Monday, November 5, 2007

Pilgrims and Indians

Thanksgiving is around the corner---and can you believe they are already playing Christmas music on the radio (93.9 fm)???!!!! YIPPPEEEE! Blogging was slowed down last week as I turned my entire home into a costume shop as I prepared for attending a Thanksgiving Reenactment hosted by dear friends. In case you don't know what that entailed for me let me explain--that meant 10 costumes in 2 days! 

With almost everyone growing out of their costumes we had to do most of them over or add extra accessories. We went as Indians so I thought I would describe an easy way to make these costumes if anyone was interested in doing this for the holiday or just as an exciting study on pilgrims as part of your homeschooling.

I had visited the local costume shops and was shocked to find that adult costumes started at $40-$60 dollars. That was NOT in my Indian costume budget! So I ran over to the thrift store and found loads of brown shirts (90 cents) and brown or black pants/skirts($2). We got them home and quickly cut fringes on the bottoms of the shirts and at the end of the arms (right at the cuffs).

For my little 16 month old twins I found 2 brown pillowcases (60 cents each) and cut a hole at the end and cut up each of the sides to make it tunic style. They were a little long so I cut off a few inches at the bottom and then used the extra material to make a sash to tie at the waste. It was perfect! At the jewelry counter I found 2 Indian looking necklaces and bought those ($1.99 each) and later bought some beads and black thread for the children to make Indian jewelry as a craft. You can use make up to draw lines on their faces for a real effect, the boys always love that. I will post pictures in a later post so you can view them.

You can do the same thing with Pilgrim costumes, buying black pants and shirts you can add white collars, aprons or with felt to make life easy. After all, this is all about having fun and enjoying the season.

What are some special ways your that family celebrates Thanksgiving?




3 comments:

Brenda said...

Oooh! What fun! We had an "Indian party" last weekend with the 2 cousins and they all looked SO cute. I will post pictures too. BUT, I had my mom to help sew...and a bit more time than you did! But it was so much fun. (We had just finished a unit of study on Native Americans.) We could use these costumes again around Thanksgiving, couldn't we?

Sammybunny said...

that is sooo fun! my family just gets really really cooking frenzyish and we make lots of food and have my mom's side of the family over. It is tradition, however, for my mom and I to put up Christmas decorations either on thanksgiving night or the day after. however, this year because of a conflict, we'll have to put them up the day before thanksgiving, a little early, but the house will be very festive for the family to kick off the Christmas season!

Sherry said...

I love this blog! I am learning so much daily as a homeschool mom, homemaker, wife and most importantly as a child of Christ. I am looking for resources to share with my children on how to best celebrate Thanksgiving (and even Columbus Day). I am looking for resources that share the "correct" Christian historical perspective. I, and my children are Native American and I am becoming more and more sensitive to the "playing indian" when so many indigenous peoples history is misrepresented. It is a struggle, as I look for resources. I love the Truth spoken here and I trust there are those out there that have wisdom in this area. Would love any advice.

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