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Pilgrim Party

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When my daughter was a preschooler she would countdown to Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas by watching the Peanuts Holiday Treasury DVD.

I’m pretty sure that’s why she suggested we skip the turkey, and instead dine on toast, pretzels, jelly beans and popcorn on Thanksgiving night.

However, last year she added a new Charlie Brown video to her holiday repertoire: “The Mayflower Voyagers.” The animated show gives a kid-friendly overview about what the First Settlers endured to get to America and what it took to pull of the very first Thanksgiving celebration.

Shortly after watching the DVD, my daughter started referring to Thanksgiving as the “Pilgrim Party” and insisted we pay homage to the black-and-white wearing English Puritans who landed on Plymouth Rock.

Fortunately, it wasn’t too difficult to bring history to life at our holiday dinner. Thanks to these fun crafts, my daughter got her wish to host a Pilgrim Party:

HOMEMADE PILGRIM HAT

Materials:

Large paper bags or roll of brown mailing paper

Tape

Sand pail (beach bucket)

Old belt or strip of leftover cloth

Directions:

If using paper bags, open up the sides and cut off the bottoms.

Tape the bags together and place them over the upside down bucket.

Gently press the paper around the bucket so it forms the shape of the
bucket.

Place the belt around the rim of the bucket and punch a hole where it will fasten securely. Cut off the excess. (You can do the same with the strip of cloth.)

Remove hat from bucket and place on child’s head.

CHOCOLATE PILGRIM’S HAT

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons butter

40 regular size marshmallows

6 cups Cocoa Krispies cereal

1 container of frosting

Decorating gel

Licorice, Skittles or your favorite candy to decorate

Directions:

In large saucepan melt butter over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat.

Add Cocoa Krispies cereal. Stir until well coated.