10 Super-Easy Thanksgiving Games The Kids Will Love
While it can be hard to get an entire family together any time of year, the last two big holidays shine a light on making that effort. When my family gets together, mom makes the taco fiesta bar (because it's easy, everyone loves it, and there are never leftovers) and my eldest sister plans the party. She is the queen of family games.
Here is a quick list of games easy enough the kids can join in, with a few others for after the littles glue themselves to the tablets.
- 1
Dominoes
Used to be, you couldn't grow up in Southwest Oklahoma without learning how to play dominoes. My family started us all at a very early age, and the competition can get a little heated.
Adults love it for the strategy and skill it takes to win, kids love it because it's basic math and they love playing adult games. Play one-on-one or teams, just take it easy on the littles. You don't want to kill their spirit.
- 2
Pictionary
In the ultra-rare case, you don't know what this is, you draw a picture for your team to guess. Two teams usually compete head-to-head, the first team to guess wins a point, the team with the most points wins... At least that's how we played it.
I'm sure the actual rules are different if you want to read them, but it's more fun head-to-head. Plus, it's relatively cheap to play. Buy a couple of big paper things and markers at the store, and print off your own Thanksgiving-themed drawing topics online.
- 3
Shake Your Tailfeather
This one is hilarious. You take a bunch of fake feathers you can get ultra-cheap at the store, pop them in an old tissue or Amazon box, belt it around your waist and see who can shake the most out in a specified amount of time.
Kids rule at this game because their little bodies move way better than adults, but it's still fun to see everyone make a fool out of themselves. 10/10
- 4
Turkey Bowling
This involves either the play-bowling pins you have at home or the dirt-cheap ones you can buy in the toy section at the store... It's bowling with a twist.
Since you don't want to heave a raw turkey across your floor, bowl with a football. You never know where it's going to go and the light-hearted competition heats up really quickly.
Bonus points for you if you put fake feathers and googly eyes on the bowling pins.
- 5
Candy Craps
While I've never learned how to play craps, anyone can equate the numbers on a die to how many pieces of candy you get. All you actually need is some dice and a big ole pile of candy.
Roll until the candy is gone... then start betting your candy head-to-head if you know how craps works.
- 6
Left, Right, Center
This is the game we usually play at the office party because it's quick and fun.
Everybody starts with three dollar bills. You roll three dice and you either keep or pass your money to another player or the central pot. The last person with money in hand wins the pot.
Critter is the luckiest guy in the world, being our reigning three-time champion in taking all of our money.
While you can use regular dice, the actual Left, Right, Center dice are cheap and available pretty much everywhere.
- 7
Turkey Hunt
There's nothing like a good old-fashioned scavenger hunt around the family home.
Grab yourself some paper bags and come up with a bunch of stuff to find around the home... rocks, leaves, paper clips, pencils, etc... hide them inside and outside then turn everyone loose to go find it all.
The first one back wins the big prize, whatever it is you have to give away.
- 8
Turkey Shoot
One year we had a few helium tanks and balloons left over from a b-day party, so we printed some turkeys off the web, taped them to balloons, and let the kids shoot Nerf guns at them. It was a blast and the kiddos loved it.
After all was said and done, the kids took their prizes to go do kid stuff, and we adults had another stellar idea.
Affix thumbtacks to Nerf darts... It was also freaking awesome. Use your best judgment.
- 9
Flying Turkeys
Same premise, a different method...
Print some turkeys offline and tape them to disposable cups you have left over from the meal. Stack them up like a pyramid and toss cornhole bean bags at them.
- 10
42
The ultimate Thanksgiving game has to 42. A domino game that is exactly like Hearts or Spades, just with dominoes.
It does take a little skill to get started, but it's easy enough the 10-year-olds play with us. It's a true Southwest Oklahoma competitive game.
While it's normally a four-person game, we've had up to eight playing before... It was confusing even for us, but it's possible. We'll normally split everyone into teams and just hold a tournament-style game.