Inside: 10 Fun Thanksgiving Tradition ideas to start with your family this year.
Thanksgiving Traditions are one of my favorite parts of the holiday. Each family has its own unique set of traditions for the holidays and that’s what makes them special.
While old traditions are fun sometimes it’s fun to try out new traditions and see if they stick.
Deciding What Thanksgiving Traditions You Want to Have
Our first three Thanksgiving holidays as a married couple we had Thanksgiving Dinner with family. Then since all of our parents and siblings lived across the country we started doing Thanksgiving on our own.
We really enjoyed hosting Thanksgiving and we loved figuring out our own family traditions.
Some of the traditions we want to have in our family are things my husband or I did growing up, others are new traditions we want to start.
Trying New Thanksgiving Traditions
There are so many ideas for Thanksgiving and holiday activities and traditions it can be hard to decide what you want to do. Don’t feel like you have to do it all. Trying to do everything will take away from the fun and magic.
As a family we have decided to start our own traditions and see what sticks and what “traditions” we only do once.
Each year it seems we try at least one new tradition, some stick and others were fun for that year.
10 Thanksgiving Tradition Ideas for Families
Are you ready for it? Here are some fun and Easy Thanksgiving Tradition ideas you might want to try this year.
Have a Pie Night
I first heard of this tradition from some friends. Each year the week of Thanksgiving they have a pie night.
They invite friends to bring a pie and come visit. It’s such a fun and simple way to get together with friends with out a big “friendsgiving” dinner.
Related Post: Thanksgiving Pies {You Need to Try!}
Kids Table Activities
On Thanksgiving I love having a kids table with some Thanksgiving crafts and printables for the kids to do while we are busy in the kitchen.
Some of the crafts and activities I have included in past years are:
- How to Cook a Turkey Mini Books for kids to write and color
- (Free Printable)Kids Thanksgiving activity pack pages for the kids to do
- Thanksgiving Color By Number Free Printable Pages (I print all of them and let them decide what pages they want to do)
- Handprint Turkey Craft (paper, glue, googly eyes and the free printable template and you have an easy craft the kids will love)
- Thanksgiving I-Spy Coloring Page Printable
Thankful Tree
Each year we do a Thankful Tree during the month of November and it’s one of my favorite traditions.
I try to put the tree up at the beginning of November so we can add to it all month long, but sometimes it doesn’t go up until the week before or the week of Thanksgiving.
3 Candy Corns Next to The Dinner Plate
When I was young we had Thanksgiving with my great-grandparents and each year 3 candy corns were placed next to our plate. Before we ate Thanksgiving dinner each person would share 3 things they were grateful for.
Years later whenever I see candy corn it reminds me of my great-grandparents and the things I am grateful for.
I made this cute 3 Thankful candy corns poem printable to go along with our tradition of 3 candy corns next to the dinner plate.
Gratitude Wall
When I was in high school my mom started hanging up a big piece of butcher paper from floor to ceiling on a wall in the kitchen. At the top, it said I’m Thankful For…
She would hang the paper at the beginning of November and throughout the month my family would write things they were grateful for on the paper.
The kids too young to write words would color pictures. By the end of November, the huge piece of paper was filled with things we were grateful for.
Do the Gratitude ABC’s
I think it’s important to be thoughtful in our gratitude, it’s easy and takes little thought to list some of our blessings. Yet if we really think about it we have a lot more to be grateful for than we realize.
Because of this, I created the Gratitude ABC’s, this printable page is perfect for a Thanksgiving Day activity or any time leading up to the holiday.
Watch Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
Watching the Thanksgiving Day Parade is a big part of Thanksgiving for many families.
Last year was the first year we watched the parade. It was fun to see all of the bands, floats, and giant balloons.
Play Games Together
Thanksgiving is a great time to play games together board games, card games, trivia games and more.
This free printable Don’t Eat Tom (Thanksgiving don’t eat Pete) is a family favorite.
Make Time to Connect with Family
Even if you aren’t able to spend Thanksgiving day with family. You can spend a little time talking to them and connecting.
We love doing video calls so that grandparents can see our kids and our kids can make that connection with our extended family.
Thanksgiving Dinner
Thanksgiving dinner is filled with tradition from traditional foods to the tradition of eating out, having the meal catered or cooking it yourself.
I grew up helping cook a Thanksgiving dinner and I have many great memories of time spent in the kitchen.
The first few years we lived in Maryland we ordered our Thanksgiving Dinner from Boston Market.
Now we have made Thanksgiving dinner at home and I love all the time spent together cooking in the kitchen. If you want an amazing turkey recipe, this is the best turkey I have ever eaten and it’s very beginner friendly.
Watch A Christmas Movie Thanksgiving Night
A tradition that Jared and I have started with our family is to watch the Home Alone Christmas movies on Thanksgiving night.
It’s a great way to kick off the Christmas holiday and the kids love it. Plus after eating all the food we don’t feel like doing very much, so a movie night is perfect!
Find some of our other favorite Christmas movies here.
Black Friday Shopping
I’m not a big shopper now but growing up Black Friday shopping with my mom, grandma and all the girl cousins was so much fun.
Those shopping trips are some of my favorite Thanksgiving weekend memories. So if you are heading out to shop on Black Friday make it fun.
Related Post: Does Black Friday Shopping Really Save you Money?
Pick the Best Thanksgiving Traditions for Your Family
These are just a few ideas of possible Thanksgiving traditions, pick the best ones for your family.
When we are deciding what activities to do each year we try to remember to make it something special for us.
We want our traditions to be something we look forward to, not something that adds stress.
No matter what Thanksgiving traditions you decide to try this year I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with family and friends.
(Originally posted October 2016)
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I totally agree that the best part of Thanksgiving tradition is spending time together. This is the time when families and friends come over, create beautiful memories together, cherish the past, reflect things on things they are grateful for and by starting new traditions too.
Having a special dish is an awesome idea and of course writing down or saying the things you’re grateful for will always be present. There are a lot of ways to do it, and your idea is something every family member will enjoy especially the kids. These are simple ideas and yet can make your Thanksgiving memorable and one for the books too.
I also created a list similar to this, it’s a list of 35+ Thanksgiving ideas and activities perfect for each member of the family especially seniors. My list includes old traditions like the “lucky break,” watching football games, watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade and playing games. Thanksgiving is also the perfect time to give back. You can volunteer in a food drive, soup kitchen or give away goodie bags in long term care facilities. You can view the list here: http://www.altcp.org/weekly-digest-35-ways-thanksgiving/.
Thanks. Your post looks great, I watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade yesterday. It was the first time I have watched the almost the whole thing.
Lovely ideas for family celebrations.
Thanks.
You’ve got a lot of great ideas! We made a Thanksgiving tree at church.The kids put a paper leaf on it with pictures or writing those things they are thankful for.
I love the printable! So cute!
The candy corn tradition is so cute! I love it! 🙂
Love the gratitude exercise Adree. Thanks for stopping by my blog. 🙂 xo
Glad you liked it!
I love traditions! I think they make the holidays so much more special! I also do a gratitude list
Rachel | The Confused Millennial
How much fun are these traditions! We usually go around the table and name a thing or two we are thankful for that happened that year.
These are awesome ideas. I really like the part where you have everyone write down what they are thankful for. I think it will bring up more conversation during your dinner!
Thanks for reading. Often the conversation centers around the little kids explaining the picture they drew. The things 4 year olds are grateful for can be very funny!
These are great traditions! I especially love the candy corn. Such sweet sentiment behind it. 🙂
Thanks, it is fun to have the memory of my great grandparents when I see candy Corn 🙂
There are certain dishes that have to be made and sharing of gratitude for the year is always given.