The Kids' Table

The children's table, wherever it is located, is as much a part of holiday traditions as turkey and pumpkin pie. Some of our best holiday memories are fostered around a small table with giggling cousins, scheming siblings or the tormented teens.

Use the kids' table as a way to draw the younger set into the festivities. Wendy Waxman, Food Network design director, suggests keeping it casual and kid friendly with pillows for seats at a low table. She loves to create a playful setting with a hodgepodge of inexpensive children's chairs from flea markets. Waxman also suggests covering the kids' table with brown craft paper. She will crumple the edges and let the kids decorate the craft paper with personalized Thanksgiving motifs, such as pictures of their favorite foods, classic handprint turkeys or people and things for which they are thankful. Keep table decorations about food and fall. Collect large leaves from the yard, clean them and scatter them on the table. Fill up votive candle jars with cranberries, dried corn and nuts and set those on the table.

A simple project is let the kids make and decorate place cards or menu cards. This is a particularly good activity when guests arrive before the meal. Have everything together to make place cards from cut and folded construction paper, unlined colored 3 x 5 cards or from downloadable templates off the Internet. If the kids enjoy drawing, let them go with colored pencils and washable markers or set them up with rubber stamp and stickers. As with any project, make sure the kids are appropriately supervised.

The best part of Thanksgiving is, of course, the food. Gets kids involved with planning and preparing the foods beforehand, even if it just their input on how many pies or which sides to serve. The Thanksgiving meal is not a meal at which to have separate menus for kids and adults — it is a day when we all gather together to share a meal. The good news is that even the most finicky eater can usually find something to enjoy.

Sitting at the kids' table is not blanket permission for wild behavior — you need to set some ground rules. Good manners count: No food fights, be kind to others and everyone helps out by clearing their own plate. Remember, the kids' table isn't just for kids — this is a great time for children to spend some quality time with a favorite aunt or honored grandparent. Designate a seat of honor so adults can take turns sitting with the kids for each course.

Although the kids' table is often separate from the adults, unify the group by asking everyone to share what they are thankful for. If a champagne toast is part of your Thanksgiving, serve children a non-alcoholic sparkling cider or grape juice to include them in the celebration. Don't rush the meal — serve kids at the same time as adults.

Of course, you don't have to have a kids' table. As it gets rarer for families to come together for a meal, there is something truly special about including all generations at the Thanksgiving table.