One thing that “works for me” is to involve my children in decorating for the holidays. Here are a couple of ideas we’ve tried over the years for Thanksgiving.

For the first one, an M&M Turkey, you need a couple tablespoons of M&M’s (or really any other small candy), a piece of ribbon (or even string) about 10″ long, a 6-8″ square of netting (or tulle), a couple of “googly” eyes and a couple lengths of chenille stem.

I’m sorry I don’t have the “head” in individual pieces, but one of the neat things about this craft is you can do it once and use it year after year. The first time, take one length of “bumpy” chenille and fold it into the turkey head shape. Take a smaller piece of regular chenille (do they even still call it that? – I hope you know what I’m talking about – they were called pipe cleaners when I was little) and fold it in half. Glue it in place for the wattle and attach the two eyes with glue (one on each side).

Next, pour some M&M’s into the center of the netting square, pull the edges up to the center, and tie with the ribbon.

Tilt it on its side and stick in the turkey head. Voila! You’re done. Make as many as you want, using whatever materials you can find, and have fun.
We’ve also had fun making Cookie/Candy Turkeys. You can google these and find specific directions, but here are some pictures to get your creativity going.