Thanksgiving is around the corner for most of you (I’m Canadian so we’ve already had our Thanksgiving). But regardless of where you’re from or whether you’re celebrating Thanksgiving soon, any time is a good time to remind our children and families of the importance of recognizing the good that others around us are doing, and taking the time to say thank you!
And so today, I bring you… the Thank Attack!
Recently I chose one person in our lives who I feel very thankful for and who I know has had an effect on each of the members of our family. I gathered the family together & we made a list of 8 reasons we are thankful for that person.
Then I made a mini paper triangle banner with the letters “THANK YOU” on the triangles. (You could also make a regular sized paper triangle banner– I did a post a while ago with a few ways to make one- I found it works really well if you use 12×12 scrapbook paper & have a paper cutter!).
I wrote one of our reasons on the back of each triangle and we signed our names on the last one.
The next step is to take the banner to the person’s house. Hang it on their door or their mailbox or across their porch (depending on how large your banner is). Then ring the doorbell & run!
There are a lot of different ways you could do this:
– instead of a banner, write your thank-yous on paper cut outs & stick them all over the person’s door or car
– make little paper flags (stick them to wooden skewers) and stick them in the ground all over the person’s yard
– leave a little gift (for example homemade cookies, a box of chocolates, or some flowers) at the door with your notes
I would love to hear any ideas you might have on variations of this version of a “heart attack”.
(If you have some, please leave them in the comments!)
I hope this gives you a good way to teach your children that Thanksgiving goes beyond the dinner!
Thanks for reading & leaving your kind comments whenever I share ideas here, I always appreciate your words! Hope you’ll come visit me sometime at my blog, Raising Memories. Have a great day!
Alison says
Cute! I like this idea:) This would be fun for the mail man too.
Thanks!
Heather Lynne says
That is a fun idea!
Caley says
Oh YES! I already know who we’re going to Thank Attack! Thanks for the wonderful idea Heather!
Heather Lynne says
You’re welcome 🙂 Hope you have fun with it!
Missy says
Love this! What a fun twist for the holidays! I was wondering what to do for my kid’s teachers – this is perfect!
Stephanie says
I’m all for ideas that send a little more gratitude out into the world! What a great way to let people know that you appreciate them.
Nancy Litteken says
Do you have a template for the Thank you!
Heather Lynne says
No, I don’t. When I made this one, I used some pre-made letters that I had, for scrapbooking. Maybe you could use some alphabet stickers? (We have them at our dollar store). Of course if you have a Cricut or a Silhouette, you could use that, too.
Bethany says
In our family if you are one of the siblings/grandparents that doesn’t come to spend Thanksgiving weekend with the group then we send you a We-Missed-You project. It ranges from a scrapbook with everyone filling out a family message page, to note card with Thankful For You message to each member of the family, to a picture with everyone’s short message written around the edges, etc. For the last 7 years I have been the one that comes up with this years project, plans it out, gathers supplies, reminds everyone to do their part during the weekend, and then turns everything over to the Matriarch to mail it to the lucky recipients.
I have been struggling to come up with something that is both simple to execute, not hideously expensive, AND new. Thanks to you I have just dicovered what we will be doing this year!!
Since we have 3 families that are not going to be with us this year, we will be doing this in triplicate. I am thinking of printing each family’s papers on a different color scheme to make it easier to keep track of everyone. Woo Hoo!!!
Heather Lynne says
Great! I love this idea of heloping family know that they were missed!
Glad this idea could help 🙂
Cecilia says
What a great way of showing appreciation. This be so fun to get in the mail! My Scrabble/Words with friends buddies would even enjoy unscrambling the letters to reveal the message…