I’m hosting Thanksgiving this year for 30 people.

Can you even believe it? This is the table setup that stretches from the dining room into the living room.

And in case you were wondering?

I will be bringing the fun.

I will be bringing the decorations.

I will be bringing the Thanksgiving table place settings.

I will be bringing the games.

But the one thing I’m not bringing?

The food.

That is left up to people who are much more incredibly talented and amazing and have more cooking skills in their little fingers than I do in my entire self. I came up with a detailed list of all the dishes and who’s bringing what and sent it out to the family. They are bringing the dishes and we have the turkey cooking and plan on watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

So in case you are busy getting ready and baking and cooking and roasting and broiling and basting and slicing and dicing because you are bringing the food to your Thanksgiving and you’ve run out of time for the fun?

I’m here to help.

Here are five fun family games that are FREE to play this Thanksgiving (just bring your imagination).

I’m Bringing the Turkey

This is a memory game that is perfect for that incredible moment just after dinner when all the turkey has been eaten and the stuffing have been stuffed and the cranberry bread is nothing but crumbs.

One person starts it.

They say, I’m bringing the _________ to Thanksgiving dinner.

And then the next person says I’m bringing the __________ (whatever the first person said) and __________ (then they add what they are bringing) to Thanksgiving dinner.

It continues around the table with each person adding what they are bringing to Thanksgiving dinner and trying to remember what all the people before them were bringing.  If someone can’t remember the order, they are out.  The game continues until there is only one person left standing.

And the winner?

They get the first piece of pie.

Would you rather?

This game requires a little bit of preparation.

Before the guests arrive, place a leaf under each plate.

On the leaf write the question would you rather _________ or ___________.

Then after dinner, each person looks under their plate and answers the questions.

Here are a few suggestions:

Would you rather jump out of an airplane or bungee jump off a cliff?

Would you rather wear a rabbit suit all day or perform the macarena in the middle of the grocery store?

Would you rather eat a lemon or a brussel sprout?

You get the idea.

You can personalize them to your family or make them generic.

The ABC’s of Thankful

It’s Thanksgiving.

What better way to celebrate than to share what we are thankful for.

This is one of my favorite games because it’s easy to play with the littles.

The first person starts the game with the letter A.  They tell the table something that they are thankful for that starts with the letter A.  Then the next person shares something they are thankful for that starts with the letter B.  The next person shares something that they are thankful for that starts with the letter C.

And so on.

It’s an easy and fun game that even your littlest Thanksgiving guest can play.

Thanksgiving Charades

We play charades at every holiday.

Maybe it’s because we are all a little dramatic.

Thankgiving is no exception.

Divide into two groups.

Have each group think of things that they are thankful for.  Write 10 of them down and then give them to the other group.  One by one, people from each group, take turns acting out the suggestions from the other group.

The group that gets the most amount of thankful things right is the winner.

If you aren’t dramatic and like to draw?

You can also try Thanksgiving Pictionary instead.

 

Thanksgiving talent show

I know, right?

What’s Thanksgiving without a talent show?

We have one every year.

Nothing fancy.

Before dinner, let everyone know that after the turkey is finished, there will be a talent show.  They have the entire dinner to think up a talent to share.

People can sing.

People can read a poem.

People can dance.

People can act out the Thanksgiving story with finger puppets.

It is so much fun.

I know you might be shocked, but we have talent shows for almost every occasion.

Here’s a story about one of our Christmas talent shows.

This is the time.

Don’t hide your Thanksgiving time light under a bushel.

Let it shine. 🙂

Happy Thanksgiving from our game-playing family to yours.

PS Are you Christmas shopping this weekend? I’m sharing the entire list of Black Friday sales tomorrow, but here are just a few you may not know about:

• the amazing laundry products that we love are up to 40% off and there are free gifts, too (I LOVE this set in pine and these amazing scent boosters)
• Lands’ End is having a 50% off your order with free shipping (great gifts for men–I got this and this for Denny)
• Ann Taylor is 50% off sitewide–shop the sale here
• Spanx is having a sitewide sale for 30% off
• Anthropologie is having a 30% off sitewide sale here

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