, you need to select your wedding dress and book your reception site. Also at this point, it would be helpful to have your photographer booked and a create a tentative list of the guests you plan on inviting. Taking care of these things will make the next few months go much easier.

Let bridesmaids choose their own dresses. Instead of forcing a certain dress on different body types, dictate the color and leave the rest for them to do. If you want, you can also have veto power over the dress they choose. Giving bridesmaids freedom to choose their own dresses means less money and grief for you.

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Be sure that you schedule at least ninety minutes to get ready for the ceremony. This will give you ample time to make sure that you look your best and make it easier to capture those moments with the camera. You do not want to rush this process on your big day.

A good piece of advice to keep in mind for weddings is to make sure that you choose a location that is both unique and special to you. This is important because you want your wedding to be remembered by others and also have your own special flavor added to it.

Heather Floral suggests you should start planning your wedding at least a year in advance. Many venues and photographers are booked out 12 to 18 months and require deposits to hold a date for you. Even if you aren’t engaged, it might be a good idea to start thinking about your potential dates and venues before hand.

By implementing these suggestions, the wedding is sure to be a spectacular event that pleases everyone. This special day of bonding is worth taking the time to ensure that every detail is taken care of in the best manner. The bride and groom deserve to have the wedding of their dreams.

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