Thanksgiving place settings - Rudolph

Made on a Glowforge
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We’ll be having the kids & their significant others, father-in-law & brother-in-law for Thanksgiving. Two of the kids will have their other, the other two are solo. Before dinner gets served there’s some amount of waiting that occurs at the table. This year we’re going to keep them occupied so they don’t start doing stupid food tricks with rolls, butter and cranberry sauce :grinning:

Since father-in-law is coming this year we’re skipping poppers and paper crowns (there are some new traditions that don’t explain well to someone who is 87 & usually in memory care). We will be doing flat pack reindeer instead (we did turkeys last year, bunnies for Easter, etc) and we’ll kick off the Christmas season.

So the younger solos will get Rudolph. The couples will get another set (but there will be extra Rudolphs to forestall arguments over the doe & bucks and the obvious gender stereotyping involved :slightly_smiling_face:). I’ll post an update with those. But tonight we have Rudolph the Flat.

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Medium cherry ply. Looks nicer than the maple ones I made up a couple of weeks ago in prep. Reindeer are brown after all.

Here’s what he looks like assembled.

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I have to fiddle with the tabs that hold the pieces in. They’re 0.015" now which is a bit wider than I usually use but otherwise I was finding I’d accidentally punch parts out weeding them. Need to cut down the number of them on the smaller pieces. I stole @m_raynsford’s technique of identifying the tab locations with little arrows so folks know where to put pressure on them but they’re a little tight. Probably going to remove a third of them.

The slots were kerf adjusted for PG cherry ply to be tight fitting. If I didn’t adjust for the kerf the parts fit somewhat loose and come apart too easily. No doubt the kids will be making them run races around the pumpkin pie so they need a certain amount of sturdiness. (We are somewhat goofy for a family of adults. :wink:)

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Awesome idea. I TOTALLY want to do this, but I have to get my :glowforge: shipping tracking email first. Really nice.

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That is awesome. The design is great! Want! :sunglasses:
You have to be the most popular relative.

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Really cute design!

Happy Thanksgiving in advance!

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What a great idea…puzzles and assembly are popular with kids of all ages!
(And not everyone will be watching the football games.) :grinning:

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I love your style! They are very good looking reindeer…the kids will adore you, as if they don’t already!

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The kids are all adults but we still behave like we’re all 15 :grinning: If you’re joking and clowning around and just having fun you don’t have those awful Thanksgiving family gatherings where everyone argues & fights and makes everyone only show up out of obligation and not because they want to be with the family. We try not to take things too seriously and just enjoy the meal (2 vegans, 3 vegetarians and a whole bunch of carnivores) and the company.

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I understand. Grown kids can still adore their parents though, too. I’ve never once had a Thanksgiving where we argued or fought. It’s never been in our ‘family nature’ to do that. I’ve been generously blessed in that way. You and your family will have a fun time.

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Really an adorable idea!! Very, very nice!

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What an amusing tradition! I imagine someone will add some cranberry sauce to their Rudolph.

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:slightly_smiling_face: no doubt. There are only a couple of us who eat the jellied kind and a couple others who eat the whole Berry kind and all the rest make jokes about it. I expect some Rudolphs will be nose down in the jellied stuff. I hadn’t considered someone might wedge a whole cranberry on their Rudolph’s snout :grinning:

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