thankfulness
This season leading up to Thanksgiving is one of my favorites. If there is anything I’d like to be, it is thankful, and so I love the idea of expressing our gratitude both in spoken and written word.
I have created a set of cards to help encourage this attitude of thankfulness.
You could put one at each place setting at the the Thanksgiving table, have your family and friends fill them out and share with each other. My sister does this each night leading up to Thanksgiving with her family and then saves the cards to read the following year.
Another great way to use the cards is to turn them into tags
and hang them on a thankful tree.
The boys and I tromped out into the woods, cut down a few branches, put them into a heavy urn and filled the bottom with stones to hold the branches in place.
Every day, we each write one thing we are thankful for. And the rule is that nothing can be duplicated. This is our first year doing a thankful tree and I’m looking forward to seeing what the boy’s come up with. I hope it is a great way to instill in them the importance of having a thankful heart. I know it will be good practice for me and Ryan, too.
{at least we’ve instilled some self-esteem in this silly child}.
If you would like to do a thankful tree in your home, or if you’d like to use these cards at your dinner table, please download the pdf below.
There are ten subtle fall colors and each card is 2 x 3.5.
To create the tags, I cut out the card, punched a hole, added hole reinforcement stickers, and cut the edges at an angle.
I hope you find great ways to use these cards.
Click the image below to download.
Happy Thanksgiving!
{please feel free to send this to your friends & family for their holiday celebrations as well … you can use the share, save, send button below to make it super easy}
kasey
Love it! I just got them all printed, cut out and ready for our Family Home Evening activity tonight. We’ll do a new card each Monday night to add to it. I think I’ll string them up above the fireplace. Thanks!
Melissa
I am thankful for this great download from Emily! : )
Tonia
Thank you! You have been inspiring me for awhile now! I like how you moved the TV! Ha! Is it weird when strangers know how you have your house decorated? It looks great! Blessings, Tonia
kathy
Can you tell me how you made your gratitude banner? Thanks!
emily
It was the project we did for the November JDC | Monthly. We’d love for you to join! You can learn more right here: http://jonesdesigncompany.com/jones-design-company-monthly-printables/
Iris Brown
Thank you for making me look like a really good mom who is organized & crafty. My girlfriends are in awe of me because of you but I don’t tell them I stole the “Thankful Tree” & tags from you.
Appreciate the free download, I was going to have the kids cut out leaves and write it down, but this was so quick & pretty. Thanks for your talent. Have a good day.
Deb
Thanks Emily! Your timing is perfect..my kids and I needed this to help us get through a difficult time. We can’t wait to get our branches and get the tags on our thankful tree!
Deborah
I watch my neices,who are 3 years and 10 months, while their parents work . I was so inspired by your tree idea that Millie (the 3 year old) and I trekked outside to gather branches. For the past several days adding a thankful thought to our tree has been the first thing that we do when Momma drops the girls off. Momma and Daddy have been able to add their thankful thoughts to the tree as well and it is filling up quickly. It is a wonderful way to teach gratitude and it has been delightful to decide what we want to be grateful for each day. Thank you for sharing your wonderful idea!
jami
Love the thankful tree! Had actually already done one with scrap pieces of paper but these tags are so cute! Maybe we’ll use them at the dinner table though… Do you mind telling me where you got those plates? I do love them. Thanks!
susan
Oh, you and I share a similar heart! Thank you for doing this in your home and for posting this on your site. Gratitude/thankfulness is especially important these days. To thank someone is to hold them responsible; and Who better to thank than our Heavenly Father Who gives us all things to richly enjoy! We have a Good News Club and last week we started a poster that is with a similar idea. And we learned a new song from Ps 92:1 “It is good to praise the Lord and make music to Your name, O Most High, to proclaim Your love in the morning and Your faithfulness at night”
Keep up the good work Emily! I’m thanking God for you!
Susanna
You are always so generous Emily! Thank you!
Susanna
I’ve got our thankful tree ready for tomorrow and a beautiful banner that says GRATEFUL hanging across the bottom of the mirror above our mantel, and your chair silhouette print on said mantel {Oh, and a linen wreath}. There is a lot of Jones Design around our house and I love it. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Mary WG
Great! Thank you so much! I’m going to use it for my ESL Communication class.
Janel
I was wondering what weight of paper you use when you print these thankful notes…and where would I buy it. At and office suppy place? or someplace like Michaels?
Love your Blog!!
treasure box 57 …
[...] and being very thankful – a set of little ‘thanks’ cards. You can find them on Jones Design Company [...]
Tonya
I am thankful for you and your creativity … I’m not sure I could get through the day anymore without looking at your blog! So thankful I stumbled upon your work.
Michelle
Thank you for sharing this project. My littlest one and I gathered our branches and set them up…rocks and all. We just printed the tags andwill be ready to fill out soon.
We are grateful. Thank you
Just 10 days! » Pearls for Paper
[...] the rest of their fun ideas and to download the template for these adorable thankfulness cards, go here. [...]
Staci
Thanks again for making these! We have been making “thankful” notes each night and stringing them across our mantel. I just wrote about it on my blog.
Teresa Anderson
I just have to say a quick thank you for your Thankful Tree idea. We adopted a little 6 year old boy from Ethiopia a few months ago. When his class was assigned a project to work on at home {and bring back to school} showing photos, etc of Family Thanksgiving Traditions, I thought “oh NO! we don’t have any yet!”
So, we crafted your tree and he attached photos I took while they made it. It was the perfect 1st tradition.
Here’s my blog about it {of course I credited you for the idea}
http://hugsandpunches.blogspot.com/2011/11/thankful-tree-tutorial.html
Thanks again, Emily.
Teresa Anderson
Jennifer
I just wanted to say “thank you” and let you know how much my family (three boys) and I have enjoyed this gratitude tree idea. It is wonderful to see just what kids are “thankful” for! Your printable tags are adorable
LifeLoveLuxe
Love, love love this idea. I think I might do this myself during the Holiday Season, filling a card out every day and hanging it on the tree. By Christmas Day I’ll have an entire month’s worth of gratitude!
Thanksgiving Activity Round-Up
[...] printable [...]
courtney
i am thankful for great printables on the internet. i used your tags….check them out here.
http://www.casaonefiveone.com/2011/11/bring-neighborly.html
thanks and happy thanksgiving to you and your adorable family!
The Good Life Blog | Setting a Thanksgiving Table
[...] is so sweet and gracious, and often puts up free printables for her readers. You can download them here. I would put out a cup of pens and let each guest write what they are thankful for that [...]
Becca
We love your thankfulness cards and recently used them on our camping trip in a ‘Give Thanks’ craft. I would like to send you a picture of how we used them but I’m not sure how to attach it here. But, we loved the results so much that it is now hanging on our wall at home. Thank You!!
The thankful jar
[...] a few things that we’re thankful for every day. I found a great template over from Emily at Jones Design Company and printed out a few sheets (I used colorful construction paper, because we don’t have a [...]
Carly Winborne
I have never been to a blog where I immediately fell in love, like I walked in the front door to my own home. Oh my, yours is a very special blog. I just finished reading your post about your little boy calling you “mom” and I could relate perfectly. And then on this post, I see your brown dishes. I have those same ones, Spode Delamere. Love, love. Wishing I had found you earlier last week for the Thankful Tree tags. I’ll be doing it next year for sure. I can’t wait see what else I discover here. Thanks for having me! – Carly
Diane
thank you for sharing..i just fpund your blog and i love it…
Ashley
Oh no! I pinned these and was just getting ready to print them out when I discovered the link no longer exists. Will you be posting these again this season?
MaryAnn
Wow. I’m glad I found this post before Thanksgiving. This is a great way to celebrate, and will also provide me with some FHE activities leading up to Thanksgiving. Now I just need to find some great new recipes to go with the new decor.
DIY Thanksgiving "Thankful Tree" | Coldwell Banker Blue Matter
[...] I love the idea of expressing gratitude both in spoken and written word and found a fantastic way to display “thankfulness” in your home from JDC. [...]