~ Our Thankful Tree ~ Super Easy and Under $5

A simple Google or Pinterest search and you can find many an idea for creating your very own Thankful Tree.

It was especially important to me that we create one this year as being grateful is not something that comes naturally to me and let’s face it 2020 hasn’t been an easy year for anyone! When it comes to adding thankfulness and gratitude into my daily I have to work on it, think on it, and overanalyze it every step of the way. I figured what better way to add a daily reminder than to create it….

I set out to create one that had something fun for both my 7 year old daughter and my 19 month old son as well as to add some beauty to our mantel. When ideas come to my mind I am not good at thinking through the entire project and tend to just create and more often than not problem solve my way through it. It keeps things interesting that way! I knew the first item our thankful tree needed though were sticks!

Thankful Tree Stick Hunting

First, we set out on a beautiful Autumn day to gather the sticks needed for our tree. Since I am in a constant battle with myself over, ‘I need to photographically document this versus I need to live more in the moment.’ I only have a few snapshots from the day. We walked, we gathered, and we soaked up as much of the sunshine as we could.

In that moment, I felt incredibly grateful!!

Construction begins on the Thankful Tree

Once we had gathered the most perfect selection of sticks we took to creating our tree. We sat down together and carefully placed them in floral foam inside of our container of choice.

We chose to add sticks from several different types of trees at the children’s insistence. As far as the container you choose to put your tree in, your options are really limitless here. Initially I had intended to upcycle and paint a family size soup can for our container or use a vase or mason jar. However, I have had this pumpkin container for years and every year near Thanksgiving I put it up and think, ‘I love it but it really needs something in it.’

It now has a purpose and holds our thankful tree.

Now for the Thankful Tree foliage

Next we made our leaves. I intended to use a leaf stencil but they were far too detailed. I ended up making a couple leaf shapes out of cardboard as it made it easier for my 1st Grader to trace. We used colored construction paper but you could use any paper or cardstock. Then trace and cut. My 7 year old lost interest after cutting out a few with the cardboard shapes and had way more fun creating and cutting out her own leaf shapes. Lesson learned! I find cutting construction paper shapes to be anxiety reducing and cathartic so I just kept cutting and cutting. I guess I should have been a preschool art teacher!

The Thankful piece

Once we had our leaves cut we sat down as a family and wrote out on them what we are all grateful for. The little guy even participated and decorated his own leaves for the tree. We hung them with ornament hooks as it was efficient, cheap and quick. You could choose to glue them to the branches or hole punch and hang with ribbon or string as well.

The Finished product

FINALLY, our finished Thankful Tree!!

Step by Step directions to make your very own Thankful Tree!

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Supplies needed to make your very own Thankful Tree for $3-$5 and in 5 easy steps:

• Container of choice – FREE – use something you have at home
• Branches – FREE – collect your own
• Floral Foam – had already but can be picked up for $1 at the dollar store
• Scissors –
• Construction paper or paper of choice – had already but can pick up a bundle for $1 at the dollar store
• Ornament hooks – $1 at the dollar store
• Pen or marker –

5 Easy Steps:

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Your turn to create

I would love to hear if you gain inspiration from this post and make your very own Thankful Tree!

*This post was created on Thanksgiving, 2020 but due to technical issues (probably user error 🙂 it was published at a later date.