Turkey Day Bits and Bites: Fun Thanksgiving Activities and Crafts

Get excited about Thanksgiving with these fun ideas, recipes and crafts.

Find Thanksgiving activities and events in Atlanta with our list of Best Things to Do Thanksgiving Week.

Turkey-Day Food Made Fun

Mini Stuffing: For bite-size, crispy fun, place scoops of stuffing in greased mini muffin tins and bake.

“Turkey” Sandwich: Use a round cookie cutter to make a circle-shaped sandwich. Add candy eyes and a carrot triangle beak. Cut a slice of red pepper for the wattle, and place apple wedges around the sandwich for feathers.

Thanksgiving Cracker Bites: To make the cheese spread: Stir together 8 oz. cream cheese, 1 c. shredded white cheddar, ¼ c. crushed pecans, ¼ c. bacon bits, ¼ c. chopped green onion and ½ tsp. Stir until well combined. Place 36 crackers in a single layer on a platter or work surface. Spread a thick layer of the cheese spread onto each cracker.

Cornucopias: Press a Bugle into the cheese spread on the top edge of 12 crackers, with the pointed tip sticking up. Press chopped pecans, almonds, dried cranberries and dried apricots onto the cheese spread around and in front of the wide end of the Bugle. Garnish with rosemary.

Pumpkins: Press about 1 tsp. of shredded orange cheddar into the cheese spread on 12 crackers. Place a mini sprig of rosemary on the top center of each cracker for the stem.

Turkeys: For the turkey feathers, press 3 whole pecans into the cheese spread along the top edge of each of the crackers. Place 4 sliced almonds in front of the pecans. Place 2 dried cranberries for the eyes and a dried apricot quarter, pointed side down, for the snood.

Courtesy of “Brilliant Bites: 75 Amazing Small Bites for Any Occasion” by Maegan Brown

Turkey Cheese Ball: Embellish a plain cheese ball with mini pretzels for feathers. For the neck and head, use melted chocolate to adhere a malted milk ball, candy eyes and a candy corn beak to the end of a stick of beef jerky. Insert the neck into the body and surround with crackers for snacking. craftsalamode.com

Sweet Potato Recipes They’ll Love:

Fill hollowed-out orange halves with your favorite mashed sweet potato recipe, top with mini marshmallows and broil.
Toss peeled, sliced potatoes in corn starch, then in olive oil. Sprinkle with sea salt and roast at 400 degrees until crispy.
Scoop out the flesh of baked sweet potatoes and mix with brown sugar, butter, and cinnamon. Spoon back into potato shells and bake.

Sweet Turkey Treats

Turkey Cookie Truffles: You’ll need chocolate chip cookie mix, butter, egg, cream cheese, chocolate chips, shortening, candy eyeballs and assorted candies, nuts and sprinkles for decorating. They’re almost too cute to eat! bettycrocker.com

Ice Cream Cone Cornucopias: Heat candy melts in a bowl according to the package directions. Dip the edges of waffle or sugar cones to coat, followed by sprinkles or jimmies. Let harden and fill with cereal and candy.

No-Bake Turkey Brownies: Start with store-bought brownie bites. Use purchased chocolate cookie icing to adhere candy eyes in the center and candy corn feathers along the top edge. Add a candy corn beak under the eyes. funlearningforkids.com

Mini Candy Apples: Use a melon baller to scoop rounds from a large apple. Insert a cake pop stick in each and dip in melted caramel. Sprinkle on nuts or add a drizzle of melted chocolate. divascancook.com

Caramel Pretzel Turkeys: A mini pretzel twist is the base of this sweet-and-salty bird. Top pretzels with three pieces of candy corn and place a Rolo candy on top. Bake at 300 degrees until barely melted, 3-5 minutes. While still warm, press an orange M&M beak into each and add candy eyes. Let cool. wondermomwannabe.com

Turkey Cake Pops: Try these fun treats from Sweet Cheats Atlanta Bakery; you can also find directions to make your own at goodhousekeeping.com.

Turkey Treats (pictured above): You’ll need tulle, fall-colored Reese’s Pieces or M&M’S, pipe cleaners in yellow, orange, brown and red, googly eyes, glue and small clear hair elastics. Find full instructions at cleanandscentsible.com. Add a decorative name tag to these treats to make cute placeholders! Clean & Scentsible

Turkey-Inspired Crafts from Handmade Charlotte

Try these fun crafts from Atlanta crafter and blogger Rachel Faucett, and find more fun crafts on her website, handmadecharlotte.com.

Turkey Table Décor: Collect small stones, pine cones and leaves from the yard and paint them in bright colors. Let them dry completely and arrange them along the center of your Thanksgiving table.

Wood-Block Turkeys: Turn craft-store wood blocks into modern turkeys with paint, feathers and construction paper.

Birds of a Feather…Play Games Together

Spend some quality family time together with these games and activities.

This downloadable Thanksgiving Game Bundle includes turkey-day versions of Scattergories, word searches, Pictionary, trivia and more ($10 on etsy.com).

Turkey Piñata: They’re not just for birthdays – look for turkey piñatas on amazon.com or find DIY directions online. Fill it with leftover Halloween candy!

Play Ball! Head outside for a game of touch football. For added silliness, used a stuffed or inflatable turkey in place of the football.

Cranberry Bounce: Place a row of cups on a table; each player has one minute to bounce cranberries off the table into the cups. The player who gets the most cranberries in the cups wins!

Turkey Hunt: Hide craft-store feathers around the house or in the yard; send kids on a search to see who can find the most.

Play Games: Chompin’ Charlie is fun for ages 4 and older; players try to fill the squirrel with acorns before he bursts ($21.00 on amazon.com). See which family member can complete the most wacky challenges in Beat That! ($19.99 on amazon.com).

Ready, Set, Run! Participate in an Atlanta turkey trot; annual favorites include the Marietta Gobble Jog. Or plan your own event and compete as a family, invite neighbors or challenge far-away relatives to a virtual run.

T-Day Pictionary: Put a new spin on the drawing game with word clues like pilgrims, the Mayflower, an ear of corn, or a wedge of pie.

Rock Out

Cue up a delightful playlist for background noise for prep, dinner and clean-up. Spotify and Apple Music both offer pre-made lists of fun music for the whole fam. Want to curate your own? Here are some of our favorites: