Thanksgiving Dinner Table Games & Activities

Dinner Table Bingo:

Create bingo cards that have common words or phrases that you would hear at Thanksgiving dinner, such as, turkey, pilgrims, thankful, please pass the rolls, and so on. Hand them out to each person along with some kind of small candy to mark their cards with. Tell everyone that as dinner progresses you will be playing bingo. Everyone needs to listen to what is being said and when they hear something that is on their card mark it off. The catch is that you can’t count anything you have said. Have some fun small gifts wrapped and nearby for the people that get to bingos during dinner.

The Thanksgiving Tablecloth:

Keep that fabric tablecloth in the drawer this year, and instead use long pieces of butcher’s paper. Provide everyone with a couple of crayons and tell them to write or draw pictures of what they are Thankful for while they are waiting for dinner. After the meal is cleared away take the tablecloth off and look at what everyone is thankful for.

Signs of Thankfulness:

If your family is coordinated enough you can try playing this while eating dinner, but it probably would be best for before or after. Each person chooses a signal, such as putting their hair behind their ear, blinking, or scratching your nose. Everyone shows their signal to the group. Then one person is picked to close their eyes. Somebody starts “passing” the signal by first giving their sign, then giving the sign of the person they want to pass it to. For the person to receive the sign they must give their own sign. The person is told to open their eyes, and the rest of the group continues passing the sign until the person who is “it” figures out who has the sign and catches them with it. The person, who is caught with the sign, then becomes it.

Two Peas in a Pod:

This is best played at a table where people can get up easily. Mark the inside of the cups with animal names; this can be done with animal stickers or by taping in labels. Make sure that there are always pairs, for example two elephants, two monkeys, etc. Then tell everyone at the table that you will pass the cups for a set amount of time (depending on your family you can do, 30 seconds, a minute or more or less). When the timer stops everyone looks at the inside of their cup then must begin acting like the animal that they see/read. They must then as quickly as possible find the other person acting like the same animal and sit down next to them. The last couple to sit down is eliminated (like musical chairs) and play continues until there are only two people left.