Almost everyone’s favorite fall holiday is right around the corner, which means it’s time to start planning fun Thanksgiving activities the whole family can enjoy. After all, it’s only so often that your entire crew is one place. Have fun making these Thanksgiving activities for adults and kids a key part of your turkey day traditions.
Thanksgiving Activities for Adults and Kids
For the Adults
Go to a Game
If you prefer to enjoy sports games rather than playing tabletop ones, you’ll want to see some of the most exciting events of the season! At Event Tickets Center, you can even buy tickets to Thanksgiving Day NFL game, when the Detroit Lions will face off against the Chicago Bears. You can also purchase tickets to other NFL games on Thanksgiving weekend, giving you the perfect opportunity to surprise and impress your guests!
Create a Fun Thanksgiving Cocktail
Whether you’re celebrating with your family, your friends, or by yourself, throwing together a Thanksgiving cocktail allows you to savor the taste of the holiday while allowing yourself to relax a bit. Focus on incorporating flavors such as pecan, chocolate, pumpkin spice, or apple cider. And if you aren’t an expert bartender, don’t worry. You can also buy some cocktail mixes!
Add in Some Funny Adult Games
With the presidential elections coming up, this Thanksgiving is certainly going to be an interesting one for many families. If you want to smooth over a potentially tense dinner, start or finish the night with a funny game! For example, Cards Against Humanity and other adult-themed games unite people around the objective of making people laugh.
Host a Tailgate
The Detroit Lions will be playing the Chicago Bears on Thanksgiving Day, carrying on an annual tradition. If your family unites around a football team, why not turn your Thanksgiving feast into a tailgate party? Whether you’ll be close enough to go to the stadium or just want to hang out in your drive way, a tailgate party will surely make your Thanksgiving memorable.
Do a Puzzle
If you like solving things, pull out a fun puzzle for Thanksgiving. Either choose your favorite pieces of art or images of favorite landscapes. Or, if you’re up for some sleuthing, do a mystery puzzle!
For the Kids
Read Them an Inspiring Story
Thanksgiving is a tradition that has been passed down for many centuries. Unfortunately, though, the story has a fair number of myths that incorrectly highlight the alliance between the Wampanoag people and European pilgrims. Instead of having a harmonious relationship, many of the European settlers committed genocide against Native American people, and the original pilgrims even sold Tisquantum (Squanto, a Wampanoag man) as a slave.
Clearly, you don’t want to go into violent details with your youngest kids, but you also probably don’t want to spread a false story. Fortunately, there are alternative stories out there that spotlight the cultures and lives of Native Americans. Reading these stories helps you foster appreciation for people from other backgrounds and show thanks for the wonderful diversity of the United States.
Watch a Movie About Gratitude
Many of us grew up watching or hearing stories about the mythical version of the first Thanksgiving. As such, storytelling is an essential part of the Thanksgiving tradition. If you want to incorporate storytelling into your celebrations, watch a movie that gives demonstrations of gratitude.
Here are some examples that are appropriate for kids:
- It’s a Wonderful Life
- Lilo & Stitch
- Annie
- How to Train Your Dragon
- Frozen
Decorate
Nothing puts you in the holiday spirit quite like decorating, so why not incorporate this activity into your Thanksgiving traditions? This is one of the best Thanksgiving activities adults and kids can both enjoy and will give you and your family lots of relaxed quality time with one another.
If you’ve already started decorating for Thanksgiving, have your kids help you prepare for the Christmas season!
Practice Daily Gratitude
Gratitude helps people have a more positive outlook on life and increases overall well-being and satisfaction! So, fostering a daily gratitude habit in your kids in the days leading up to Thanksgiving will set them up to be more grateful all year round.
Have everyone in your household keep a gratitude journal. Or, you can say what you’re thankful for that day out loud!
For Everyone
Take Plenty of Pictures
Your entire family isn’t together often, so take this opportunity to take some heartfelt fall portraits. You can pose amongst the beautiful autumnal leaves, or keep it silly with some thanksgiving themed props. Once the pictures are taken, you can order canvases or even holiday cards to send out from Mixbook. On the other hand, you can order prints and hang them up using sturdy photo frames. This is one of the most meaningful thanksgiving activities for adults and kids that will make an amazing yearly tradition.
Watch Some Sports
One of the most popular Thanksgiving activities for adults and kids is bonding over your favorite sports teams. Gather around the couch to watch ESPN and enjoy the action over finger-food and delicious game-day snacks. Don’t forget your matching merchandise from Fun.com! Sit back and relax with the ones you love most while taking in the action.
Start Decorating the Tree
For many families, decorating is a classic Thanksgiving tradition. Why not start the Christmas celebration early? Pick up some elegant tree ornaments and Christmas decorations. You can also enjoy putting up the stockings and listening to your favorite Christmas classics together.
Send Something Heartfelt
Unfortunately, it’s not always the easiest for everyone to meet up for the holidays. If you find yourself missing a couple of key crew members, grab a card and send something heartfelt to let them know you’re thinking about them. Be sure to set up a Zoom or Skype call so that your family can still feel the love even from far away. Have your kids tell them why they’re thankful for them so that everyone feels good!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Enjoy these heartfelt Thanksgiving activities that adults and kids are sure to enjoy. If you need some more inspiration, checkout Fun Family-Friendly Thanksgiving Activities & Games Everyone Will Love. If you’re too busy hanging with the fam to cook, try The Fastest Way to Cook Your Thanksgiving Turkey. Happy turkey day!
