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I love crafts with purpose, which is why I had to share this easy dollar store tutorial with you! Learn how to make fall themed dessert plates for Thanksgiving dinner, or any special occasion.
When Thanksgiving rolls around, many families find themselves looking for kids crafts or activities to keep children busy on the big day. I love encouraging creativity in kids, so we always have craft supplies on hand.
Here is a great craft your kids will love this year! It’s a little bit messy, but simple enough that it can be child led. This is one of those projects where it’s really all about enjoying the process, but the final result still looks great and the final product is actually usable.
You can use the completed plates at the kids table or make enough for all your guests to use one as their dessert plate. You can make several variations, using whatever items you have on hand that will decoupage well – thin, light papery objects work best.
They can even be personalized with your guests’ names or Thanksgiving sayings. At Thanksgiving dinner this year, you could collect one thing everything is grateful for, and write that on their plate next year. It could become a fun family tradition each year.
Affordable Fall Craft Idea
The best thing is that these Thanksgiving dessert plates are a very affordable kids craft. You can find all of the supplies you need at most dollar stores, or you can always order from Amazon.
If you buy one 8-pack of plates and one pack of napkins from the dollar store, it will only cost $2.00 for 8 custom-made dessert plates and you still have the leftover napkins!
We were able to get 4 plates out of each napkin, so we had a lot of leftover napkins that we’ll use on Thanksgiving. If you have more leftover napkins than you’ll use for dinner, you could make some decoupage luminaries as well.
We already had the silk leaves on hand (from this fall leaves bowl craft) so there were no wasted supplies. We always try to use everything we buy somehow.
I hope your kids enjoy making these fall themed dessert plates for Thanksgiving this year. Don’t forget, you can also use this same technique to make custom plates for other holidays and special occasions like Christmas, Easter, Birthdays and Baby Showers.
How to Make Dessert Plates for Thanksgiving
Tools
Instructions
- Lay your plastic plate over a paper napkin and cut roughly around it, leaving 1/2” to 1” excess.
- Make a homemade Mod Podge by stirring equal parts school glue and water together in a bowl. “Paint” the backside of your plate with a thick layer of Mod Podge.
- Center and press the paper napkin onto the back of plate.
- Now “paint” the napkin with a layer of modge podge, smoothing out wrinkles and bubbles as you go. Trim the excess napkin right up to the edge of your plate and allow Mod Podge to dry completely.
How to Make Designs
- Now that you know how to make a basic plate design, you can make so many pretty designs. Use a sharpie to write names or messages on silk leaves, then apply them to the plate after painting with modge podge, but before applying the napkin layer.
- Use all silk leaves for a more textured design, using the same process as the napkins. You will just need to be more heavy handed with the Mod Podge. Do only a single layer of leaves so the plate will lay mostly flat when used.
- You could also use tissue paper, scrapbook paper, ribbons or other items for fun designs.
