The Thanksgiving season is just around the corner and so you may be wondering what to do on Thanksgiving. There are loads of options out there for things to do on Thanksgiving weekends like Thanksgiving family games and different Thanksgiving events. We’ve put together a list of amazing activities to help you decide what you could do this Thanksgiving weekend to make sure that you have the time of your life.
Thanksgiving Activities For Families
1. Write thank you cards
Writing thank you cards is the perfect thing to do on Thanksgiving to get in the festive spirit. Thanksgiving is perfect to look back at what you’ve got to be thankful for this year and it’s also a great way for kids to be creative. Get all your arts and crafts bits out and let the kids’ imaginations run wild. You could even add handprint turkeys which is another great Thanksgiving tradition. Get the kids to make their own personalized turkeys and choose who they want to send cards for and what they want to say thank you for. Then you could always take a nice walk after Thanksgiving lunch to deliver the cards.
2. Thanksgiving trivia
Who doesn’t love a trivia quiz with the whole family? Split everyone up into teams, whether it’s adults vs. kids, boys v girls or everyone is on their own is completely up to you but try to mix it up a little. Now nominate someone to be the quiz master and let the games begin. You can either use online questions that already exist or your quizmaster can make their own questions if they have enough pre-warning. You can also make it a little more interesting and have forfeits and prizes depending on whether people get the answer correct or not. You can completely personalize this to fit your family so it’s perfect for everyone.
3. Thanksgiving baking
This is another great activity to get the whole family involved with, especially if you have a mix of kids and adults in your family. You can either pick your favorite festive treat to bake and crack on with that or you can have a good old fashioned bake off. Why not split up into teams and have every team make a different treat to keep it interesting? This also means you have so much more dessert to choose from after Thanksgiving lunch. Either pick one family member to taste all the desserts and pick the best or get everyone to try everything and secretly vote for whichever one they thought was best.
Thanksgiving Activities For Adults
4. Host a pie swap
Pie swaps are super fun, especially during Thanksgiving so why not host a pie swap for a few of your friends? Encourage them to bake their own pie and you can all do a big swap. You can all even have a taste of all the different ones and then decide which ones are the best and who is the star baker of the season. Of course remember to be grateful for each pie, even if it’s disgusting.
5. Get ready for Black Friday
Thanksgiving is also a great season to get ready for Black Friday and all those sales in time for the Christmas period. Why not write a list of the things you fancy and then see if you can get them on sale? A list of what you need is a great idea because then you don’t come home with things you didn’t really need which let’s admit, most of us do on this sales galore. It’s the biggest shopping day of the year after all and so there’s not lots of time to get all the bits you want.
6. Volunteer somewhere
Volunteering somewhere is a great idea for this Thanksgiving. It’s a great way to give back to your community. You could volunteer in a soup kitchen that provides soup for the homeless or less fortunate or you could help out in a food bank or shelter. Lots of people are alone this Thanksgiving so this is a great way to show them that people do still care about them.
7. Host a Thanksgiving movie marathon evening
You’re never too old for a movie night so why not host a movie marathon evening and watch all your favorite movies with a few friends? You could even set up a projector in your backyard and set up some pillows and maybe even some fairy lights and snacks to make it perfect. If you don’t have an outdoor projector then don’t worry, you can do this movie marathon inside too. All you need are some movies and some friends and you’re all good to go. There’s also a load of Thanksgiving themed movies that you can choose from like Planes, Trains, and automobiles as well as A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving because you can’t go wrong with Charlie Brown.
Games To Play On Thanksgiving
8. Mini pumpkin hunt
We’re sure everyone will enjoy this little game whether you’re a kid or an adult because who doesn’t love a scavenger hunt especially when you’re looking for adorable tiny pumpkins? Have someone hide pumpkins around the house, in the garden, or around the street, and give everyone a bucket. Remember to keep track of where you’ve hidden your pumpkins because we’re sure everyone has found a rogue easter egg hidden around the house from an easter egg hunt 2 years ago and we promise this will be less pleasant if it’s a pumpkin. Get everyone to start from the same place, have a count down, and let the chaos ensue.
9. Thanksgiving bingo
There are hundreds of templates available online for Thanksgiving bingo so this is a super easy and cheap game to play. If you’re using an online template then all you need to do is print the bingo boards and cards to go with them. Then you need to choose who’s going to be drawing the cards from the deck and calling them out. Once you’ve got this decided then you can give everyone a bingo board and a pen and let the fun begin. A way to make this more fun is to use little chocolates or marshmallows to mark off a card on your bingo board and then why not eat them all once you’re done?
10. Turkey tag
Another great Thanksgiving game is turkey tag but you might not have heard of this one before. This is great if you have kids or adults that are mischievous because this is sure to keep them busy but you can also get the kids involved beforehand as well. The first thing you need to do is make your turkey and no we don’t mean the one that everyone will be eating later on. You need to make a small turkey puppet that’s attached to a small peg so that it can be clipped onto people’s clothes. You can even make more than one if you want to spice it up a little. Now this is where the real fun begins. Take the little turkey and clip it onto someone’s clothes without them noticing. Once they realise the turkey is on them then they have to take it off and try to clip it onto someone else without them noticing. The aim of the game is to clip the turkey onto as many people as possible without them noticing. Why not throw in some forfeits if people notice you clipping the turkey on them?
Fun Thanksgiving Activities
11. Have a Thanksgiving Piñata
Why not spice up your Thanksgiving and make a turkey piñata for the season? You could fill it with Candy corn and similar things to make it super fall and thanksgiving themed. You can get some thanksgiving themed piñatas from places like Etsy or Amazon but you could even do it as a fun diy. It will definitely be something different that your family may not be used to but it’s a great time so get spinning.
12. Dress up your pet
Yes, you read that right. Why not go out and get some turkey and thanksgiving themed outfits for your pets and get them all ready for the season too? It’s a good bit of fun and there’s a one hundred percent chance that they will look absolutely adorable. Why shouldn’t they take part in the celebration too and have a chance to be grateful?
13. Have an ugly sweater competition
Ugly sweater competitions are great for any occasion and everyone needs an excuse to get an ugly sweater so hold one for Thanksgiving too. There are loads of brilliant sweaters to choose from so make sure yours is the best. You could get a themed prize for the winner so make sure everyone has the ugliest sweater possible.
Fun Things to Do on Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is a wonderful time when the whole family comes together. But the best part has to be all the amazing food that you get to eat as well as being grateful for everything around you.
But it can be really stressful to think of enough activities to fill the day so why not try out some of the ideas above? They are suitable for the whole family meaning everyone can get involved – no excuses. So break out the Turkey and get celebrating.
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