When we think of Thanksgiving, we think of turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls and pumpkin pie. We work ourselves up into a cooking frenzy as we prepare to serve the huge Thanksgiving dinner at which point we work ourselves up into an eating frenzy. Afterwards, we end up on the couch watching football, taking two hour naps or staring blindly ahead in a food-induced coma. Instead of the usual post-Thanksgiving feast stupor, why not jazz things up a little bit and play one of these Thanksgiving-inspired party games?
* Thanksgiving Jumble: Before the party, come up with fifteen to twenty Thanksgiving-related words and jumble them up. Write the jumbled up version of the words on a sheet, keeping the answer key in a secret location. You can use words like “pilgrim,” “turkey,” “stuffing,” “biscuits” and “November.” Whoever unscrambles the most words in a specified time limit (around two to three minutes), wins.
* Thanksgiving Group Story: Everyone sits around in a circle. Have one person begin the story of the tradition of your family’s Thanksgiving. They can be as realistic or silly as they please. After saying five sentences, have that person point out somebody else in the circle. That person must pick up the story from where the previous person left off, add five sentences to the Thanksgiving tale and then point to the next person until everybody has had a chance to tell part of the story. Try to record or videotape the story being told. Once Thanksgiving is over, do your best to type out the story and send it to everybody that attended the Thanksgiving party.
* Pictionary: Before the party begins, write down Thanksgiving-inspired words for the teams to draw. For example, you can use words like “corn” or “Indian” or “ham.” Divide your family and friends at your Thanksgiving party into two teams of equal players. Since you know the words, you can be the moderator. One player from each team will get up and try to draw the word on the index card. Their team will have thirty second to one minute (you decide) to guess the picture being drawn. If their team cannot guess, the other team has a chance to guess the picture, too. Whoever guesses right gets a point. The rule of the game can be to reach a certain point level.
* Thanksgiving trivia: There is one of two ways to play this trivia game. You can either come up with trivia questions based on Thanksgiving facts or come up with trivia questions based on family facts. An example of a Thanksgiving trivia question would be, “What year did the Pilgrims first celebrate Thanksgiving?” while an example of a family trivia question would be, “How many years have Grandma and Grandpa been married?”
Make sure to have prizes ready before the Thanksgiving party. You can purchase small five-dollar gift certificates or little knick-knacks from the dollar store. You can also offer prizes like letting the winner carve the Thanksgiving turkey or ham, letting the winner say the Thanksgiving blessing or letting the winner serve themselves first.
