Thanksgiving charades.
58 Thanksgiving words already loaded — the feast, the pies, the table, the parade. Nothing to print, no app. Built for the twenty minutes after dinner when nobody wants to stand up.
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Thanksgiving charades — 58 words, nothing to print
Thanksgiving is a seated holiday. Halloween is a party you stand up at and Christmas is organised around opening things, but Thanksgiving is a long table, too much food and a room that does not want to move afterwards. Any game you bring to it has to survive that. This one does, and the 58 words above are already loaded.
The two windows to play it in
The first is the hour before dinner, when the food is not ready, the kitchen is full and everyone else is standing around being useful at each other. The second is about twenty minutes after the meal, when people are full but not yet asleep. That second window is narrow, maybe forty minutes, and it closes for good once somebody puts the football on.
If you are running the kitchen, the first window is also the easiest way to remove four children from it: hand one adult a phone, point them at the food and harvest groups, and you get half an hour back.
Play it seated — use the forehead version
Standard charades asks someone to stand in front of the family and mime. After a Thanksgiving dinner, finding that person takes longer than the game. The forehead version solves it: the guesser holds the phone to their head with the screen facing out and everyone else shouts clues from exactly where they are sitting. Nobody stands, nobody performs alone, and the volume is the same.
Tilt the phone down when you get it and up to skip, or just tap the screen - the right side scores, the left side skips - which is the better option when one hand is holding pie.
The 58 words, grouped by theme
Pick a group rather than shuffling everything, so the difficulty matches who is actually playing. The food is the warm-up; the last group is where the round gets won.
The feast (14)
Carving the turkey, Stuffing, Cranberry sauce, Mashed potatoes, Gravy, Sweet potato casserole, Green bean casserole, Corn on the cob, Dinner rolls, Brussels sprouts, Second helpings, Turkey sandwich, Apple cider, Food coma
Pies and sweets (5)
Pumpkin pie, Pecan pie, Apple pie, Whipped cream, Toasted marshmallows
At the table (11)
Saying grace, Saying what you're thankful for, Breaking the wishbone, The kids' table, Setting the table, Passing the dish, Place cards, Clearing the plates, Washing up, Falling asleep on the sofa, Loosening your belt
The parade and the game (6)
Macy's Parade, Giant balloons, Parade floats, Marching band, Football on TV, Cheering at the TV
Harvest and autumn (10)
Pilgrims, Mayflower, Cornucopia, Harvest, Hay bale, Fallen leaves, Sweater weather, Pumpkin, Squash, Corn husks
Getting everyone together (12)
Travelling home, Airport queue, Family reunion, Hugging relatives, Baby pictures, The relative who asks about your job, Awkward silence, Group photo, Grandma's recipe, Helping in the kitchen, Black Friday, Early morning shopping
Which group for which table
- Children — The feast, Pies and sweets, Harvest. All physical, all mimeable, no references needed.
- Mixed family — add At the table. "Breaking the wishbone" and "the kids' table" mean something to everyone in the room.
- Adults, after dinner — Getting everyone together. "The relative who asks about your job" and "awkward silence" are funny precisely because somebody at the table is currently doing them.
House rules worth agreeing first
Nobody mimes a person at the table. It is the obvious joke and it ends badly at a family dinner. Keep it on the card.
Humming allowed for the parade group. Somebody trying to hum a marching band is worth breaking the silence rule for.
Teams by generation, not by family branch. Grandparents and grandchildren on the same side beats siblings against each other, which at Thanksgiving can get surprisingly real.
Frequently asked questions
What are good Thanksgiving charades words?
Split them three ways. The food everybody can mime in two seconds - turkey, pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes - to get the table confident. The traditions, like breaking the wishbone or saying what you are thankful for. And then the ones that are really about the day rather than an object: "loosening your belt", "the relative who asks about your job", "awkward silence". Those last ones win rounds. All 58 words on this page are grouped so you can pick for the room.
When is the best time to play it?
Two windows, and the second one is better. Before dinner, while the food is still an hour away and people are standing around in the kitchen getting in the way. Or - better - about twenty minutes after the meal, when everyone is too full to move but not yet asleep. That second window is short and this is one of the few games that fits in it.
How do you play it without anyone standing up?
Use the forehead version instead of miming. One person holds the phone to their head with the screen facing out, and the rest of the table shouts clues. Nobody leaves their chair, which after Thanksgiving dinner is the deciding factor. The rules are the same otherwise.
Does it work with a wide age range?
That is the main reason to pick it. Miming needs no shared vocabulary and no reading, so a six-year-old and a grandparent can both act out a turkey. Pair the youngest with an adult for their turn and let them guess out of turn, and the age gap stops mattering.
Do we need to print anything?
No. This page is the game - open it on a phone, tap the Thanksgiving deck and play. The phone deals the 58 words, runs the timer and keeps the score, and no word repeats in the same session.
How long does a game take?
About twenty minutes for six people at 60 seconds a turn, which gets through roughly half the deck. For a bigger table use teams mode so nobody waits through five turns before their own.
What about the kids while dinner is cooking?
This is the deck's best use. Hand one adult a phone, put the children in a team and run the food and harvest groups - it occupies them for half an hour in a room that is otherwise entirely about waiting.
More games for the holidays
Christmas charades for December, Halloween charades for October, standard charades with 2,400+ words, Heads Up for kids, the forehead game, family game night and party games for large groups.