The Thankful Jar | One Jar, Five Ways

I recently told you how much The Thankful Jar has meant to me over the past eleven months. Last post, I outlined an easy tutorial with printables to create your own Thankful Jar. Today I want to mention a few other ideas you might consider for your own use, or to gift to someone else this November.

 

Year-long exercise in Thanksgiving

I’ve been using The Thankful Jar all year long to remind myself of the moments of blessing I can be grateful for. In a moment of thankfulness, I grab an index card or post-it note, write the date and a brief description of what I’m thankful for and throw it into the jar. The jar is placed in a prominent place in my kitchen as a visual reminder of the blessings in my life. I originally planned to read them at the turn of the New Year (my one year mark), but it just felt right to read them this November in anticipation of Thanksgiving. Moving forward we plan to make this a year-long family exercise, so when we open the jar to read them again, there will be notes from all of us inside.

November Family Activity

The Thankful Jar could very easily be turned into a November-only or Thanksgiving-only family exercise. The jar could be used for the month of November to collect thoughts of thanks from everyone and then shared at the Thanksgiving table. This is a more grown-up take on some of the Thanksgiving tree-ideas that have been floating around Pinterest for little ones.

Thanksgiving Day Placeholders

If you celebrate Thanksgiving with family and close friends, a smaller version of The Thankful Jar could be used to mark your guests place settings at the table by writing the guest’s name and the year on the top of the lid with a colored sharpie.  While everyone is waiting for the Thanksgiving meal to be done, encourage guests to write specific notes of thanks to one another and place them in the jars. The jars can be taken home as a special reminder of your Thanksgiving celebration.

Gift from Many

My sister recently enlisted me to make these jars for the professors in her Master’s program at Wheaton. All the students wrote a note of thanks to each professor and the jars were presented as a gift – so much more creative than a card!

Thanksgiving Hostess Gift

Add to the jar by including candies, or a bouquet of fall florals and bring to your Thanksgiving hostess as a gift. Include the insert printable or direct them to this post so your hostess can use the jar again to make thankfulness part of their year.

I’m sure there are a lot of other ways to use this simple jar throughout the year and during the month of November. If you have any additional ideas I’d love to hear them!