Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful for family, fun and memories. And what better way to combine all these things than to play Thanksgiving Games!
We have put together a great list of fun games that will have everyone laughing and having fun. There’s something for everyone. So make this Thanksgiving the best one yet and fill it with laugh out loud memories.
UPDATE: We’ve updates the list so there’s even more fun for Thanksgiving! Scroll to the bottom for the new games!
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Thanksgiving Game: Turkey Talk
For the first of our Thanksgiving Games, you will need nothing more than your imagination and a poker face. To start, pick one player to be the reporter. Next, all players agree on a silly, fun phrase that will be the answer to all the questions. It might be Tiny Turkey Toes or Yummy Yammies. (The phrase doesn’t have to be Thanksgiving related but it’s nice to add to the festive feel of the day.)
Once the phrase has been chosen, the reporter asks questions of the each of the players. It can be any question, but the sillier the better. When one player smiles or laughs while answering, the round is over. That player is now the reporter and a new phrase is chosen.
Sample Game
Reporter: What’s your favorite food?
Player 1: Gooey Gummy Cranberry Jelly
Reporter: What’s in your shoes?
Player 2: Gooey Gummy Cranberry Jelly
Reporter: What do you like to snuggle with?
Player 3: Gooey Gummy Cranberry Jelly – and laughs becoming the new reporter.
Thanksgiving Game: Thanksgiving Table
Have you ever noticed that the table seems to grow smaller each year? It seems that way for us as our family grows. For the next of our Thanksgiving Games, you will need one sheet of newspaper for every team.
To start, spit into teams. Teams of three or four players are a great size for this game. Next, give each team one sheet of newspaper. The teams then have to get all of their players onto the paper or “table”. If there are any teams where all the players are not FULLY on the paper, they are out.
For the second round, players will have to fold their “tables” in half and get all of their team members on without touching anything off the paper.
In the third round, team will again fold their “table” in half and try to fit on. The “tables” keep getting folded in half until there is only one team left—the winner.
This game can also be played with beach towels or blankets instead of the newspaper.
Turkey Trivia
How much do you know about turkeys? A lot? A little? Find out with our Turkey Trivia game. It makes a fast, fun and educational game that everyone can get in. Check it out here.
Thanksgiving Game: Seating Chart
Have you ever tried to arrange where everyone will sit for thanksgiving dinner? You get everything all set then then something happens to make you have to rearrange everyone! Seating Chart is like that, just when you think you have it good, something happens to turn everything upside down.
This game is best played in teams of two or three. Each team will need a towel or small blanket that is their “table”. To start, all players will need to be on the “table” without touching anything off the “table”. Next, the seating chart will need to be rearranged! Players will now have to flip over their “tables” without stepping off or touching anything outside of their “table.”
The first team to successfully flip over their “table” is the winner.
Thanksgiving Game: Pictionary
The classic game of Pictionary is one of my favorites. What’s not to love? And now you can play with our Thanksgiving cards—108 in all.
You can get the cards in our Fun Library, just look for Thanksgiving Games. You can get your password in the black box below.
Thanksgiving Game: Rolling Cranberries
For this game you will need masking tape, whole cranberries or marbles. First, to set up the game, tape a strip of masking tape at the end of a table, sticky side up. To play the game, give players a handful of cranberries. Next, players roll the berries down the table and try to get them to stick onto the tape. The player with the most berries stuck is the winner.
Thanksgiving Game: Fill the Pot
A few of our Thanksgiving Games use newspaper, and Fill the Pot is one of them. You will need several sheets balled up newspaper and a pot. Depending on the size of the pot and how difficult you want to make the game, set the pot on the floor and set a throwing line. From the line, each player tries to get as many paper balls into the pot as they can. The player who filled the pot the most wins the game.
Thanksgiving Game: Stuff the Turkey
For this game, you will need a brown paper bag for each player and a large pile of newspaper. To play, players will have to ball up the newspaper and stuff it into their paper turkey. When the turkey splits, the player is out of the game. The player who stuffs the most paper into her turkey wins the game.
Thanksgiving Game: Turkey Eggs
You will need one plastic Easter egg for each player. To play all players place their egg in-between their knees and waddle around the room. When a player’s egg falls, that player is out of the game. The player who lasts the longest is the winner. If the game lasts too long, add in obstacles or make a race out of it.
Thanksgiving Game: Potato Harvest
Potato Harvest is the game that we laughed the hardest out of all the Thanksgiving games. Get ready to laugh!
This game needs a room with some space. You will also need a blind fold and a pile of potatoes, a basket or bowl, and a timer. (You can substitute balled up newspaper for the potatoes if you’d like.) To start, potatoes are scattered through the plying area. Next, one player at a time is blind folded. Now, the player must get on hand and knees. When the timer is started, the player has one minute to find and gather all the potatoes that he can and bring them back to his basket. Only potatoes in the basket count.
When the first player is done, the potatoes are counted and then put back into the playing area for the next player. The player with the most harvested potatoes is the winner.
This game can be played as single players or as a group game with teammates adding to the team’s score.
Thanksgiving Game: Roll a Turkey
For this easy game, you will need one dice and a pencil and paper for each player. Players roll the dice and get to draw the turkey part that matches their number on their paper. To make it harder, players must roll a body and head before adding any other parts.
Here is the dice roll guide:
1 – body
2 – head
3 – legs
4 – face
5 – feathers
6 – wattle
You can get our free print out in our Fun Library, look for Thanksgiving Games.
Thanksgiving Game: Don’t be a Turkey
For this easy game, you will need one dice and a score sheet. On a players turn, she rolls the dice. If she rolled a 1 then her turn is over and she scores zero. On the other hand, if she rolled anything else, her score is what the dice roll was. For example, if she rolled a 6 then her score is 6. Now, she gets to decide if she would like to keep the score of 6 or try to add to it. If she rolls and gets a 2, then her score is now 8. She continues like this, rolling as many times as she would like, adding to her score as she goes. However, if she rolls a 1 at any time, her score drops to zero and her turn is over.
Each round’s score is added together and the first player to reach 100 points is the winner. Will you be a turkey and risk your score for one more roll?
Thanksgiving Game: Match the Turkey
You will need our Turkey Match sheet for this game. To start, pick one player who will be the turkey. Next, all players, including the turkey, will fill in the sheet. When everyone has filled in the sheet, the turkey will read the first question and his or her answer. Players get one point if they match what the turkey answered. The player with the most matched answers wins the game.
You can get our free print out in our Fun Library, look for Thanksgiving Games.
Thanksgiving Game: Card Game Gobble
Gobble might just be the silliest game on the list. This playing card game has players acting out like turkeys, carrots, sweet potato pie and gravy all while trying to gobble up all the cards. Find the full instructions for the Card Game Gobble here.
Thanksgiving Game: Memory Match
This is the classic game Memory Match, but with different coloured turkeys. You can get our free print out in our Fun Library, look for Thanksgiving Games.
Thanksgiving Game: Turkey Hunt
You will need the memory match cards for this game. First, assign each player one turkey. Next, have someone hide the matching card somewhere in the house. Have all players start at the same time and hunt for their turkey. When a player finds his matching turkey, he should take it to the game organizer. You can play that the first player is the winner, or that the last player loses, however, I like to play that when a player finds his turkey, he gets a small treat.
You can get our free print out in our Fun Library, look for Thanksgiving Games.
Thanksgiving Fish Bowl
This next Thanksgiving game is one that will have you in stiches. There are three rounds with all kinds of Thanksgiving words. The first round is quick draw, the second is charades and the last you only have one word to get your team to say the right word. Every time we play this game we end up laughing and we sometimes even forget to keep track of the score. It’s a family favorite and a must play if you want to laugh as much as you eat! Check it out here.
Thanksgiving Game: Scattergories
How could we leave out one of our favorite games from the Thanksgiving Games? We couldn’t! Great for all ages (as long as they can read and spell). Don’t have the original board game? No problem. To settle on a letter, have one player sing the alphabet in her head (either fast or slow) have another player say stop. The letter that she was at when stop was said is the letter to be played.
You can get our free print out in our Fun Library, look for Scattergories Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving Game: Categories
Scattergories gets a different take with Thanksgiving Categories. Instead of one letter, players fill in answers as to what’s on the card. Check out this fun game in our Family Game Shop.
Thanksgiving Game: Feather Float
You will need a craft feather for each player. Players will have to try to keep their feather up in the air by blowing only. The last player with their feather in the air is the winner.
Save the Thanksgiving Turkey
In our printable escape room for kids, players try to collect all the clues by solving puzzles to unlock the turkey. This is guaranteed to keep the kids busy while the adults sit and relax a little, or keep them out of the kitchen while you work. Check out the escape room here.
Thanksgiving Game: Don’t Eat Pete
This one is a simple game that kids never tire of. You will need the Don’t Eat Pete printout and small candies like M&Ms. Place one candy on each square. Next, send one player out of the room. The other players then agree on a character to be Pete. The player then comes back into the room and picks a candy to eat. If it isn’t on Pete, then she gets to eat it. She then chooses another candy. When she chooses the candy that is on Pete, the other players yell “Don’t Eat Pete.”
After the laughter dies down, a different player is sent out of the room. The candy is destalked and a new Pete is decided on.
Play until everyone has a turn. Everyone is a winner in this game.
You can get our free print out in our Fun Library, look for Don’t Eat Pete Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving Game: Corn Drop
Corn Drop is the last of our Thanksgiving Games, but not the last of the fun. For Corn Drop, you will need some kernels of corn (popcorn works great) a jar and a chair. To play, place the empty jar behind a chair. Players get a handful of seeds (all the same amount) and stand on the chair. They then try to get as many seeds into the jar as they can. For a harder game, use a jar that has a small opening. For an easier game, use a jar with a wider mouth. The player who gets the most corn in the jar is the winner.
UPDATED GAMES: these are the new games that have been added. Thanksgiving has never been this much FUN!
Pass the Gift
This is a hilarious new game. As the host, you buy a gift. It can be small or something bigger if you’d like. Now for the fun part! You print the labels and wrap each one in it’s own layer. To play, the first player reads the label on the first layer and then passes to a player who matches that label. The new player will now unwrap a layer and reads the new label and passes the gift. The labels have crazy fun things on the like “pass to the player with the best turkey call,” or “pass to the player wearing the most orange.” The labels can be about the person’s appurtenance, like wearing a certain colour. They can have players racing to collect something or compete in something. Or the they can be light trivia, things that most people would know.
There are a lot of layers of fun to unwarp and a lot of laughs along the way. The player who unwraps the last layer gets the prize.
You can check out the Thanksgiving Pass the Prize here. (We also have one for Christmas and New Year’s too because we know you’ll want to play again!)
Shake Your Tail Feathers
This Thanksgiving game is an easy to learn game of pressing your luck. Players all get tail feathers that they have to shed. You roll the dice and place a feather on the right number. You can roll as many times as you’d like but if you roll a number that already has a feather on it, you will need to pick up all of the feathers.
This game is fast and great for players of all ages. You can learn all the details here. If you know that this is a must play game (as it now is in our family), you can get your copy here. Warning: you will want to play again and again.
Who Burnt the Turkey?
If you love mystery games, then this is another must play game! The Thanksgiving turkey has been burnt and it’s up to you to gather clues to solve the mystery of who could let such a thing happen, where they were instead of watching the turkey and what was more important than the turkey! Was Grandma Black Friday shopping in the bedroom? Was Dad watching the parade in the garage? Or was Tucker playing video games in the bathroom?
It’s a bit like Clue but with a fun Thanksgiving theme and a few different twists like rolling to see how many clues you’ll get. Oh and “You’ve been turkeyed” cards!
You can play over and over as the person, place and excuse change for each game. It’s our most popular Thanksgiving game so far. Check out Who Burnt the Turkey here. Get your copy here.
Thanksgiving Game Don’t Be Last
If you’re having a large group or you love competitive games then Don’t Be Last is for you! Players compete in various games with just one rule: Don’t be Last! You don’t have to be first, you just can’t be last. If you are last, then you’re out of the game.
The games are similar to minute to win in games. Think pumpkin stacking, cranberry rolling, and football throwing. There are backward challenges too where instead of being last, if you’re first you’re out. There are team challenges too where the last team to finish are all out of the game. If you’ve seen the show 99 to Beat, you’ll be familiar with this style of game.
Everyone will be laughing and cheering–even those who have been eliminated because it really is just as fun to watch as to play! And because we know you’ll love this game we also have Christmas Don’t Be Last. You can check it out and see how the game run here.
You can get your Thanksgiving Don’t Be Last here.
Turkey Trot A Racing Thanksgiving Game
This Thanksgiving game is for the race fans. It’s a bit like our Horse Racing game but you race turkeys instead. You can can win big in this game or your luck can turn and you’ll have to pay big to all depends on the cards and the dice rolls.
Everyone gets cards dealt to them. Then the scratch turkeys are chosen. If you have any of that number, you’re not going to do well for this round. Then players take turns rolling the dice and either moving a turkey towards the finish line or paying up with the wrong horse is rolled.
Laughs, cheers and cries are had by all but only one turkey, I mean player, will win! Get Turkey Trot here.
Turkey Mafia
If you love group games with little to no set up then Turkey Mafia if for you.
The Turkey Mafia have taken over the barn and each night they choose someone to sacrifice to the farmer for Thanksgiving dinner. But there’s a mother hen in the flock that can save one turkey a night. The flock gets to vote on who they think is a mafia member and vote them out of the barn. But then again, there’s always the wild turkey who keeps one player from voting!
The flock wins if they get ride of the mafia. The mafia wins if they out number the flock members. Which team will you be on? Will you be sent to market or will you survive?
All you need for this game is the cards and a persuasive demeanor to win. Nothing gets a group to bond better than murder and voting! You can play with as many players are you’d like but this one might be best for teens and adults.
A Wining Thanksgiving
Time with family—either close or extend—should be filled with fun and laughter. These Thanksgiving Games will give you that and create memories that will last a life time and might just become your next cherished family tradition.
For even more fun check out our Fall games in our shop—Categories, Outburst, 5 Second and Taboo. And if you’re looking forward to your next family gathering, see our Christmas games where you’ll find holiday fun.
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