The Best Thankful Trees for Thanksgiving Tree Tradition

Give thanks this Thanksgiving and cultivate an attitude of gratitude in the home with a thankful tree. Invite friends and family to share what they are most thankful for on a Thanksgiving thankful tree centerpiece for the Thanksgiving holiday. Create a new thankful tree tradition in your home–Make and decorate a DIY thankful tree for Thanksgiving this year!

There are many ways to design and use a thankful tree. The one thing that all types of Thanksgiving trees have in common is cultivating an attitude of gratitude in the home during the holidays.

Thanksgiving Thankful Tree Tradition

Give thanks and cultivate an attitude of gratitude, in the home, during the holidays with a Thanksgiving thankful tree.

What is a Thankful Tree?

A Thanksgiving thankful tree can be used as a Thanksgiving advent, or as a centerpiece. Simply invite family and friends to write what they are most thankful for on an ornament, and place it on the tree to decorate it.

There are many ways to create a thankful tree and many items that can be used to as ornaments. Making and decorating one is a Thanksgiving tradition the whole family can enjoy.

As a bonus, they make lovely autumn DIY home decor and are a beautiful centerpiece on any Thanksgiving table.

How to Use a Thankful Tree as a Thanksgiving Advent

If you would like to use your thankful tree as a Thanksgiving advent, put your tree up before Thanksgiving. Simply write down what you are most thankful on one ornament per day, and hang it on your thankful tree. Invite your friends and family to join you!

How to Use a Thankful Tree an Interactive Thanksgiving Centerpiece

Encourage dinner guests to write what they are most thankful for on ornaments and use them to decorate the thankful tree while they wait for dinner to be served. Use it as a conversation starter and a way to honor the true spirit of Thanksgiving. To give thanks for an abundant harvest!

Thankful tree with real fall leaves

Top 10 Thanksgiving Trees

Below you will find a few of my favorite examples from creative and crafty to kid-made. You can even make a thankful tree with real fall leaves!

Make and decorate a thankful tree this Thanksgiving to cultivate an attitude of gratitude in the home, and remind your family of the true meaning of Thanksgiving. The thankful tree tradition is a Thanksgiving craft and activity the whole family can enjoy.

Give thanks this Thanksgiving with DIY thankful tree. Use any of these easy thankful tree ideas or be inspired to create your own thankful tree for Thanksgiving!

1. Thankful Tree for Thanksgiving with Clay Gratitude Leaves

This thankful tree is made with bare branches and marbled clay gratitude leaves.

When we are grateful for what we have, we will be given more of what we are grateful for. Creating and decorating a tree with hand stamped marbled clay autumn leaves is a gratitude craft and activity that kids and adults can enjoy together. (Thankful tree with gratitude leaves.)

2. Thanksgiving Thankful Trees Made with Real Fall Leaves

This thankful tree for Thanksgiving is made is made with real preserved fall leaves. You can also use artificial leaves. Extra fine tip paint pens make it easy to write what you are grateful for on each leaf before attaching it to your thankful tree.

Creating and decorating a thankful tree with real autumn leaves is a gratitude craft and activity that both kids and adults will enjoy. Invite friends and family to write what they are most grateful for on preserved fall leaves and then place on them on the tree to decorate it. (How to make a thankful tree with real leaves.)

Our Thankful Tree with Turkey Leaf Lanterns

3. Thankful Trees for Thanksgiving with Chalk Ornaments | Simply Vintagegirl

Here’s a gorgeous thankful tree made with bare branches and wood pieces with chalkboard paint.

…it is beautiful to see people give thanks, counting how many ways God has blessed them. And for each and everyone of us living and breathing, that list is unending.
One way we display reminders to cultivate a thankful heart is with a thankful tree. This year instead of scrapbook paper we are using wooden chalkboard tags.(source)

4. Make a Thankful Tree for Your Celebration Centerpiece | Lia Griffith

This tree uses willow branches painted gold and a free printable leaf pattern. You can also use a Thankful tree display for this project.

For your Thanksgiving centerpiece this year, why not make it an interactive arrangement? That’s right, a Thankful Tree with leaves leaves printed, trimmed and ready for your guests to share their gratitude. Once they have added their sentiment they simply tie their leaf or leaves onto the centerpiece branches. (source)

5. Thankful Tree Thanksgiving Tradition

Here’s a simple thankful tree with paper leaves.

Give thanks in a new way this holiday season. Invite friends and family to share what they are most thankful for by creating a thankful tree that can take center stage throughout the Thanksgiving holiday. (source)

6. Thankful Tree Printable | Craftionary

A thankful tree printable with paper leaves. This Thanksgiving tree includes a “Give Thanks” printable. You can also use this thankful tree poster pack!

A thanksgiving craft for family and kids to give thanks. This is a very easy project and involves only a few colorful papers and a pen. And you can start writing and displaying what you are thankful for! (source)

7. How to Make a Thankful Tree | The Happy Housewife

This tree uses branches with lights and paper maple leaves cut using a large paper punch. You can also use a lighted maple tree for this thankful tree idea.

There is so much to be thankful for, and there is something about writing it down and looking at it every day that makes it that much more real. Not to mention the cuteness it brings to the room! I love the idea of keeping our leaves from each year in a little box so we can look back at different years, remembering what we were thankful for at that time. Source

8. Thanksgiving Thankful Tree Tutorial | One Creative Mommy

A thankful tree that uses brown packing paper for the tree and paper maple leaves. Another fun idea is to use a Thanksgiving door kit!

For the last few years, we’ve spent Thanksgiving morning writing things we’re thankful for on simple Fall shapes. This year, I decided to turn it into a month-long tradition. Instead of listing what we’re thankful for all at once, we’ll add them to our tree all month long! (source)

9. Our November Thankful Tree | Simply Rebekah

This tree uses brown paper for the tree and laminated construction paper for the leaves. You can also use a large tree wall decal!

Everyday in November, ask your kids what they are thankful for. Write it on a leaf. Place the leaf on the branches at the top of the tree. At the end of the month you’ll have a tree full of thankful thoughts! (source)

10. How to Make a Thankful Tree for Thanksgiving | Our Goodwin Journey

This simple wall tree uses construction paper to create a tree. Trace your own hands on cardboard paper and you have the leaves to write upon. You can also use a thankful tree poster pack or this bulletin board tree with animals with handprints made out of construction paper!

I wanted our girls to have a way to express the things they are thankful for… BIG and small. Fun things. Silly things. Real things. (source)

Related: Fall Books for Children

The Best Thankful Tree Kits

If you don’t feel like making your own thankful tree craft, you can purchase one of these thankful tree kits instead! If you click to purchase, we may earn a small commission with no cost to you.

A few of the thankful tree ideas below come complete with everything you need, while others you can use in combination with any of the ideas above or the thankful tree ornament ideas below.

Readymade Thankful Tree Options

Thankful Tree Ornament Ideas

Use any of these ornaments for your thankful tree this year!

Give Thanks this Thanksgiving with the Thankful Tree Tradition

Remind your family of the true meaning of Thanksgiving with a thankful tree this year. Create a thankful tree for a Thanksgiving advent or Centerpiece for your guests to decorate. They are also a wonderful addition to a fall nature table.

Use any of these easy Thanksgiving tree ideas or be inspired to create your own thankful tree tradition!

You may also enjoy 20 Thanksgiving traditions and fun things to do for Thanksgiving, and our fall bucket list seasonal guide for the best autumn ever!

More DIY Bare Branch Tree Ideas

My daughter loves to decorate trees so we make one every season. We decorate an Easter tree in the spring, a butterfly tree in the summer, a thankful tree in the autumn, and of course a Christmas tree in the Winter filled with handmade ornaments.

Making and decorating seasonal trees is an activity the whole family can enjoy.

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