Design: Faux Bois Thanksgiving Printables (Free Download)

I can't wait to pause next week and spend a day surrounded by family expressing gratitude for all of our many blessings. This year has not been without some significant challenges, but it has also been filled with grace and mercies, and we are thankful. There is always much to be thankful for, if we can be still for a few minutes to let the realization sink in, right?

I am not hosting the dinner this year, but if I were, I would have the table set in a monochromatic spread of bleached pine cones and twigs and acorns, and white linens, and china with touches of gold. I would also use some faux bois placecards and place a printed copy of one of my favorite Thanksgiving Hymns at each place. There are so many beautiful words to help us observe this holiday. I love the words of Henry Alford, and Martin Rinkart, and the 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation of Abraham Lincoln.

I also love an idea I saw somewhere, of creating a Thanksgiving tree. A branch from outside would be perfect for hanging little cards with inscriptions or drawings from all of our guests. I am thankful for health, and a beautiful landscape around me that changes with each season, and the opportunity to be a mother and wife, and my eyesigh,t and the ability to use my hands to make gifts for those I love, and my faith, and so much more...

Though Thanksgiving invitations are usually offered over the phone or via email, I love the idea of sending a more formal one with a RSVP to help me plan.

I made these faux bois Thanksgiving printables last year after Scarlett's Woodland Picnic birthday party. Judging by Etsy and Pinterest the birthday printables were well-liked and I thought they would lend themselves to Thanksgiving, with a few tweaks. So I made them and I'd like to share them with you.

The set includes invitations and envelopes, place cards (or food labels, or whatever), "Thankful" cards, hang tags and circle tags to use as placecards or gift tags or something else you may come up with, and bottle wrappers (napkin rings?), and even a little bunting. The PDF file can be customized because it includes form fields for you to type in. I've also included some versions "as is" of sayings that should work well for most gatherings but the rest have placeholder text you can type over.

These printables come in a bleached, or Flemish Oak and in a darker Mahogany brown, both with touches of a golden yellow. There are coordinating printed papers in faux bois and gingham for lining trays or cutting cupcake wrapers or anything else you can think of!

To use these printables you simply need Adobe Reader, which is a free download here. You can select the pages you wish to print, and even print some double-sided. The invitation and envelopes are designed to be double sided and look so fun that way with the gingham peeking out. If you use hanging tags they would look great double-sided too. (Note that Adobe Acrobat provides more flexibility such as re-ordering pages and deleting pages.)

For best results I take my files on a USB drive to a local print shop because the color is always more vibrant compared to my home printer. Be sure to use bright white 90 lb (or heavier) card stock when you print yours.

I know time is short already but maybe you can still use these, or if not this year, you can get a jump on next year! You can download my Faux Bois Thanksgiving printables in two parts here and here.