As Thanksgiving approaches, families get excited about so many of their annual traditions. From adding a little DIY to your Thanksgiving to making your Black Friday checklist, we share ideas for those as well as we can’t forget traveling over the holidays and capturing all those fabulous memories together too.
Thanksgiving with a DIY Twist
Whether you are personalizing your Thanksgiving table with decor and place cards or need to create some thank you cards and hostess gifts, we love the Cricut Joy Extra. We wanted to make some Thank you cards for teachers and friends that have special meaning to us. So we headed to Cricut’s robust Design Space to identify festive options to help create a card and pumpkin for a hostess gift. The Design Space is great because it has a library of designs so you don’t have to be a professional designer. There are so many templates too which enable you to personalize or add your creative touch too. We love taking a craft pumpkin, adding a monogram or saying, and gifting it to a teacher or friend. We used the Cricut Joy Foil Insert Cards in Cameron to make our Thank You cards. They have some great fall festive colors. We love being able to make thoughtful gifts and cards with our Cricut.
We also love Cricut Joy Extra’s size. It makes it easy to take with you for a girls’ night out of crafting or making or if you are headed out for the holidays and need to add some last-minute touches to gifts.
Black Friday & Cyber Monday Top Toys
Whether you make it your tradition to brave the Black Friday crowds or enjoy surfing for Cyber Monday Macy’s Toys R Us has everything on your holiday gift list. The favorite giraffe Geoffrey put out his Hot Toy List with everything from Laser Tag to Remote Control cars and robots, Gabby’s Dollhouse to Melissa and Doug… something to excite those from little to teen.
Some of the top movies this year were based on toys so of course those products are topping lists including Barbie, Super Mario Bros and Lego is always a big hit! You can shop online or in-store at Macy’s and their Black Friday sales are not to be missed.
Also don’t forget to check out Macy’s Holiday Celebrations including Santaland and the virtual experience this year.
Travel Tips for Maui Re-opening
Recently the mayor of Maui announced the island is reopening its doors for visitors to return. Last spring our two families traveled to Maui and fell in love with the island and its people. We look forward to going back and visiting soon. For those looking to visit during the holidays or early next year, Kaanapali Beach Resort has put together a resource page to help those considering a trip. From events and attractions to hotel and restaurant reopenings, Kaanapali Beach Resort is dedicated to sharing Hawaiian culture and Maui’s rich history with its visitors through various experiences. We love how they respond to people wanting to know how they can be respectful and responsible visitors.
They share, “To know and respect the culture, the land, and its people are important pieces of responsible visitation. Seek out a hula show or musical performance, learn Hawaiian lauhala weaving, quilting, and lei-making, or learn more about Kā’anapali’s culture and heritage on the Kā’anapali Historical Trail walking tour. Ride the complimentary Kaanapali Trolley to see the land or visit the Hawai’i Wildlife Discovery Center.”
For those looking to give back or a voluntourism type of trip, they have lists of projects on Go Hawaii including helping clean Maui’s coastline. And for those that aren’t able to make it out for a trip quite yet, but would like to support relief efforts, they recommend donating to groups like Maui Strong Fund, Maui Food Bank, and Maui Humane Society.
Capture Memories Together
Whatever traditions or family activities you enjoy the best part is being together and you want to make sure to capture all the magic, and not just have it live on your phone! From your annual family Christmas cards to photobooks and more, Mixbook makes it so simple to turn our photos into keepsakes.
Mixbook Studio allows for easy templates, design and also you can choose from AI-generated captions that speak to your photos and the story they tell, so you can say more while writing less. Plus you can let your photos shine with 150+ new eye-catching two-page spreads and it’s super easy to instantly change every page of your photo book to a new theme right inside your project.
Check out Mixbook’s Holiday Gift Guide where you can make flat-lay books, calendars, photo cards (yes, make sure your gorgeous family photo shoot actually makes it to the cover of your holiday card this year) and any other creative angle from recipe books to elementary art books. Mixbook customer service is always available and her quality is above all!
