50 Fun Thanksgiving Games To Play With Your Family Before the Food Comas Kick In

Maryn Liles

November 23, 2023 at 3:56 AM·19 min read

After your Thanksgiving feast is over and the final piece of the pumpkin pie is finished, keep the fun going by playing some easy family Thanksgiving games with your favorite turkeys—rather than falling into a tryptophan-induced food coma.

These 50 best family Thanksgiving games will keep everyone entertained, from your nieces and nephews to your grandparents or in-laws (even from afar, as many of these games can be played over Zoom if you live far away!). Plus, these Thanksgiving trivia and games for the family are on the low mess and high on the fun, which is exactly what you need after a long day of cooking and cleaning.

From reflecting on what you’re thankful for this year with easy Family Thanksgiving games, like the "12 Days of Gratitude" game, to ones for kids and adults that will make everyone laugh themselves silly, like "Float the Mayflower" or "Pass the Corn," these adorable ideas will help you and your turkey day crew make fun memories you'll be sharing for years to come.

Related: Peacock's Black Friday Deals Mean You Can Stream ‘Yellowstone,’ ‘The Office’ and Bravo for Under $2 a Month

50 Best Family Thanksgiving Games

1. “You’ve Been Gobbled”

Don’t wait till Christmas to share goodwill with your neighbors! Drop a gift basket off at your neighbor’s doorstep filled with Thanksgiving treats like a can of pumpkin puree, hot cocoa packets and a fall-scented candle.

2. 12 Days of Gratitude

No matter what your age, Thanksgiving should be a time of gratitude. In the 12 days leading up to Thanksgiving, give a leaf-shaped card to your kids and ask them to write down one thing they’re thankful for. Hole punch them and weave them through twine or string for a cute Thanksgiving day garland.

3. The Kindness Elf

This Thanksgiving season, introduce your children to a new family member! Inspired by the Christmas hit, Elf on the Shelf, take another elf doll and introduce them as “The Kindness Elf.” This elf will reward them for kind behavior and actions. Give the elf a name and place it somewhere high so the kids can’t touch it.

4. Thankfulness Basket

Get rid of your boring cornucopia for something a little bit more fun and meaningful. Before dinner, ask your guests to write something down that they are grateful for on a strip of paper and place it in a wicker basket. At the table, pass the basket around and have people randomly choose a piece of paper to read aloud. Then, everyone tries to guess who wrote that piece!

5. Coloring Tablecloth

Either blow up a giant coloring page or place a piece of butcher paper that’s as big as the kid’s table down to keep them busy as the food is coming. You can do a virtual painting class together or a painting tutorial on YouTube if your family is far!

6. The Gratitude Game: Pick Up Sticks

Take a bushel of Pick Up Sticks and drop them on the table after it’s been cleared. Each person has to go around and pick up a colored stick from the pile and say one thing they’re grateful for according to what color stick they are holding. If they are holding a red stick, they must name a person they are thankful for. For yellow, they must name a place like “school” or “home.” If they are left holding a green stick, they must say a food they are grateful for (hopefully it’s the turkey you’ve been slaving all day to make!). If they are holding the color blue when it comes to their turn, they must name a thing they are thankful for like their favorite stuffed animal or a piece of jewelry. If they pull a purple stick, they can name anything they are thankful for!

Related: Thanksgiving Trivia

7. Pumpkin Stomp

This game will get all the turkey sillies out! Put small toys and gifts as prizes into orange balloons and blow them up. When dinner is over, place them outside and watch your loved ones race to them and pop them with their feet to get their surprise.

8. Shooting Turkeys

For one of the best fun family Thanksgiving games, gather your Nerf guns and take your shot at shooting down turkeys that are drawn on helium-filled balloons!

9. Turkey Baster Relay

This after-dinner game is guaranteed a bushel of laughs! Place craft feathers on one side of the table and draw a finish line with masking tape on the other. Hand everyone a turkey baster (people can take turns if there is not enough for everyone) and instruct that they have to race to get their feathers across the line. However, they can only move their feathers with their turkey baster in order to win!

10. Thanksgiving Bingo

This classic game is perfect for large groups and families. Either find Thanksgiving bingo templates online or create your own. Then, write the letter and corresponding picture on strips of paper and select one person to draw them from a hat and read it out loud. For example, you would write down “B, Turkey” on a strip of paper and the person who has the picture of the turkey in the “B” column would put their marker over that. The first person to get 5 in a row, wins!

Related: 25 Thanksgiving Table Ideas

11. Turkey Trot

Burn some holiday calories with this active family Thanksgiving game! Before the big day, plan a run or walk with your family. Whether it’s walking a couple of laps around a lake or a complete 5K around the neighborhood, getting some of that fall crisp air will do everybody some good.

12. Pie Night Tradition

Who says Thanksgiving can only last one night? For a fun family game tradition, have everyone bring over their favorite board game in their PJs and have a night dedicated to eating pie and Thanksgiving leftovers.

13. Turkey Hunt

If your little turkeys are getting restless before the big dinner, consider throwing them a turkey hunt! Just like hunting eggs for Easter, hide printable turkeys or chocolate ones if you’re feeling adventurous, hide them around your backyard, and have the kids collect them in baskets.

14. Photo Booth Props

Add a little bit of Thanksgiving magic with a family photo booth! Add some props to your booths like a pilgrim’s hat or a turkey crown.

15. Thanksgiving Conversation Cards

Get the table talking with Thanksgiving conversation cards! At every placemat, write an open-ended question on an index card like “What was your most memorable Thanksgiving?” or “What side dish is the best side dish?” and place it face down. In between courses, go around the table and have people read aloud their questions. Get ready for some fun-spirited debate!

16. Thanksgiving Would You Rather

Would you rather eat dark meat or white meat? Would you rather pour gravy all over your feet or hands? Would you rather be forced to eat 100 dinner rolls or 100 pieces of cornbread? Find out everyone’s preferences with a telling game of Thanksgiving Would You Rather!

Related: Best Online Games

17. Thanksgiving Pictionary

Family Thanksgiving games don’t get much better than this! Set up a drawing board in the living room and write a bunch of Thanksgiving-related things on scraps of paper like “turkey” or “mashed potatoes”. After dinner, gather everyone and split into teams. Each team will select a member of their team to draw. That person takes a piece of paper out of the hat and only has 30 seconds for their team to guess their artistic ability!

18. Table Spinner

This takes a wholesome spin on the game “Spin the Bottle.” Spin an arrow and whoever it lands on has to tell a truth or complete a dare!

19. Shake Your Tail Feather

Empty a tissue box for each player and replace the tissues with colorful feathers. Tape a pair of old pantyhose onto each box so the box sits in the middle. To play, give each player a box and have them tie the pantyhose around their waist so the tissue box is on their backside. Everyone who is playing must move around and shake until all their feathers fall out of their box!

20. Alphabet Turkey Match

For a family Thanksgiving game that’s geared toward the younger set, give this one a try! Create a hand turkey out of construction paper and write the letters of the alphabet on the feathers. Next, take a bunch of bottle caps and round white stickers and write the same letters on the stickers. Place the stickers on the bottle caps and have your wee one match the letters with the bottle caps onto the turkey!

21. Candy Corn Relay

Divide the little ones into teams and have a jar of candy corn on one side of the lawn and a small bowl for each team. Have the kids take turns racing through an obstacle course holding a spoon full of candy corn. Whichever team gets more candy corn in their bowl at the end of 5 minutes, wins!

22. Thanksgiving Mad Libs

Either print a printable from the internet or create a whacky Thanksgiving story of your own and omit nouns, adjectives, and verbs with Thanksgiving Mad Libs! Go around the table and have your family and loved ones fill in the blanks to fill in the tale. Then read it out loud on video!

23. Thankful From A-Z

At every placemat, have a list with the letters of the alphabet. Have everyone list things they are thankful for, starting with each letter of the alphabet. Go around the table and take turns sharing your list when dinner is finished!

24. Dancing Corn Science Activity

Bring a little science to the Thanksgiving table this year with this fun experiment! In a large Mason jar, add 2 cups of water to start. Then, teach the little ones about which solids dissolve in water when you add 2 tablespoons of baking soda to the jar (don’t forget to stir thoroughly!). Next, add ? to ? cup of popping kernels. Before you add 1 cup of vinegar, go around the kid's table and ask what their prediction will be when you add the vinegar. After everyone has a chance to guess, slowly add the vinegar and watch the fun unfold!

25. Pumpkin Tic-Tac-Toe

Get a fun family Thanksgiving game and a gorgeous DIY Thanksgiving centerboard all in one! Spray paint a bunch of mini pumpkins and add them to a plastic tic-tac-toe game board. Before dinner, ask the little ones to play a couple of rounds of the classic game before setting the table.

26. Pin the Feather on the Turkey

First, trace two circles onto brown construction paper (you’ll need a large one for the body and a smaller one for the head). Draw a beak onto yellow or orange construction paper and use scissors to cut it out. Repeat this step with red construction paper to create a snood (the red bit that hangs over the beak). Create a circle from white paper to create an eyeball. Use a black marker to draw the turkey’s pupil. Using construction paper in the colors of your choice, draw the shape of a feather, cut it out and add a bit of rolled-up painter’s tape to the back of each feather. Finally, hang up the turkey, blindfold players and hand them a feather and watch where they end up!

27. Thanksgiving Day Parade Bingo

Add a little bit of interactive fun to this classic Thanksgiving Day tradition! Either create your own Bingo board inspired by the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade or print a template off the Internet. When you see a float, performance, or balloon that matches a square on your board, place a marker. The first one to get five in a row by the end of the parade, wins! You can watch the parade together and do this game easily.

28. Feed the Turkey

Work on independent play and fine motor skills with your toddler by playing this family Thanksgiving game together. Simply fill a medium-sized tub with pom-poms. Then, take an empty water bottle and glue on googly eyes and colorful craft feathers (or construct your own with construction paper). Finally, hand your little one a pair of plastic tongs and instruct them to pick up the pom-poms and place them inside the bottle's opening.

29. Family Photographer Scavenger Hunt

This game is perfect for the family who has tweens and teens running about! Challenge them to a photo scavenger hunt where they have to gather photos of family members and holiday-themed items. If you want to go the extra mile, leave clues and riddles that lead them to their next photo spot! You can also do a virtual scavenger hunt and have people run around and find funny items during your Zoom call if you live in different parts of the country.

Here's a printable template or template to tag your Zoom fam in so everyone can participate!

30. Thanksgiving Charades

Divide your family and loved ones into two teams. Each team will select someone to choose a Thanksgiving charades card and act out what is on the card without using their voice (try words like “turkey,” “gravy,” or “pilgrim”). The person who drew the card will have to get creative and silly to help their team guess the ideas on the cards.

Related: 20 Non-Turkey Thanksgiving Dinner Ideas

31. Traffic Yam Thanksgiving Race

Beat the before-dinner restlessness out with this fun Thanksgiving-themed race! Race other people at your party by taking a yam (or a sweet potato) and see who can roll it with a fork to the finish line first!

32. Turkey Leg Wrap

Laugh yourself silly with this fun family Thanksgiving game! Divide everyone into teams of two. Each player has one minute to wrap up their teammate in burlap and a chef’s hat to re-create a living turkey leg!

33. Guess How Many?

Place a glass jar or vase filled with candy corn or candy pumpkins in the center of the Thanksgiving table and have people jot down how many candies they think the container holds. The winner is whoever guesses the closest to the actual number!

34. Face the Pie

Have family members place candy letters in a dish and cover them up with whipped cream. Participants will race to find the letters in the whipped cream and find the letters to spell out “pie”. The catch is that they can’t use their hands!

35. Turkey Balloon Rockets

For this in-person game, begin by securing a five-foot-long piece of string to a chair. If you want to race two turkeys at once, secure two lines of string side-by-side. Next, place a large piece of drinking straw onto each strand of string. Then, tape a foam turkey to the drinking straws (duct or masking). Make sure to place one piece of tape sticky-side-out right in the middle, it’ll be used to attach the balloon! Thread the turkey straw through the string. Once that’s done, thread the other side of the string to another chair. Blow up balloons and use the extra piece of tape on the straw to attach the balloon to the turkey straw. Ask the little ones to hold on to the balloons tightly. Pull the balloons all the way to one end of the string track ensuring that the balloon openings are facing out towards the chairs. Then, let go and see who wins!

36. DIY Pumpkin Twister Game

Print out large pumpkin templates on colored paper or trace and cut them out onto different colored construction paper (you’ll need 16 orange, 5 black, 3 green, and 4 yellow. Or feel free to come up with your own pumpkin colors!). Roll out paper or poster on the floor, and tape around the edges to secure it to the ground. Find a template online, create your own, or use your Twister spinner from the classic board game. You can have each family do this via Zoom for lots of laughs.

37. Thanksgiving Turkey Tag

Gather some clothespins (there should be at least 3 for each player) and paint them each a different color. Cut out tiny beaks using orange construction paper and glue it and tiny googly eyes to the opened end of the clothespin. For the game of tag, the goal is to be the last person with one turkey pin still on. Each player can stick their 3 clothespins anywhere on their clothing that they want. Once everyone is ready, have them spread out and pick positions for the tag game that is about to go down. Each player tries to remove the other players’ turkey pins without losing their own. Once a player has grabbed a turkey pin off of someone else, they can just drop it in the grass (make sure they pick it up for the next round!). If someone gets all of their clothespins off of their clothing, they are out.

38. Thanksgiving Candy Dice Roll

Draw a turkey with green, red, yellow, orange and blue feathers. Then, either use a hole punch or white stickers to create three white dots on the outside feathers and two dots on the inside feathers. Place them on every placemat on the kids' table and set out a bowl of M&Ms and 6-sided dice. Roll the dice, and put the correct-colored M&M on the turkey card. If the player rolls a 1, they can put a green M&M on the green feather. A 2 will give them a spot in the red feather category. A blue spot will open up when the number 3 is rolled. 4 is orange and 5 and 6 are orange and yellow. The first one to fill up their turkey card with the corresponding M&Ms wins!

39. Thanksgiving Word Scramble

Here’s a fun family Thanksgiving game that will keep both kids and adults busy and happy while you put on the finishing touches to your feast. Create your own Thanksgiving word scramble or find a template on the internet. Have guests unscramble the words and then unscramble the secret message.

40. “For Thanksgiving Dinner, I Had…”

Check on your family’s memory with this fast-paced game! Have everyone go around and name the first thing that comes to mind when asked to complete the phrase “For Thanksgiving dinner, I had…” the first one to repeat an answer or stumble, is out!

41. Football Flick

Give each player a mini football or a bunch of paper footballs and line up three baskets at different lengths. Assign each basket a number of points. The furthest one should be seven, the middle should be three, and the closest should be one point. Players have one minute to score their footballs into the buckets, scoring as many points as they can. The first one to reach 21 (or the closest to it) wins!

42. Feather Float

Have each person get a craft feather. To play, they must blow it into the air and keep it floating for as long as possible. Whoever does it the longest, wins!

43. Float The Mayflower

Fill a long plastic storage container with water. Then, give everyone a small cork with a fake flower attached to it and have them line it up at one end of the container. The players must try to be the first one to get their cork from one end of the container to the other in order to win. But, they can’t use their hands! They must blow on it alone or through a plastic straw.

Related: 21 Thanksgiving Movies

44. Pass the Corn

For immediate family, divide your family and loved ones into pairs. Give each team two popsicle sticks and a bowl full of candy corn, and place an empty bowl on the other side of the table or counter. Both team members should put their popsicle sticks in their mouths. To play, the player nearest to the bowl of candy corn picks up a piece and sticks it onto their popsicle stick with their hand. With just the popsicle sticks held in their mouth, they must transfer the candy corn from their stick to their partner’s. The second player must take the piece of candy corn and transfer it to the empty bowl (again, no hands!). If they miss, it doesn’t count and the point is lost. The team that transfers the most candy into their bowl in a minute, wins!

45. The Gobble Goblet

Place a couple of unused glasses on a table on the far side of the room. On the other side, place a bushel of ping pong balls on another table. To play, players must collect three ping pong balls from the table and put them in their cups on the other side of the room. However, there’s a playful catch in this game! Players can only touch and hold their ping pong ball between their chin and their neck.

46. Turkey Bowl

Place a plastic or stuffed turkey into a plastic fishbowl in the middle of your living room. Place four large bowls in four different directions (to the right, to the left, in front of and behind) 10 feet away from the fishbowl. Fill each bowl with a different color of ping pong balls. To play, divide your family into teams and have them race to be the first to land a ball in the turkey bowl just by bouncing it!

47. Top Turkey Artist

Have every guest shut their eyes and see who can draw the best hand turkey without looking!

48. Fall Bucket List

Have every kid fill out a long weekend bucket list of things they want to do over the Thanksgiving break and read it out loud on video.

49. Stuffed Glove Turkey Puppet Show

Fill an old winter glove with rice or dried beans and glue it shut with hot glue. In addition, attach googly eyes and a beak made out of construction paper to the thumb On the back, attach a skewer or a pipe cleaner to make it into a puppet. Then, perform an after-dinner turkey puppet show!

50. Turkey Bowling

Decorate six brown plastic cups with googly eyes and construction paper feathers. Stack them in a pyramid position like regular bowling pins or in any way you’d like. Then, take a mini pumpkin (or tennis ball) and roll them toward the stack of cups to knock them down!

Show your family just how much they mean to you this Thanksgiving by sharing some of these 150 Thanksgiving quotes about thankfulness and gratitude with the people you love during the big feast.

News

Life

Entertainment

Finance

Sports

New on Yahoo