It’s that wonderful time of the year again…the start of the holiday season! Thanksgiving is the first big holiday to celebrate, falling towards the end of November. You probably have some cherished memories of Thanksgiving traditions from your childhood and perhaps you still practice those traditions today. When you have your own family, it’s lovely to carry some of those long-standing traditions through but also to create some new Thanksgiving traditions. As people who love a good family tradition, we’ve come up with some fun ideas for Thanksgiving traditions to start this year and create those special memories for your own kids.
Thanksgiving Football Game
A popular family tradition in many homes is a Thanksgiving Day flag football game, an activity both adults and kids can get involved in. Running around with a full belly is no fun so we recommend scheduling your game for a pre-lunch activity! In fact, many families comically dub the football game the ‘Turkey Bowl.’
To prepare, pick your teams, grab your gear, set the rules and be prepared to enjoy the bragging rights until next year if your team wins!
Share Your Gratitude
A lovely Thanksgiving tradition many families like to practice around the lunch table, is giving everyone a chance to share what they’re grateful for. The core purpose of Thanksgiving is to focus on gratitude, so this activity shifts the focus away from the food and fanfare of Thanksgiving to its simple purpose.
Some families like to end this off by saying a prayer of gratitude or reading a Thanksgiving poem to reaffirm the message of the day – that there is so much to be thankful for!
Neighborhood Tailgate Party
In the run-up to Thanksgiving, get the neighborhood in the holiday spirit with a Thanksgiving tailgate party. Park your cars in the street or in a designated location and decorate your trunk with Thanksgiving-themed decorations. Some ideas include pumpkins, Fall-themed tablecloths or blankets, wicker baskets and dried leaves. We also have this printable Thanksgiving bunting with the words ‘Give Thanks’ printed onto flag-shaped banners. String across your trunk for some extra pizazz.
Friendsgiving Dinner
For many of us, over the years our friends become like family and while Thanksgiving is a time traditionally spent with family, there’s no reason to not include close friends in the celebrations! Whether on Thanksgiving day or in the lead up to Thanksgiving, why not host a Friendsgiving dinner to celebrate the holidays with your closest friends. After all, where would we be without the love and support of our friends?
To be the hostess with the mostest, invite them around with a beautiful Thanksgiving invitation, like this modern floral wreath Thanksgiving invitation. The text is fully editable so you can add in a quirky message for your friends if you’d like.
Spruce Up The House For Thanksgiving
Of course one of our favorite Thanksgiving traditions is decorating the home for Thanksgiving. There’s something about the warm, earthy tones of Fall decor that makes the home feel so inviting and cosy! From beautiful Fall-hued wreaths on the front door and candles flickering in carved pumpkins to Fall scatter cushions in the living room, making your home Thanksgiving-ready is a fun activity to rope the kids into.
These pennant flags make really cute DIY Thanksgiving decorations to pop into flower arrangements or as an addition to a gift for your Thanksgiving hosts.
Thanksgiving Kids Crafting Table
We all know sitting at a table for hours isn’t easy for the little ones in the family. The best way to keep them happy and entertained is to set up a special kids table just for them at Thanksgiving lunch. Include a bunch of fun craft activities including coloring pages, Thanksgiving craft projects and placemat doodles. We’ve got a fabulous freebie that includes Thanksgiving themed activity placemats and activity sheets for the kids, get yours here.
We have a huge range of printable activity sheets that your kids will love with themes ranging from dinosaurs, bees and Ancient Egypt to Space.
Make Special Place Settings
It can become your yearly Thanksgiving tradition to set the lunch table with your kids. Get them involved in helping you create the centrepieces and putting all the special decorations on the table. Hand make place cards and allow the kids to decorate them with stickers or stamps. A beautiful tablescape and handmade place settings will make your loved ones feel extra special when they take their seat at the table this Thanksgiving.
Post-Thanksgiving Walk
While you may feel like rolling to the couch rather than doing any exercise, taking a relaxed walk with the family after lunch is a great way to help that big meal digest and to let the kids release some energy. Bundle up in coats, pop on mittens and take a walk through your local neighborhood park or nature trails. Think of it this way, you could even be making space for second helpings!
Thanksgiving Games Night
After a day of feasting and family fun, end off the day with some more quality time and great memories for the kids! A fun Thanksgiving tradition is to wrap up the celebrations with a family games night. You can play board games, trivia games or even charades, depending on what your loved ones enjoy.
We have an unbelievably fun printable Minute To Win It style game with tons of funny games to play with the family. Some favorites include Head Tennis and Oreo Face-Off. Split up into teams and prepare for plenty of laughter!
There are also some really fun Thanksgiving table games for all age groups. One of our favorites is Thanksgiving charades! Charades is a classic game and these Thanksgiving-themed actions will have everyone rolling with laughter!
Another really fun and popular Thanksgiving table game is a Thanksgiving-themed game of “Would you Rather?” The whole table will be giggling over whether they’d rather give a turkey a bath or mash a bathtub full of potatoes! Just imagine!
Visit A Fall Festival
Fall festivals and fairs pop up all across the country in the Fall, and they’re a must to visit with kids. This fun Thanksgiving tradition often includes many fun activities for kids including train rides, pony rides, crafts, face painting and plenty of delicious treats (we’re looking at you, candy apples!). For parents, many of the festivals – especially those in the countryside – offer adults wine-tasting, cheese-making demos and more.
Family Gratitude Jar
During the month of November, with Thanksgiving on everyone’s minds, setting up a gratitude jar in your home is a great way to encourage a spirit of appreciation and thankfulness. Leave some colorful squares of paper and pens next to the jar and ask your family to pop a card in the jar whenever they feel grateful for something. On Thanksgiving day, open the jar and read them out to remind everyone just how blessed and lucky they are!
We have some beautiful digital papers you can use to cut into squares for your gratitude jar cards.
Things To Do With Grandparents over Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is the perfect time to get in some special bonding between the kids and their grandparents with a line up of some fun activities.
- Cook with the kids and share some of your favorite recipes with them.
- Make a leaf garland to use as a decoration. Have them collect dried leaves in the garden and help them attach the leaves to string to hang up in the home.
- Make pinecone turkeys using pinecones, googly eyes, colored cardboard and craft pom poms. Use the pom pom as the head and fashion the beak, tail feathers and claws from the craft paper.
- Preserve Fall flowers and leaves with old-fashioned leaf pressing using your chosen method. Whether it’s using heavy books or wax paper and an iron, teach your grandkids the lost art of preserving leaves!
- If grandparents have magic tricks or card tricks up their sleeves, putting on a little magic show will delight your children and they’ll be begging grandpa to show them how it’s done as soon as he’s done!
- Read Thanksgiving books with the grandkids. Snuggle up on the sofa in front of a crackling fire with some hot cocoa and read enchanting stories to your little ones.
Fun Days To Celebrate in November
Besides Thanksgiving, there are a bunch of fun days and themed days to turn into family traditions this year. Some are more serious and deserve to be treated that way, whereas others are just for laughs and to introduce some quirky rituals and traditions into the fold.
1 November: Cook For Your Pets Day – with all the human yummies looming, your furry friends deserve a spoil too! Cook your pets something tasty and pet-friendly like chicken and rice for a Thanksgiving month treat.
2 November: Cookie Monster’s Day – bake some cookies for your kids and have them decorate the cookies to look like the Cookie Monster, complete with googly eyes. Get your free printable googly eyes here {link to freebie article}
4 November: International Stress Awareness Day – it’s important for kids to know they can come to you if they’re feeling overwhelmed, so take the opportunity to talk to them about what stress feels like and healthy ways to cope with it.
5 November: Men Make Dinner Day – you do a lot, mama. Tonight it’s the men’s turn to cook dinner!
6 November: Nachos Day – there’s nothing better than nachos for dinner and there are so many different toppings you can choose, from plain cheese and salsa to beans, chicken and chilli. Don’t forget the sour cream and avocado! Follow Lou’s easy nacho recipe here.
7 November: Digital Scrapbooking Day – capture those precious memories and photographs in a digital scrapbook, using digital papers and clipart to style your pages.
10 November: Young Readers Day – reading is so important for developing a good vocabulary and imagination. Today, read books with your kids and let them know just how wonderful books can be.
11 November: Veterans Day – honor the brave men and women who gave their lives for the good of their country by visiting a memorial, making a donation or watching a documentary.
13 November: World Kindness Day – teach your kids it’s cool to be kind by doing something nice for someone else today.
14 November: International Selfie Day (for Diabetes) – snap a family selfie in support of those dealing with diabetes.
15 November: Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day – in preparation for Thanksgiving and the feast that needs space in there, get your kids to help you clear out old food. If it’s still safe to eat, consider donating to a homeless shelter.
17 November: Take a Hike Day – arrange a fun family hike, weather permitting.
19 November: International Men’s Day – today is all about the men in your family. Make them their favorite meal or leave a sweet note in their lunchbox to make them feel loved.
21 November: International Games Day – no doubt your kids are tuned in to all things gaming! They’ll be thrilled to know there’s a day for that! See if you or the grandparents can beat them at some of their favorite games…we bet you never thought you’d be learning the ropes of Fortnite!
Thanksgiving is such a wonderful time of the year and is such a special holiday to reconnect with family from near and far. Perhaps you have some Thanksgiving traditions we didn’t mention here and we’d love to hear about them. Don’t be shy, please leave a comment down below and share with us!
If you’d like to save some of these ideas for future reference, click any of the images to save them to your Thanksgiving Pinterest board!
