Many families will travel to see loved ones during the Thanksgiving holiday. However, if you can’t make a long distance trip to visit family this year, that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun. Consider planning one or more of these Thanksgiving activity ideas for the whole family to enjoy.
- Take a day over the long weekend to get back to nature. Gather the family together, get bundled up if the weather is nippy, and get everyone out in the crisp, cool autumn air. You can even go searching for a real turkey if there are any in your area. This might be a great family activity after eating your Thanksgiving meal rather than everyone taking a nap or vegetating in front of the television.
- If your family is one who takes plenty of pictures to commemorate events, plan on having disposable cameras available so anyone can take candid shots during the day. If you get the pictures developed (or printed if you have a digital camera and printer), your entire family can go through the photographs and create a small Thanksgiving scrapbook to remember the day. You can also share pictures with those you weren’t able to be with.
- Does your family like to play games? Thanksgiving is the perfect time to pull out the old board games you haven’t played in a while. Choose games which everyone can play no matter what their age. The idea is to have fun as a family rather than each of you going your separate ways after the meal.
Perhaps you’ll be lucky enough to be able to make it to see your extended family over the Thanksgiving weekend. You can still plan for activities that everyone can participate in. Here are a few ideas you may want to use:
- Plan a Pumpkin Race. What’s a Pumpkin Race? Separate the family into two or more teams depending upon how many of you there are. Be sure to include older and younger members on each team so everyone’s chances are similar. Mark the start and finish of the race and then have family members roll a pumpkin from one end of the race course to the other. If people don’t want to join in the game, they can cheer the others on.
- Play a game of charades. Give everyone scraps of paper and a pencil. Have them write down names of songs, movies, television shows or sporting activities. Fold or crumple the pieces of paper and put them in a bowl. Let everyone take turns acting out what is written on one of the papers.
- Before everyone digs into their meal, go around the table and ask each person to say one thing they are thankful for. They don’t have to give a long discourse; something simple will do.
These Thanksgiving activity ideas for the whole family are easy enough for children to participate. They will also help your family make lasting fond memories of your get-together this year. Take the time to make memories and your holiday will be something to truly be thankful for.
