So this year I’d like to give thanks to 3D printing for giving us the option of printing something out that we may have missed on our frantic trip to the supermarket. Here are ten 3D printable Thanksgiving things!
DINNER TABLE PLACE CARD HOLDER
Found on: Thingiverse
Cost: Free
If you have a large family, then you should know that seat placement is very important when throwing a large dinner party. You have to make sure that Great Aunt Ruth isn’t sitting near cousin Patty because she will make rude comments about her nose ring. And you really need to make sure that good ol’ racist Uncle Bill is as far away as possible from, well anyone really, but especially Patty’s new boyfriend. (You know, no one actually likes Bill, you should probably stop inviting him.) So to make sure that everyone is in the right place try using of these turkey-themed place card holders. You can print them out in one of those cool metallic filaments, or just give them a festive paint job.
TURKEY-SHAPED NAPKIN RING
Found on: Thingiverse
Cost: Free
I’m sure that napkin rings are probably outdated to most people, but I always liked a formal place setting. It doesn’t feel like a holiday if people are using paper towels while they eat off of Great Grandma Pearl’s finest china, so it’s nice to keep things a bit classy. And let’s be honest here, nothing says classy like a turkey-shaped napkin ring made out of plastic.
THANKSGIVING-THEMED WINE GLASS CHARMS
Found on: Thingiverse
Cost: Free
Designating user-specific drinks is a must when entertaining large groups of people, and when it is a family gathering it is even more important to make sure that alcohol is available, if you know what I mean. And really, no one wants to accidentally pick up cousin Rick’s glass and take a sip, he doesn’t spike his punch with rum he spikes his rum with more rum. And it would be a very bad idea to let your Uncle Phil’s new girlfriend accidentally take a drink, you remember how frisky she gets with some booze in her. So make sure everyone is drinking the correct drink with these handy-dandy wine glass charms so you don’t have a repeat of last year’s incident that required cleaning several spots of carpeting in your hall. And living room. And dining room. And bedroom.
TURKEY DRINK COASTERS
Found on: Thingiverse
Cost: Free
It should go without saying that drink coasters are a must at large gatherings. And while most of us will already have a set of coasters, you always need more for a party. Keeping it festive is always fun, and when your mom asks where you got the turkey coasters you can blow her mind by trying to explain how 3D printing works. And when she starts asking where the paper goes in a 3D printer you’ll be thankful for those wine glass charms so you can go drink some of cousin Rick’s rum laced rum to numb the pain.
And yes, they can be used on all kinds of drinks, not just drinks made from turkey.
DRINK STIRRERS
Found on: Thingiverse
Cost: Free
Mixed drinks are a great way to get your family drunk enough that they won’t talk to each other about why they think Donald Trump is qualified for office*, or how the theory that the pyramids were Egyptian grain silos actually makes sense**. So to continue the holiday theme, these 3D printable drink stirrers are perfect. Just make sure that you print them from food-safe materials, you don’t want to poison anyone (any more than your food already has).
3D PRINTED WISHBONE
Found on: Thingiverse
Cost: Free
So you know how your partner convinced you to cook a tofurky this year because they’re still doing that vegan thing? You can address that mistake later, but for now you need to replace the holiest of holy Thanksgiving day traditions of ritually tearing apart the bones of your turkey prey with something vegan-friendly. But tofurky has no flavor–I mean bones, It has no bones. (Sorry, honey.) Anyways, with no wishbone to pull apart the Ancient Gods of Old will look down on you in disgust and curse the rest of your year. Ain’t no one got time for an Ancient Gods of Old curse over Christmas, not when you’re really hoping you get that new XBox One…
So 3D printing to the rescue. Print up one of these 3D printable wishbones, jam it inside of your soy bird and appease those angry gods like never before. So, you know, don’t print it from NinjaFlex, that would sort of ruin the effect.
WISHBONE-SHAPED COOKIES
Found on: Thingiverse
Cost: Free
Another wishbone option, especially if you think you may be able to get an extra holiday blessing from the Ancient Gods of Old (and with it the special edition Halo XBox One that makes Halo sounds…) is to give everyone their very own wishbones to break. You could have the entire family ritually crush and consume the bones of your turkey prey – all in service of getting someone to spend an extra hundred bucks on you – by making these cool wishbone-shaped cookies. And don’t worry about them not being actual bones, the Ancient Gods of Old aren’t very bright, so you would totally fool them. Unless your bratty niece Grace decides to spill the beans, but if you give her cousin Rick’s cup to take a sip out of she should keep quiet.
A BUTTER PIG
Found on: Thingiverse
Cost: Free
Now, nothing says classy holiday dinner party like a Butter pig. And by “Butter Pig” I don’t mean your auntie Marie who, seriously, needs to watch her cholesterol. No, I’m talking about this great 3D printed device that holds a standard stick of butter and can either slice it, shave off spreadable portions or even make a butter flower!
3D TURKEY COOKIES
3D Turkey Cookie Cutter Set by 3DCookieCutterShop
Found on: Etsy
Cost: $23.94
If you actually want to have a classier sort of dinner party, then a nice dessert table with pastries and cookies is a must. And these 3D turkey-shaped cookies will really stand out. And they look delicious. The best part is, this set of cookie cutters is all you need to make them, just cut, bake and stick together with some frosting.
3D PRINTED TURKEY HAND!
Make Your Own 3D Printed Turkey Hand by MatterHackers
Found on: MatterHackers
Cost: Free(ish)
Now if your family is anything like mine, at least one person has some children. And even worse, rather than leaving them in a kennel for the day like I suggested, they decided to bring them along to your home. Children are sticky, and they break things, and they talk. But they are family, so you might as well try to make them feel at home by coming up with some fun projects that can occupy them for the day, and hopefully keep them from looking too closely at that one section on your DVD shelf.
Our good friends over at MatterHackers posted a great holiday crafting project for turning kids’ (or, well, adults’) hands into turkeys that doesn’t involve actually cutting off their hands. Anyone with kids in preschool will remember the construction paper turkey hands that they made and were forced to put on their refrigerator for a month. Well this is the same concept, only MatterHackers put a cool 3D printing spin on it!
All you’ll need is a camera to take a picture of the kids’ hands, which can be uploaded to MatterHackers and turned into a 3D printable model. Then just give the kids some crafting supplies, or even a 3Doodler 3D printing pen, and let them go to town on that turkey hand. It should occupy them for hours… and if not, there is always cousin Rick’s glass.
Before I get any angry letters about hating kids, stop, let me assure you that I don’t actually hate kids. I love kids, they repopulate the planet, they are easy to trick into believing really stupid things like that the pyramids were made to store grain and they do have the best taste in cartoons. So no, I do not hate kids, although I admit that I tend to like them more in theory than in reality, but I’d never give them cousin Rick’s booze cup.
Thanks for reading about my totally not dysfunctional family that I made up for this article. In reality I myself will be having a small Thanksgiving with my mother and a few friends and it will be lovely. I would like to express how thankful that I and the entire staff here at 3DPrint.com are for all of you. We hope that you have a wonderful holiday. And for our international readers who may not celebrate Thanksgiving, good luck with those angry Ancient Gods of Old, you heathens.
*He totally isn’t, come on.
**It totally doesn’t, come on.