Thanksgiving Party Games
Brilliant Thanksgiving Party Games
Turn your party into a riot of Thanksgiving fun!
These great Thanksgiving party games are perfect for keeping the kids amused while they wait for Thanksgiving dinner or as a great way to have some fun afterwards.
Alternatively they work just as well for schools, churches or youth groups looking for neat Thanksgiving party ideas.
Although they are aimed at children don't forget Thanksgiving is a time for family. Half the fun of a great Thanksgiving is being together with those you love. So come on you grown ups - kids love it when adults join in and act silly - that includes you Grandma!
Thanksgiving Party Games - Hunt The Turkey
~Who can track down those tricky Turkeys!~
This is a nice simple game that can be adjusted according to the age of the participants. In advance hide a toy plastic turkey (the sort you get in kids toy farms) somewhere around the room or outside in the yard. Send the kids on a turkey hunt. Prize for the one who finds it. When found send the kids away and hide it again.
An alternative would be to have some small turkey cards or stickers (you can easily make your own with address labels) hide them around the venue and promise a prize for every card found.
Thanksgiving Party Games - Aces High
~This game is crazy fun and a good icebreaker~
What you need:
You need to prepare your playing cards in advance depending on the number of players.
You want the ace, king, queen and jack of 2 suits for at least 2 teams. But if you have more guests you can either include another suit or include the 10, 9 , 8 etc for each suit.
Which ever way you do it you want to end up with the same numbers of cards (starting from Ace) for each of the chosen suits.
Discard the other cards.
You then shuffle and place all the selected cards face down on the floor.
When you shout "GO" everyone grabs a card. Whoever gets an ace should immediately run to an agreed line where they sit down and shout out the name of their suit. The other cardholders of their suit must then follow in order sitting on the lap of their ace in descending order.
You will end up with 2 lines of people. You may like to have adult helpers on hand to marshall smaller children.
The minute your suit is in place (in the correct order) and everyone seated you all shout the name of your suit and raise your hands in the air.
First team to do so wins.
Variation - If your furniture can take it you can have the aces sit on a chair before everyone piles onto their lap.
Thanksgiving Party Games - Picture Pieces
~Can you just picture the perfect Thanksgiving?~
In advance print out a number of A4 size pictures of the Thanksgiving icons:
- Pilgrim
- Native American
- Corn Cob
- Turkey
Work out how many teams you will have. You need a set of the 4 pictures for each team.
These are best printed on to card / stuck on to card / laminated.
Cut the pictures into pieces. A good rule of thumb is cut each picture into the average age of the kids in that team ie 5 pieces for a team of five year olds.
Obviously don't go higher than about 10 pieces. (or Grandad's in for a very hard time!)
You could also end up with an easy set of pieces for younger kids and harder for older ones.
Allocate each team a colour. Mark a coloured dot or place a coloured sticker on the back of every piece in a set of pictures.
Jumble the pieces up and hide / place these around your venue.
The kids then have to first find all the pieces bearing their team's coloured dot. They must leave all other pieces alone.
As they find the pieces they bring them back to their base where other team members begin to piece the pictures together.
The first team with a completed set of 4 pictures wins.
Thanksgiving Party Games - Turkey..Turkey..Stuffing!
~The chase is on!~
This is a Thanksgiving variation on the party favourite Duck Duck Goose!
All the children sit in a circle facing inwards. One child is chosen as the chooser and then walks around the outside of the circle gently tapping each child on the head and saying "Turkey".
Then she / he suddenly taps one child on the head and cries"Stuffing". The chooser then sets of around the outside of the circle chased by the "Stuffing".
On completing the circle the chooser jumps into the spare place vacated by the "Stuffing"(If they are caught they must remain as chooser.)
The "Stuffing then becomes the new chooser and the game repeats until everyone has had a go.
Thanksgiving Party Games - How Many Words?
~Pencils at the ready!~
This is a good quiet game if you are looking to calm things down. Divide the kids into small teams.
Give each team a pencil and sheet of paper with THANKSGIVING written at the top. They then have 5 minutes to come up with as many smaller words as possible using only the letters from Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving Party Games - Pass The Cracker
~Steady nerves and steady teeth needed!~
This is perhaps a game for slightly older kids.
What you need:
- Several packets of cheap cream crackers or thin biscuits
- A wooden clothes peg (the spring type) for each guest
Divide your guests into 2 teams and line them up.
Every contestant then puts their clothes peg between their teeth.
The first person in each team then carefully places a cracker in the jaws of their peg.
They then turn and try to pass it to the next person in line who takes it in their peg.
The trick is co-ordinating the bite and release.
In this way the cracker makes its way to the end of the line where it is dropped on a plate by the last person.
Meanwhile the first person has started another cracker on its way down the line. The first person in the line is the only one allowed to hold the cracker in their hand to start off.
Any crackers dropped on the floor are "lost"
The winning team are the first team with 20 crackers on their plate at the end.
Thanksgiving Party Games - Tug-A-Turkey
~ 1..2..3..Heave!~
This is a cute variation on a straightforward tug of war. Its a great way to end your party.
Take a stout rope and tie a rubber turkey (chicken), a soft toy turkey or simply a card picture of a turkey to the middle. Divide your children into teams of roughly equal size. Place smaller children closest to the middle of the rope.
You can either mark a winning line for each side but another neat idea is for the teams to have to try to tug the turkey over to their side and "land" it in a baking tray / basket.
Note - Don't think this is too old fashioned - Kids love tug of war and this will be a real hit!
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