Our favorite November Tradition: the thankful tree (with free tags)

Each year, on November 1st, we pick back up with a favorite family tradition of creating a thankful tree.

You may remember this from years past … here’s the first post I wrote about it (from 2011!), and another a few years later. We missed doing a thankful tree last year – with the chaos of moving and selling our old house, we just didn’t have a sense of normalcy yet.

But this year, I’m bringing it back.

Basically, the premise is this: print out some tags, cut a branch from your yard and pop it into a vase (or any container. Add small rocks to hold it in place, if needed), have your family write something they are thankful for on a tag each day, hang them on your tree.

By Thanksgiving, you’ll have a tree full of reminders of all the things you have to be grateful for. And, more importantly, you will have practiced and encouraged the beautiful work of being grateful. That’s my favorite part.

Okay, so to make things super easy for you, I have created a handful of tags you can download a print for free. They are all found in THE ARCHIVE, our library of freebies.

For our tree this year, I’m using the simple kraft tags (found here).

Start by printing them on a color printer. I used a slightly textured off-white cardstock, just to give them some interest, but you can use any paper you have on hand.

We have 6 people in our family and if we each do a tag every day for 23 days leading up to Thanksgiving, that means I’ll need 138 tags. So depending on your family size, print off the quantity needed, and enjoy the quiet repetition of cutting, trimming, hole-punching and tieing. I feel like it’s much easier to get the whole stack prepared ahead of time all in one sitting rather than running out mid-month and doing it all again.

So, after your tags are printed, cut them all out. A paper cutter comes in handy here (I use this one), but you can use scissors as well.

Then cut those little notches out. I switched to smaller scissors to make this part easier.

Using a small hole punch (this is the one I used), punch a hole in the top.

Next, cut a bunch of pieces of string to size. I ended up using crochet yarn that I’ve had forever and like it’s tiny size. Baker’s twine is cute or any other string you prefer. Just loop it through and tie a knot in the top.

Darling tags just waiting to be written on.

In years past, I have used a bare branch, but this time I decided to try it on a clipping with leaves still on. I know those pretty leaves will die in the next week or so and when they do, we’ll just switch to a naked branch.

But for now, that leafy branch makes the perfect thankful tree. We’re excited to keep this tradition alive this year.

Grab your free tags today and get them all ready for the first of November!Don’t forget that there are a few different designs to choose from, so if the kraft ribbon tags aren’t your thing, perhaps one of the others will be just right:

You can download all of these designs – and so much more! – in THE ARCHIVE.

SOURCES

bar cart – it’s on sale right now! | green vase (similar) | green moss candle | le pen | silver tray – vintage | art