The Thankful Jar: A Fun Thanksgiving Countdown for Families
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Create a Thanksgiving Countdown Jar your family will love! This easy gratitude activity is a fun way to focus on thankfulness each day leading up to Thanksgiving. Includes free printables!
Looking for a meaningful Thanksgiving countdown idea your whole family will love?
This Thankful Jar is simple, adorable, and helps everyone focus on gratitude each day leading up to Thanksgiving.
My family started this tradition back in 2009, and we’ve done it every year since. It’s become one of our favorite ways to slow down, reflect, and remember what the season is all about.
How to Make a Thanksgiving Countdown Jar
What You’ll Need:
- 1 jar or container
- Printable label + activity strips (download below)
- Scissors
- Tape
- Twine or ribbon (optional, but cute!)
Instructions:
- Download + print the Thanksgiving Countdown printables (link below).
- Cut out the label and tape it to the front of your jar.
- Add some twine or ribbon around the top if you want to dress it up.
- Cut out each of the gratitude activity strips, fold them in half, and drop them into the jar.
- Starting today (or anytime before Thanksgiving), pull one strip out each day and complete the activity together as a family.
It’s that easy — and it’s such a fun way to keep gratitude front and center this season.
We even have three different label designs so you can choose your favorite!
Whether you’re writing notes of thanks, doing small acts of kindness, or just taking a few minutes to reflect, this countdown jar will help make Thanksgiving feel extra special.
Ready to Start Your Own Gratitude Tradition?
WHAT A GREAT IDEA!!!
I love this idea. I wanted a few different ideas to focus on being thankful & this will be one of them! Thank you so much for sharing!
i love this idea – we dont have thanksgiving here in england, but my children could definitely do with a dose of gratitude!
we will be trying this out 🙂
how sweet, I love it! I even have a cute jar that would work for this! Thanks! P.S. I am thankful you shared this w/ us!
What a great idea ~ thanks for the post!
I did something similar to this. I just posted pics on my crafting blog – check it out!
Thanksgiving often seems in danger of being swept aside as a holiday. This idea will help us focus on what it's all about. So thanks for sharing it!
I saw your picture of the jar yesterday and today it was gone. Have you been having a problem with this? We have and don't know how to fix it! Help us if you can. P.S. I love this idea! So cute and clever.
I love this idea! What a fun way to get into the spirit of the season with little kids! I may just copy this one!
We definately need this in our home! Thanks for the great idea!
That is such a perfect way to enjoy the season by doing nice things everyday. My kids would love the chance to pick on out. Thanks for sharing!!
This is such a great idea. I'm going to make this with my kids tonight. Thanks for sharing.
This is such a great idea! I went out and got the supplies needed right away and made my own for me and my husband 🙂
This is such a great idea! I went out and got the supplies needed right away and made my own for me and my husband 🙂
We used these ideas in our advent calendar – my kids love it!
This is a fabulous idea~! I'm starting this with our family tonight. 🙂
Jennifer
What a cute idea!
I said last year this was a great idea and I still love it. We're doing it again this year. I helped the young girls at church make a jar for their families and they've loved it because of how it's geared towards kids. Such a great idea. Thanks!
This is fantastic – thanks!
I love this idea! I can't wait to start the countdown with my kids!
This is wonderful. Thank you to you and to Valerie for sharing 🙂
this is too funny. a girl in my ward had me cut this vinyl for her and now that i see it was YOUR project i have to laugh. of course it was yours, you cute thing! (: kelli
What a great idea! A beautiful display, and great reminders.
I can’t get the pictures on this post to enlarge. Can you make it available as a download?
Love this idea-I’m going to add it to our morning devotional
Love this idea and thank YOU for sharing! Posted about this on my Thank You Note Project FB page!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Thank-You-Note-Project/166517973399612
This is wonderful. I love that we can make our own paper our re-use your ideas. Last year I remember on Facebook people doing a daily “I’m thankful” wall post every day in November. I loved it. I have seen Thanksgiving advent calendars. They are cute, but our girls get enough candy. This is just wonderful. I cannot wait to share it on Pinterest. 🙂 Thanks for re-posting!
Thanks for sharing this…time to print it out and start using it! :o)
Great post! I am fairly new to blogging and just found your blog & became your follower. I am thankful for blogging 🙂
I was looking for a way to step up our Gratitude tree and this is exactly what I had in mind. Thanks for sharing it with those of us who missed it the first time around!
I love this I am printing this off and starting it tomorrow!
Thanks for reposting this! What a fun idea. I’m totally going to do this with my little girls this year.
Stephanie! Thank you for letting me use some of your material! I had fun creating this Thanksgiving Countdown! Here’s a link to visit my page: http://designsbymke.blogspot.com/2012/10/thanksgiving-countdown-for-kids.html
Love love love!! I’m sharing this in a 5 for Friday roundup of Thanksgiving Countdowns on my blog tomorrow, with one pic and a link back to this post. Thanks for the great ideas!!
This is very good article.I shall wait for your next article!!!