2. Play Touch Football. Or soccer, tag, hide-n-seek, etc. Just get outside with the gang and do something that involves running around and taking in some nice fresh air.
3. Board games! Get out those games you have in the closet since last Christmas and haven't played yet. Scrabble, Life, Yahtzee, Cranium, Trivial Pursuit, Trouble, Chutes & Ladders, whatever! Have some silly fun!
4. Play Charades. This doesn't take much. Make your own rules as you go. Have fun!
5. Sing-a-Long. Karaoke. Get out the instruments, guitars, piano. Dust off that accordion. Bring out the tambourines, spoons, etc. Put on a holiday radio station and sing along. Make up a contest. You can really have fun with this.
6. Memory Sharing. Share stories. You can pick a theme such as:
The greatest day of my life.
The best thing that happened in my life this year.
My favorite memory from childhood.
The funniest thing that ever happened to me.
Have someone scribe the stories or videotape the event.
7. Share Thanks. At dinner have everyone share what they are thankful for before eating dinner.
8. Silly Dance Contest. Just like it says. Be silly. Dance. Make up your own rules.
9. Kids Talent Show. There's usually one grownup at family gatherings who likes to get the kids doing activities. If you're that person maybe you want to have the kids perform for the whole family after dinner. While everyone is watching football you could throw it together. (Of course adults can join the show too!)
10. I Love My Family because.... Gather round as a family and have each person share what they love about the family.
11. Share the Love. Have the family all in one room and have each person tell why they admire the person next to him/her. And then that person says why they admire the person next to him/her, and so on. "I Admire ___________ because..."
12. Treasure Hunt. Create a simple treasure map and "prizes." There can be one prize or multiple prizes, like an egg-hunt. Ideas for prizes: chocolate turkeys (is there such a thing?) or a packet of coins or a gift certificate wrapped up in a box. Share your ideas in the comments please!
13. Name That Tune. Play the humming game where each teams or individuals have to name the tune.
14. The Questions Game. Here is a link to a family game with very few rules. You get to make up the rules. The idea is to spark conversations, have fun, and get to know each other better.
15. The Craziest Thing .... (that I saw or experienced this year). As a family tell stories that can be true or made up. It can be a little bit like "To Tell the Truth." Everyone tells a crazy story that is either true or made up and everyone has to guess if it is true or not. And the story doesn't have to be something that they actually experienced.
16. Our Family Tree. Have everyone imprint a fingerpaint handprint on a big sheet of paper with their name underneath. You can have it framed or take a picture of it to share with everyone.
17. Start a Thanksgiving Day Banner. Starting this year create a banner that can hang in your living room that will have a picture of the whole family from each year. It can become an heirloom for future generations. You could also create a similar item electronically say with a website.
18. Three Legged Races. Link up kids/grownups. You could also try a sack race or create an obstacle course race too. Have some fun silly prizes or simple privilege prizes like the first place team doesn't have to help with clean up or they get first dibs on the turkey.
19. Family Thanksgiving Journal. Grab a blank notebook. It doesn't have to be fancy. Write down everyone's thanks for this year. And then next year do the same so that over time you build a treasured family book of thanks as well as a sort of family history.
20. Make Me Laugh. Tell jokes. You can make it into a game to see if you can get someone to laugh. Can be done as individuals, round-robin, or as teams.
Happy Thanksgiving all! Enjoy!
Please share your favorite Thanksgiving traditions and family fun activities in the comments! I'd love to hear your ideas!
Great ideas, HippyGirl. I hope your day was a good one. We had a pleasant day, we played music at a convalescent home while they had their Thanksgiving meal, then we went to a friend's home and had a wonderful meal and a great game. It was a good day.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME,,,HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME ,,,,,,,,,,
Yes, Happy Birthday! It was also my dad's birthday!
Squeakers is like Black Friday, We gotta riddle up a less oil-rich name for the group or edit it a bit.
I know, you don't think I contribute much and complain a lot. For the time being let this be my contrib.
The cool weather is upon us even in this haven of sunshine I live in. I just hope we don't get a spell of close to zero like last year when not only were the fruit blossoms killed off but the branches that bore them. Our great harvest has always been the ponderosa Lemons and this season we had only the one,
and that's from seven trees. People in town to whom we'd given seedlings in past years had a greater harvest than us. Have a good day.
