Your Thanksgiving Kid-Friendly DIY Is Here to Save the Day!

Thanksgiving has finally entered the holiday group chat! There is nothing better than Thanksgiving: quality time spent with family, cooking, eating, eating, and eating (we have zero shame saying it and we are all in for the seasonal, turkey-induced, food coma). We can already smell the pumpkin pie cooking in the oven, taste the soft marshmallows on the sweet potato casserole, hear the laughs at the diner table, and see every dish piled high with the most delicious food that one can think of. Thanksgiving is one of the most wholesome events of the year, and I believe we can all agree on that.

Whether you’re a new mama or hosting some little ones this year (or even a teacher looking for some end-of-the-year inspo), you know that there is nothing worse than children having nothing to do and resorting to throwing a tantrum (cue the toddlers screaming because you’re not letting them put their hands in the pumpkin pie or play with the turkey legs!) As your new best friend, we have therefore come up with the best DIY idea for kids this Thanksgiving. And you know what? It doubles up as a present for grannies, teachers, aunts, and friends! I mean come on, who can do better?

Embrace the Turkey Vibes - it’s Thanksgiving!

Today, the Picta team is suggesting the most Thanksgiving DIY of all: A TURKEY FRAME to put a funny seasonal twist to the cutest pictures of the little ones! We’ve taken inspiration from the Chirping Moms blog for an easy kid-friendly craft that won’t require too much attention or too much preparation. Indeed, the last thing we want is someone stuck on craft table duty for the entire duration of Thanksgiving dinner (a definite way to spark unwanted family drama, if you want my opinion). This little turkey frame will bring a heavy dose of simple fun to the kids' table and create a lovely present for whoever has captured your kid’s attention this season (and they’ll probably want to give it to mommy!)

Step 1: Hit Up Target and Gather all the Supplies for Your Craft Station!

Chances are you’ll already have most of these supplies hidden somewhere in an abandoned box at the bottom of your closet from that time in 2020 when you decided to enter a DIY era that lasted two weeks (no shame, we’ve all been there). And if some of the essentials are missing, you’ll be easily able to find them at your local store! All you need are: wooden picture frames, brown or orange or red quick-dry paint, paintbrushes, feathers, googly eyes, glue and tape, and triangles of yellow cardboard paper (or some normal paper colored yellow because it does the job). Little tip: if you can’t find googly eyes you can also just get some white and black markers and get the kids to draw them directly on the frame (#problemsolvingqueen)!

Step 2: Get Your Picta on and Print Those Pics!

Because Picta makes your life easier, you just need to select your favorite pics of the little ones and place your order using your Picta app. They will be printed on the same day and ready for pick up before you have the time to say turkey!

Step 3: Set up the kid’s table

Okay ladies, we’re all thinking it so I’m going to go ahead and rip off the bandaid: no one wants the floor to be painted orange because a kid dropped the paint or the walls to bear the scars of kids running hands first into the wallpaper. The set up is key for your turkey frame atelier to be a success, and not a Thanksgiving horror story.

Set-up tip 1: Cover the table! With anything but please cover that table if you don’t want it to forever be designated as the DIY table (talking from experience here…)

Set-up tip 2: Protect the floor at all cost! You can use plastic sheet, newspapers, or toilet paper for all that matters but our best tip is to kid-proof your floor to avoid any unexpected and unremovable stain.

Set-up tip 3: Unwrap all the supplies, set them on the table, and put each kid’s photo in front of their designated place so that everything is ready for the crafting to go smoothly.

Bonus: decorate the table with mini pumpkins and fake leaves to make it look like a real homemade seasonal workshop!

Step 4: Let’s Get Crafting!

Floors are covered, supplies are out, pictures are printed - all you need are little hands bored with the green bean casserole and apple pie and ready to start DIY-ing! Only a few easy steps are required to have this seasonal picture frame on the table:

1. Bring out the children’s inner Picassos and have them paint the frame brown, orange, or red in a few wobbling strokes of paintbrushes. Make sure they let it dry completely before moving on to the next step (maybe it’s time for a second helping of pie, right?)
2. Next they can glue the googly eyes and the yellow triangle (aka your turkey’s beak) on the frame - yippee it’s starting to look like the real thing at this point!
3. Bring on the tape and glue and let them stick the feathers of their festive bird on top of the painted frame (if your glue is 10 years old and looks like cottage cheese it might not hold very well, hence the tape back-up - smart move!)
4. Now all they need is to put the picture inside the frame and voilà, the turkey picture frame is ready to rock!

This is so simple but it will make all the difference between a peaceful Thanksgiving and one spent with screaming children in the background… The kids (and, let’s be real, mostly the parents) will thank you for the best Thanksgiving idea on record!