A Thanksgiving crowd can mix kids, relatives and friends of every age. The games that fit that day need little or no setup, work around a dinner table or a living room, and let anyone sit out a round.
Each game below comes with setup, how to play, how it ends, a rough time band and a note on who it suits. Pick one for arrival, one for the table and one for after the meal, and you have a plan for the whole day that still leaves room for conversation.
Three Thanksgiving Party Games That Work for Almost Any Crowd
The three Thanksgiving party games that suit almost any crowd are the Gratitude Pass, Thanksgiving Bingo and Act Out the Dish. At PartyGameKit, we build free party tools like a bingo card generator. All three need almost no setup, and none of them asks a guest to leave the table or the couch.
The Gratitude Pass needs one small object and gives everyone at the table a turn to talk. Thanksgiving Bingo runs from arrival to dessert, so guests can play while they eat and chat. Act Out the Dish gets people moving after the meal, and a kid and a grandparent can share a team.
The games are grouped by when you play them: before dinner, at the table and after the meal. Separate sections cover a kids’ table and an adults-only round. Times in the table are rough estimates and stretch as the group grows.
| Game | When to Play | Rough Time (Estimate) | Who It Suits | Supplies |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thanksgiving Bingo | Arrival through dessert | Runs all day | Mixed ages | Printed cards, pens |
| Name That Side Dish | Before dinner | 10 to 15 minutes | Older kids and adults | Small covered cups, a posted list |
| Gratitude Pass | At the table | 5 to 10 minutes | Any age | One small object |
| Table-Talk Question Jar | Between courses | 10 to 20 minutes | Teens and adults | Jar, index cards |
| Thanksgiving Trivia | Table or dessert | 15 to 20 minutes | Teams of any size | Question cards, scoreboard |
| Act Out the Dish | After dinner | 15 to 30 minutes | Mixed ages | Paper slips, a timer |
| Best-Pie Vote | Dessert | 20 to 30 minutes | Families | Pies, toppings, dried beans |
| Turkey Trot Relay | After dinner, outside | 15 to 20 minutes | Kids and active adults | Spoons, small gourds, markers |
| How Many Words in THANKSGIVING | Kids’ table | About 10 minutes | Kids who can spell | Paper, pencils |
| Leftovers Sandwich Contest | Evening | 20 to 30 minutes | Adults | Leftovers, bread, score sheets |
Before Dinner: Quick Arrival Games
Arrival games should start when the first guest walks in and still work for someone who shows up an hour late. Both games below let a late guest join in seconds. For more arrival formats, see our icebreaker games.
Thanksgiving Bingo
Print one card per guest with our free bingo card generator. Fill the squares with things that might happen during the day: “someone asks for a recipe”, “the dog begs at the table”, “a guest arrives with a pie” or “someone says they are too full.” Mix up the square order on each card so two players do not finish a line at the same moment.
Players mark a square when they see it happen. Add one house rule to stop arguments: a square counts only if another player saw it too. The first full line wins a small prize, and the game keeps going toward a full card until dessert.
Bingo suits mixed ages. For kids who cannot read yet, draw pictures in the squares, such as a turkey, a pie or a football.
Name That Side Dish
Ask every guest about food allergies before you fill a single cup. Then put six to eight smells from the kitchen into small covered cups and number them. Good picks are sage, cinnamon, cranberry sauce, stuffing and nutmeg.
Post the full list of what is in the cups where everyone can read it, so any guest with an allergy can sit out. Players close their eyes, sniff each cup and write down which item they think it holds. The game is matching cups to the list, and the answer key sits under each cup.
Each correct match earns one point. Break a tie with a sniff-off on the hardest cup. This one suits older kids and adults, and takes about 10 to 15 minutes as a rough estimate.
At the Table: Games That Survive Plates and Conversation
Table games work best when they put nothing on the table and let people keep eating between turns. All three games below run on talking, and the trivia scores can live on a board across the room.
Gratitude Pass
Choose one small object: a wooden spoon, a mini pumpkin or a napkin ring. Whoever holds it says one thing they are thankful for this year, then passes it to the left. Anyone can say “pass” and hand it on without explaining.
For a twist on a second lap, the answer has to start with the first letter of the speaker’s name. The game ends after one or two laps, and there is no score. It takes 5 to 10 minutes as a rough estimate and works for any age.
Table-Talk Question Jar
Write 20 to 30 questions on index cards before guests arrive, fold them and drop them in a jar. Try questions like “If you could bring only one dish next year, what would it be?” or “What tradition would you start at this table?” Add a few easy ones for kids, such as “What is your favorite food on the table today?”
Pass the jar between courses. Whoever draws reads the question aloud and answers first, then anyone else can chime in. A player can put a card back and draw again with no reason given, and the game ends when the jar comes back around or dessert arrives.
Thanksgiving Trivia
Split the table into two teams by side. Write questions on cards in four categories: Food, The Holiday, Fall, and Around the Table. The last category is questions about your own guests, such as “Who made the stuffing this year?”
A few example questions to start the deck:
- What day of the week is US Thanksgiving always held on? (Thursday)
- In which month does US Thanksgiving fall? (November)
- What bird is the usual centerpiece of a Thanksgiving dinner? (Turkey)
- Which tart red berry is cooked into a classic Thanksgiving sauce? (Cranberry)
- What orange squash fills a classic Thanksgiving pie? (Pumpkin)
Each correct answer earns one point. Keep the score on a dry erase board away from the food. After 10 to 15 questions, the team with more points picks dessert first.
After Dinner: Living Room and Yard Games
After-dinner games should get people off their chairs without asking much of anyone who just ate a second plate. Each game below has a role for guests who would rather watch or judge.
Act Out the Dish
Write food scenes on paper slips: “carving the turkey”, “mashing potatoes”, “pulling the wishbone” and “rolling pie dough.” Split the room into two teams. One player draws a slip and acts it out in silence for 60 seconds while their team guesses.
A correct guess earns a point, and the team with the most points after three rounds wins. If your family already plays our Christmas charades, this is a food-themed cousin of that format. Pair a young child with an adult so the adult can whisper the slip, and plan for about 15 to 30 minutes.
Pie Decorating and Best-Pie Vote
Set out plain pies with bowls of whipped cream, sprinkles, fruit and pastry cutouts. List every topping on a card next to the bowls so guests with allergies know what is there. Each team gets 15 minutes to decorate one pie.
Put a paper cup beside each pie and hand every guest three dried beans. Voters drop their beans in secret, so nobody has to vote in public against a relative’s pie. The most beans wins first slice, and the whole game runs about 20 to 30 minutes.
You can run the same vote on pies guests brought from home and skip the decorating.
Turkey Trot Relay
Mark a start line and a turnaround point in the yard with shoes or pumpkins. Each runner waddles like a turkey to the turnaround, then carries a small gourd on a spoon back to the line and tags the next teammate. A dropped gourd means starting that leg again.
The first team to finish wins. The relay suits kids and active adults, and anyone else can be a judge or line marker. Our lawn games page has more yard options. If the yard is dark or wet, move indoors and use our minute to win it games.
If you would rather play on a TV after the meal, our Jackbox Party Pack 12 guide matches each of its five games to the crowd in your room.
Thanksgiving Games for Family and Kids
Kids and adults can share most of these games if you split the group for reading-heavy rounds and merge it for active ones. Give the kids’ table picture bingo and the word game below. Bring everyone together for Act Out the Dish, the relay and the pie vote, and put at least one reader on every mixed team.
How Many Words in THANKSGIVING
Give each child paper and a pencil and write THANKSGIVING across the top. Set a five-minute timer. Players write every word they can make from those letters, using each letter only as many times as it appears.
Words like thank, king, giving, saving and skating all fit. When time is up, players read their lists aloud and cross out any word someone else also found. Each word left standing earns a point, and the game takes about 10 minutes. Younger kids can hunt for three-letter words with an older helper.
Thanksgiving Games for Adults Only
An adults-only round can be livelier than the family games while staying clean enough for anyone who walks past. Run it after the kids head to bed or to another room. Our party games for adults page has more formats.
Leftovers Sandwich Contest
Lay out leftovers with bread and rolls, and keep a label on every container so guests with allergies can see what is inside. Each player or pair builds one sandwich and gives it a name. Three judges score taste, name and looks from 1 to 5 each.
The highest total wins. A trophy mug works well as the prize. Plan for about 20 to 30 minutes.
You can also give two earlier games a grown-up version. Fill a second question jar with prompts like “What was the worst job you ever had?” or “What is the most trouble you got into as a teenager that you can share here?” Add a harder trivia round and play it in teams.
Hosting Thanksgiving Party Games Without Pressure
Plan one game per part of the day, keep each one optional, and put the prizes in small tiers. That keeps the games from crowding out the meal and conversation.
- Time budget: give each game roughly 15 to 30 minutes (a rough estimate) and plan three games, with bingo running in the background.
- Optional play: announce the “pass” rule at the start, and offer judge or scorekeeper jobs to anyone who wants to watch.
- Prize tiers: a bowl of candy for small wins, first pick of the pie for a round winner, and a trophy mug for the day’s champion. Keep the prize budget under about $15 as a rough band.
- Allergy check: ask guests about allergies before any smelling, tasting or cooking game, and keep labels visible on every cup and container.
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- Index cards for trivia, charades slips and the question jar
- Pens for bingo and the word game
- A glass jar with a lid for table-talk questions
- A dry erase board for team scores
- Small prizes for each tier
- Decorative paper for bingo cards and question slips
Thanksgiving Games for Large Groups and Small Dinners
A full lineup of games does not suit a very small dinner or a day with a tight timeline. If that is your Thanksgiving, run one table game, such as the Gratitude Pass or the question jar, and stop there.
A big crowd changes the advice in the other direction. Switch to team formats so everyone plays at once: trivia teams by table, Act Out the Dish in two teams, and the turkey trot relay outside. Bingo works at any size because each guest marks their own card.
If your guests would rather talk than play, keep only bingo running quietly and drop the rest. When Thanksgiving is over, our holiday party games and family Christmas games pages cover the next holiday, and the party games hub has the full list.
- “fall-party-games” Pick one game for arrival, one for the table and one for after dinner, print your cards with our free bingo card generator, and order your supplies this week so your Thanksgiving party games are ready before the turkey goes in.