Maybe you plan to travel, cook, or just hang back for Thanksgiving. But if you want to include a fun thanksgiving manicure into the mix, plan it now! With the exception of Christmas, Thanksgiving is one of the busiest holidays of the year, and we’re here to help you catch a break!. The following is a list of festive nail design ideas, trends, and tips to help you find Thanksgiving nails that suit your individual style.

How to do Thanksgiving Nails

Learn how to do these festive Thanksgiving nails yourself in this simple step-by-step video tutorial.

Acrylic Thanksgiving Nails

A strong thanksgiving manicure means a manicure that will last through an extra serving of food, fun, and family. Acrylic thanksgiving nails are indeed that. Acrylics tick a few bonus boxes making them an optimal choice for thanksgiving themed nails. Acrylic nails, in particular, have some advantages because they’re

1. Durable, hard, and resistant to damage
2. A layer of protection for natural nails
3. Customizable for length and shape
4. A prime, smooth canvas for thanksgiving nail art

Acrylic thanksgiving nails offer plenty of design options using

• Chunky loose glitter
• Clear nails
• Intricate nail art
• Cute nail shapes

The hard part might be deciding what kind of thanksgiving design to get. There are some obvious choices and some that are slightly more subtle. Check out thanksgiving themes you can incorporate into acrylic thanksgiving nails below.

Name	Description
Symbols	Creating thanksgiving nail art is easier than you think. Try creating an outline of the image for easy DIY nails with a simple style. A cartoon turkey Pumpkin with vines Maple or Magnolia Leaves Acorns Cooked turkey or turkey leg
Patterns	Think of the patterns you might see during thanksgiving like the checkered print on a picnic tablecloth or the top of an apple pie. Plaid Argyle Stripes Checkered Lattice Dots Zig-zags
Colors	Incorporate the colors that are popular around Thanksgiving, like red cranberry sauce, green beans, and a brown (or burnt!) turkey. Orange Brown Black Dark green Yellow Cream Plum Dark red Copper Gold White

Instagram@johnamicoschoolofhairnilesPIN

Besides a cool thanksgiving design, you’ll want to consider what nail shape you want. A Thanksgiving nails coffin manicure is popular, and you can choose the nail length that’s most comfortable. Coffin nails can be short, medium, or long. If your nails are too short to shape into coffins, try nail extensions or add length by shaping hard gel.

You don’t necessarily need to make a trip to the salon, either. Try Thanksgiving nails coffin shaped press-on extensions that you can wear for a week or two. Or, get some coffin shaped acrylic press-on nails and a bit of nail glue. Press-on coffin nails may include a cute thanksgiving nail design already. Or, you can get clear coffin extensions and create your own thanksgiving themed nails.

Thanksgiving Color Nails

Thanksgiving color nails are inspired by turkey, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin martinis to name a few. You can also use traditional fall colors for Thanksgiving-themed nails inspired by nature during Autumn and the changing colors of the leaves from green to yellow and from yellow to copper or brown.

Here are 6 of the most popular thanksgiving color nails this year to give you some inspiration.

Brown

Brown nails seem strange until you see them in front of you. They’re actually very pretty and in so many shades.

White

White polish is great for Thanksgiving nails as an accent or as a canvas to feature art and intricate designs. The white background allows the design to pop.

Yellow

The most unassuming color this holiday is squash yellow. Yellow is an obvious color choice for thanksgiving nails, true, but it’s the shade that inspires a pleasant surprise. Because, like brown nail polish, squash yellow doesn’t sound as nice until you see it live.

Red

Plum, burgundy, and candy red are all great nail polish colors for the fall. Go for bright apple red and darker shades for thanksgiving.

Gold

Often used as an accent color, gold can bring thanksgiving nails to life. Gold adds a classy touch and is perfect for creating thin lines or delicate designs.

Orange

Because pumpkins, duh!

Cute Thanksgiving Nails

When you’re going for cute nail designs, especially during holidays like Thanksgiving, what comes to mind? Perhaps a cute pumpkin or a bug-eyed cartoon turkey. Those are just a few of the design options for cute thanksgiving nails.

Fun fact: the flappy parts on a turkey’s head and neck are its “wattle” and “snood”. Now your cute thanksgiving nails are also a conversation piece.

However, cute thanksgiving nail designs don’t always call for smiling pumpkins and confused turkeys. You can use small shapes and simple elements to give off a cute thanksgiving nails vibe. Here are a few ideas to try.

1. For each hand, use five different shades of brown nail polish to create a cute ombre effect with the pinky nail transitioning into the color of the ring finger, and so on.
2. Do a solid white manicure. Then pick one or two nails to be accent nails. Create a simple design on the accent nails only, like a stripe pattern, alternating yellow, brown, and red.
3. Do an alternative french manicure by painting a clear coat of polish followed by a thick french tip using orange-colored nail polish.

Cute thanksgiving nails ideas are nearly limitless!

Simple Thanksgiving Nails

Because food and family usually keep us busy enough during thanksgiving, here are some simple thanksgiving nails ideas for you to try!

Thanksgiving Nails Idea	Why It Works	Where to Get It
Autumn-Themed Nail Wraps	They’re easy to use, and the fun fall themes and Thanksgiving colors like yellow and orange are already done.	Try these cute Thanksgiving themed nail strips from Gorvalin. You get 12 sheets of fun fall designs like maple leaves and plaid patterns.
Experiment with Shades of White Nail Polish	Off-white works well next to fall colors like browns and dark reds and looks good next to bright white, too.	Sally Hansen’s White Tea is a subtle, creamy white color that isn’t overpowering.
Classy Jelly polish	Light brown jelly nails are an elegant and simple look for fall. Jelly polish is sheer and glossy.	Try Rarjsm’s clear jelly polish in Light Brown. It’s a neutral, tawny color perfect for Thanksgiving.
Quick Dry Polish To Save Time	Deep reds and plums are great fall colors you can find in quick-dry formulas. Prepping for Thanksgiving takes long enough!	We’re talking about Essie’s Expressie quick dry polish in blackened burgundy. A beautiful deep red, Thanksgiving color.
Add Gold shimmer	Rusty colors like gold, rose gold or copper are staple colors for Thanksgiving nails.	Sally Hansen’s Color Foil Nail Makeup in Gold Standard is a reflective chrome gold polish that looks amazing.

Easy Thanksgiving Nails

For ultra-easy thanksgiving nails, all you need is a bit of sparkle (seriously). Glitter can elevate your nails, and the style won’t get in the way if you have to stuff the turkey.

Easy thanksgiving nails can be as effortless as a sheer coat of gold glitter. Gold is a thanksgiving approved color, and sheer glitter nails are a part of a minimalism trend that’s getting the spotlight this year. Thanksgiving shouldn’t be a difficult time of the year, although if you’re doing any cooking or prep work, it might be tough to take it easy until it’s over! Thanksgiving is about giving thanks for what you have, including easy thanksgiving nails!

Another easy way to get stylish thanksgiving themed nails is by using gold flakes or gold foil. You might have seen the style making its rounds, and there’s no doubt that it’s beautiful. But if you don’t have the time to mess with tweezers and tiny loose pieces of gold foil, you can get nail polish with gold flakes already included, like this fun polish. Ytd Likomey makes a light pink sheer gel polish with gold flakes, so all you need to do is paint on a layer and cure it. The maker has various other sheer colors to choose from, too. The polish offers glossy, long-lasting, easy thanksgiving nails.

DIY Thanksgiving Nails

DIY Thanksgiving nails are easy as pie to learn and fun to do at home. Plus, in the end, you’ll have a perfectly good manicure that might turn a few heads when they ask you to pass the mashed potatoes 🙃 Here are five steps to creating fun thanksgiving themed nails with a fall leaf design.

What you’ll need:

• Gel base coat
• Clear gel top coat
• Alcohol pads and nail buffer
• Gel polish

Use clear gel polish or go for a color that you like. A green, plum, or baby blue background looks stunning against a gold leaf design. For a sheer, milky, clear polish that works great under a delicate gold design, try Vishine Nude Gel Polish Kit for jelly nude nails.

• Toothpick + gold chrome gel polish

Go the extra mile and pick up a nail art pen. You can often find them at your local drug store or beauty supply store. Of course, you can find great ones on Amazon, too. Try Rarjsm’s Nailart Gel. The set comes with silver and gold, and the application brush is thin and easy to use for delicate nail designs.

• LED or UV lamp for curing
• Drawing of a pretty autumn leaf to use as a reference

You can find some leaf outlines here. Additionally, you can follow an easy step-by-step guide to draw a simple leaf and create your own reference.

Step	Description
Step 1 Prep	Wash hands to remove any debris. Buff the nails and use the alcohol pads to clean and dehydrate the nails.
Step 2 Base Coat	Apply the base coat to ensure the best adhesion. Cure for 30 seconds.
Step 3 Gel Polish	Apply one layer of clear or colored gel polish. Cure for 40 to 45 seconds. Do the same between any additional layers.
Step 4 Leaf Design	Dip the toothpick into a gold chrome polish or use a gold nail art pen to create a leaf design by referring to the leaf outline. You can draw a leaf on one or two nails as an accent or draw 1 or 2 leaves on each nail. It’s up to you! Cure for 30 to 45 seconds.
Step 5 Top Coat	Apply a layer of clear gel top coat and cure for 60 seconds.

Thanksgiving Ombre Nails

The transition from ombre to thanksgiving ombre nails is easy. It’s just choosing thanksgiving colors for nails and implementing them into an ombre style or design. Burnt orange and light brown are excellent fall colors and are great for creating an ombre design. Instead of taking a traditional approach and blending one color into the other, you can use a line pattern that transitions from the tip of the nail over a bold or light base color.

Thanksgiving Gel Nails

Gel nails are one of the most popular manicures. They’re great because while you can go to a salon, you can also do them at home. Gel nails give you a range of color options, and you can buy gel polish sets that come in thanksgiving colors, too. You can try Beetles’ Autumn Leaves gel polish collection. It comes in 6 beautiful fall colors, including red, burgundy, brown, yellow, orange, and red-orange.

One of the most popular ongoing gel nail trends is matte manicures. It’s easy to transition to a matte finish from a glossy coat. You do need a separate matte finishing clear top coat to do it. But after that, just add one layer to a shiny polished manicure to turn it into a sleek and classy matte manicure in minutes.

Thanksgiving French Nails

French manicures have been taken and modified time after time, and with each holiday that comes around, the style takes a new twist. Thanksgiving french nails make no exceptions. Instead of a white tip, a thanksgiving French manicure works with any of the thanksgiving colors.

A gold french tip is an especially charming alternative for the Thanksgiving holiday. Or, if you prefer to stick with the classic French tip, you can incorporate a thanksgiving element instead. For instance, adding a sheer orange sparkle top coat to your french manicure adds a touch of thanksgiving spirit.

You can turn French tip nails into french thanksgiving nails by adding autumn leaf nail stickers or a fun pumpkin nail decal. This holiday put a twist on the classic french manicure with thanksgiving French nails. The only thing that’ll knock ’em over harder is the apple cider.

Thanksgiving Shellac Nails

Planning to get Thanksgiving shellac nails this year? While they’re similar and frequently confused, Shellac manicures aren’t the same as gel manicures. Shellac is a patented brand name, a specific manicuring process that uses a traditional polish and gel polish mixture. On the contrary, gel manicures use pure gel and acrylic. Shellac does have a few advantages, though.

• Dries faster
• Easier removal
• High shine
• Lighter and thinner

Because shellac nails are a gel and polish mixture, they last longer than traditional polish. That’s good news considering you probably want your cool thanksgiving nails designs to stand the test of time, or at least 10 to 14 days.

Thanksgiving SNS Nails

SNS, or Signature Nail System, is a special dip process that’s neither a traditional acrylic dip powder manicure nor a gel manicure. Rather, an SNS manicure does a brush-on gel base first. Then dips the nails into powder. The result is natural-looking nails that feel more flexible than acrylics but are stronger than many gels.

Classy Thanksgiving Nails

While every manicure is as classy as the individual who wears it, there are some subtle details that give nails a classy feel. Classy thanksgiving nails follow the same pattern in their style. Some features to consider if you want classy thanksgiving nails:

1. Nail length
2. Nail shape
3. Color
4. Design elements

Classy is defined as stylish, sophisticated, and chic. Classy thanksgiving nails feel timeless yet trendy, classic like a button-down shirt or the perfect pair of jeans. The classiest nail shape is almond or oval, as these shapes tend to look great on most hands. Additionally, short nails are typically considered classy. Here are a few classy thanksgiving nail options to get started.

• Short-solid colored nails
• Accent nails
• Minimalist thanksgiving design
• Plaid Pattern
• Autumn floral pattern

If you want a classy thanksgiving design, consider accent nails. Use a solid color for the main feature but add a little something extra and festive to one or two accent nails. Plaid patterns are a classy style and also a trendy design on thanksgiving nails. Think of pretty table runners during a big thanksgiving meal or a plaid coat on an autumn day. Classy thanksgiving nails also wear plaid.

A solid thanksgiving color on short nails will give you classy thanksgiving nails. Autumn colors that look classy include classic thanksgiving colors like deep red, squash yellow, espresso brown or beige, black, or burgundy. You can also wear a nude, neutral, or sheer nail polish color and still get that thanksgiving vibe.

Red Thanksgiving Nails

Red nail polish on thanksgiving reflects cranberry sauce, apple pie, and reddish autumn leaves. Red thanksgiving nails are usually a deep shade of red to burgundy. Red nails look good with gold designs or yellow accents.

Cool Thanksgiving Nails

Some of the coolest nail trends around right now also happen to be festive in their aesthetic and make for very cool thanksgiving nails. Clear nails with gold foil look super stylish and put together. Squash yellow nails with a matte finish look very cool simply because the color looks so unique. Squash-yellow nails are one of the easiest ways to get cool thanksgiving nails.

Thanksgiving Fake Nails

Several types of fake nails exist, and the ones you choose depend on what you want out of them. Thanksgiving fake nails can last way past thanksgiving. But you may prefer a temporary set of fake nails just for a holiday, instead. Fake nails often include

• Acrylics
• Gel extensions
• Press-on nails

While there are other variations, these are the most popular. Acrylic thanksgiving fake nails use plastic nail tips to extend the nails, which can then be filed into any desired nail shape. Gel extensions are just that, hard gel that’s extended over the nail by using a nail form, shaped, and cured. The nail form is removed at the end of the process.

Press-on nails are the least expensive way to get temporary fake thanksgiving nails. Press-on nails are great if you want fun Thanksgiving nails but don’t want to be stuck with them any longer than you’re full from Thanksgiving dinner.

Fun Thanksgiving Nails

Besides eating pie and vegging out after dinner, thanksgiving fun includes nail art. Fun thanksgiving nails have an element of surprise in their design. They’re whimsical, cute, and all about expressing Thanksgiving Day themes. Fun thanksgiving nails use accessories like nail stickers, chunky glitter, and thanksgiving themed nail charms. They may include one or several turkeys, too.

Cutepolish Thanksgiving Nails

She was one of the most popular nail art gurus several years ago and continues to attract nail art fans today. So, Cutepolish thanksgiving nails are worth checking out. Thanksgiving nails that have a similar cutepolish style will feature fun patterns and tiny, crafty designs. Her fall leaf nail tutorial is great for beginners who want a cute thanksgiving nail design and a nice introduction to nail art for any occasion.

Summary

There are many unforgettable Thanksgiving Day design ideas, and we found some of the cutest, coolest, and classiest thanksgiving nail styles out there. Now you have a collection of designs to refer to, which can save you valuable time during this busy season!