This was all over the internet last Thanksgiving so I'm sure that you've seen it before but I thought I'd post a little tutorial anyway. This was so much fun to make and my husband, Jeff just laughed and laughed at me and I'm sure my missionary just rolled his eyes but they are all so good to just humor me and let me play and have fun.
You will need:
large brown paper bag
2 brown paper lunch sacks
1 piece of white paper
hot glue gun
glue sticks
Turkey dinners
Hormel has a brand
that doesn't need refrigeration
canned vegetables
stuffing mix
instant mashed potato mix
gravy mix
fruit pies
Hormel has a brand of dinner that doesn't require refrigeration. I found them on the same aisle as the macaroni and cheese. I purchased enough for four not knowing if just one would fill them up and thinking that if it did, they could use it for another meal. Lucky I did, because the day it was delivered, the Zone Leaders were there and they had enough dinner for all four of them.
Start by putting everything in the bag. Remember you will be folding the front edges in to make the front of the turkey so keep the big bulky stuff toward the back. Keep in mind how it will be sitting during shipping. I was using a tall, narrow bow so I knew my turkey would be standing on one end during transit. What was on it's side while I was making the turkey would be standing up in the box. You don't want your fruit pies getting crushed! When you're finished, pack it all in place with popped popcorn. I also included a tube of Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies for both Matt and his companion. Because they are a more sticky cookie, I put a small square of waxed paper in between each cookie. Lay your turkey back down and fold/tuck the edges inside and glue closed with a hot glue gun.
click here for the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe
click here for tips on mailing cookies
'Crush' in the four back corners of your filled bag so that the back of your turkey will be rounded.
To make the drumsticks of your turkey, fill a quart size Ziploc bag with caramel corn and using your hands, mold it into the shape of a drumstick. You could use regular popcorn but it's not as malleable and I like to think it's the dark meat (ha, ha...everyone laughs, but Matt loved the caramel corn!). Insert the caramel corn into a brown paper lunch sack and shape with your hands as shown below. Twist the ends closed.
click here for a soft Caramel Corn recipe
To make the poultry frills cut a piece of paper measuring the length of the paper so 11" x about 2". Cut all along one long edge a little more than half-way through making your space between cuts about an 1/8 of an inch apart. Apply a dot of glue to one end and start wrapping around the end of your drumstick securing with more hot glue at the end. Don't forget you need to make two drumsticks! Using a glue gun, glue your drumsticks in place. There you have it! So fun! It just makes me giggle, it's SO CUTE!!
I stood mine up in a box and added crumpled tissue paper for support around the sides and a package topper. Don't forget to write a note on the back of the topper!
click here to download the free package topper
Here is a link to a video tutorial from Martha Stewart that I found invaluable:
This has been so fun! thank you for the suggestion by the way Costco has a long shelf life sour dough bread that you heat in the oven and comes out fresh. So I added a loaf since rolls was the only thing missing.
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