From watching the parade to working up an appetite, cooking the feast, to making memories and having a heart for thankfulness… Family Entourage shares ways families celebrate Thanksgiving as well as new traditions to adopt.
MACY’S THANKSGIVING DAY PARADE
This year marks the 96th march of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade! Definitely a tradition to wake up and flip on the parade. On Thursday, November 24 at 9:00 AM, the iconic spectacle will bring the nation together in celebration with a dazzling lineup featuring giant character helium balloons, fantastic floats, showstopping marching bands, high-spirited performance groups, whimsical clowns, music stars and the one-and-only Santa Claus.
Conceived during the Parade’s infancy, the giant character balloons have become a signature of the annual celebration. Since 1927, the world’s most popular characters have been transformed into high-flying art in the sky. Originally inspired by marionettes, the Parade’s balloons first debuted as upside down puppets filled with air which were carried down the Parade route on sticks. The design later evolved to include helium, making them high-flying giants.
Many don’t know this but you can follow the parade route, go behind the scenes to see how they design and produce (like 300 pounds of glitter is used!) and there is also a whole STEAM video section online for families too. We like to make an event of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in our own living room and set up a hot cocoa and coffee bar and snuggle in our blankets on the couch.
REFLECTING ON THE YEAR
From travel adventures to birthday parties, weddings and new additions to the family – nothing beats reliving your favorite moments through a beautifully crafted photo book. Something simple like gathering all your kids art and letters from the year and putting them into a classroom themed book to bringing the family trips and activities from digital photos and social stories to tangible items that you can place in your home or gift. We love using Mixbook to create keepsake photo albums. With Mixbook, you can create the album right from your phone because we all have all our photos on our phone. Once it is created, you can share it with others too and they can add their photos. I like doing this for some of our extended family albums because everyone captures such unique photos.
The all-new Mixbook app also offers instant photo organization with trip stories, transforming your travel photos into beautifully curated travel books that are as fun to make as the trip was to take. The app has automagic travel story creation which uses templates and suggestions in the app. This helps saves time on choosing the right design and layouts for your book. It also auto-fills but still provides creative controls so you can customize. Mixbook has also added more formats and sizes so that the options really are endless. Our family enjoys looking through the books and reminiscing on the different stories or memories we created together. We also love using Mixbook to create gifts like calendars. This is especially a great gift for relatives that
TWIST TO THE TRADITIONAL TURKEY FEAST
We definitely want to cook smarter and not worry about overcooking or undercooking, or have to stay stuck in the kitchen eyeballing when items “look” done. We want to spend time with family, and take risks like maybe smoking the turkey. Whether roasting in the oven or on the grill, wireless tech and an app can make sure your meat is cooked to perfection.
Finding MEATER was a game-changer it’s the world’s best selling meat thermometer with a built-in Bluetooth repeater givong freedom from your grill, smoker, or kitchen. It’s 100% wire free and has a guided cook system through the app that walks you through every step of the cooking process to guarantee perfect and consistent results. Plus it’s Advanced Estimator Algorithm estimates how long to cook and rest your food to help plan your meal and manage your time.
WORK UP AN APPETITE
Many families try to be active whether it’s playing sports, games or doing crafts. From a morning fun run like a Turkey Trot, to family football in the yard, or even neighborhood basketball pick-up games it’s about being together. Games bingo and cards to charades can be a lot of fun and a thoughtful craft is perfect for the kids. We made a turkey about of a pine cone we collected on a family walk and then wrote something we were thankful for on each of the feathers. Another fun idea is taking a paper bag and then decorating it like a turkey. Kids can write things they are thankful for on the feathers.
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