Thanksgiving is around the corner and its time to start planning your Thanksgiving party. Whether your party is for family, friends or even the classroom, use the ideas below for the ultimate Thanksgiving party.

Create a Thanksgiving centerpiece by filling a cornucopia/basket with nuts, apples, gourds, Indian corn, fall leaves, and silk or fresh mums. Many specialty and grocery store bakeries are now offering bread in a cornucopia shape—you can eat the centerpiece during the meal!

For a classroom Thanksgiving party, make place cards for each student. This can be done as a class activity during the party, or can be done ahead of time. Mini frames, little tote bags, mini boxes, mini hay bales…all can be personalized, and then used as take-home favors.

Thanksgiving Games

Turkey Bowling – The turkey will definitely be tenderized after participating in this game! Use a frozen turkey in place of a bowling ball (one that comes packaged with a “handle” attached). The frozen turkey is hurled at a set of bowling pins (use the real thing, tall wooden blocks or plastic milk bottles filled with stones). (Ages 5-Adult)

If you are entertaining a large group of young children, these games are perfect for those aged 10 and under.  Many of these classic games can be converted to tie to a thanksgiving/harvest theme with a simple name or prop change. Try one of the following:

“Pin the Tail on the Donkey” – “Pin the Wattle on the Turkey”

“Duck, Duck, Goose” – “Turkey, Turkey, Stuffing”

“Hot Potato” – “Hot Turkey” (with a stuffed animal turkey)

“Musical Hats” – “Musical Pilgrim Hats”

“Bingo” – use candy corn as game pieces

“Dress Up Relay” – Use simple scarecrow, Native American or Pilgrim costumes.

“Ring Toss” – “Ring around the Gourd” (assign different point values to different sizes of gourds, pumpkins, or dried Indian corn.

“Three Legged or Sack Races” – Add an autumnal touch by creating an obstacle course using pumpkins, corn stalks and bales of hay.

Turkey Calling Contest – Host a turkey calling contest, complete with lots of squawking, flapping, wattle shaking, and pecking. Give each participant a prize with a fun distinction: “loudest turkey”, “most authentic”, “most likely to be spared”, “cutest turkey”, etc. This activity can also be turned into a relay race with family and friends split into two teams. Loud, but fun! (Ages 4-Adult)

Pass the Corn – Divide guests into two teams and have them form two lines. You will need two cobs of dried Indian corn. At the signal to “go”, the corncob is to be passed from person to person. The catch is that they can use any part of their bodies, except their hands. If the corn touches the ground at any time, it must go back to the beginning of the line again. Whichever team manages to get the corn to the end of the line first wins the game. (Ages 4-10)

Thanksgiving Craft Ideas

Create pilgrim hats that double as snack holders. For each pilgrim hat, use one black stadium cup, one 6″ circle of black cardboard, a gold or yellow “buckle” made from cardstock paper, and tape or sticky pads. Fill the pilgrim hat with a dry snack such as popcorn, pretzels, wrapped candies. Attach the circle base and buckle. They make great centerpieces!

Pilgrim placecards
You’ll need:
Black paint pen
Wooden clothespin
Black pipe cleaners
Bottle cap
Construction paper
Glue
Use fine tip colored markers to draw faces on the “head” of each clothespin. Color the rest of the clothespin black. Just below the head, wrap a black pipe cleaner around the neck, to create the arms. Wrap another pipe cleaner around the feet, to make the pilgrim stand up in the bottle cap. Glue on a black construction paper hat (complete with yellow buckle), and a white paper vest. Cut nametags from white or yellow construction paper, and attach to the pilgrim’s arms. They look really cute with the nametag held above the pilgrim’s head.

Make turkeys out of pinecones. Add colorful feathers, wiggly eyes, and cut and bend pipe cleaners for the beak, wattle, and feet.

Use uncooked popcorn to create beautiful fall mosaics. The popcorn can be painted after the glue dries if desired.

Thanksgiving Snack and Food Ideas

CRISPY POP – To make 16 pops, you’ll need 1-12 oz. bag of Nestle’s TollHouse Chocolate Chips™, 16 ready made Crispy Treats (or make your own if you have the time—cut into 2 ½” X 4″ pieces), 16 pretzel rods (or popsicle sticks), and some glorious fall colored sprinkles. Cutting little holes with a knife, stick the pretzel rods into the narrow end of the Crispy Treats. Melt the entire bag of chocolate chips for one minute in the microwave, and stir. Dip the end of the “pop” into the melted chocolate, then sprinkle with festive sprinkles. Set pops on a cookie sheet covered with wax paper, and refrigerate until the chocolate sets.

TEENEY TURKEYS – What you’ll need for each turkey: One Nutter Butter™ cookie, one peanut butter cup, 2 chocolate wafers, chocolate frosting, 8-10 pieces of candy corn, and a few mini M&Ms™ or jelly beans. Frost the top of the peanut butter cup, and press it onto the chocolate wafer, lining up one edge of each to the other. Use additional frosting to attach candy corn along the other edge to create the appearance of feathers. Frost one side of the Nutter Butter™ cookie and press it onto the other side of the peanut butter cup. Use small candies to create a turkey face and wattle. Using more frosting, attach the “turkey” to the remaining chocolate wafer. Add candy corn to the base of the turkey as feet.

30 Thanksgiving & Harvest Collection
Over 30 Printable Games! That’s all of our Harvest Games and Thanksgiving Games for one low price! As many printouts of as many games as you want … or print all of them. 90 day membership.

Thanksgiving Coloring Placemat (24 count)
Package includes (24) paper place mats that feature a turkey in a field that the kids can color. It reads “”Happy Thanksgiving.”" They measure approximately 14″” wide x 10″” high.

Thanksgiving Glass Grabber
Package includes: (2) Pilgrim glass grabbers and (2) Indian glass grabbers. Grabbers measure approximately 4″” wide x 8-9″” high. Non-adhesive decoration. Printed on a flat plastic sheet. Clings to many smooth surfaces. Reusable. Removable.

Thanksgiving Kids Scene Setters (4 count)
Package includes 4 characters (2 Pilgrims and 2 Indians) that measure approx. 13.5″” wide x 33.5″” tall wide on one plastic sheet.

THANKSGIVING 10.5 PLATES
Thanksgiving 10.5 Plate

THANKSGIVING 7 PLATES
Thanksgiving 7 Plates

THANKSGIVING CENTERPIECE
Thanksgiving Centerpiece

HAPPY THANKSGIVING DECO
Happy Thanksgiving Deco

Personalized Thanksgiving Banner 36 X 104 Horizontal Vinyl Banner Each
Dare to Compare! Prices as low as $14.79 Quick and Easy! Over 1, 000 designs to choose from Exclusive, My PartyView 360 customizing tools…just click, customize online and buy Weather-resistant Vinyl Banners Printed on durable 10 millimeter white vinyl Features metal grommets for hanging 7 sizes available Attach N’ Go Banners It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3! Peel, Place, Enjoy Printed on safe, low-tack material Perfect for anywhere, no cords or tape needed 3 sizes available Colors, fonts, and designs are as shown and cannot be altered; ShindigZ reserves the right to arrange the wording to best fit the design. Attach N’ Go Banners are not recommended for outdoor use or for application on windows. At ShindigZ we offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee for all of our banners. We want you to be delighted with our printing and our expert service! If you aren’t fully satisfied with your banner or if we introduce any errors, we will either reprint it or provide you with a full refund. This guarantee does not cover customer errors such as incorrect copy or poor image quality or resolution. Our customers are important to us and we want your banner to look terrific!

Rustic Celebration Thanksgiving Party Invitation
Bold, stylish and full of rustic charm, this unique Thanksgiving invitation from Smudge Ink will give your entire event a feeling of romantic sophistication and refined elegance.

Thanksgiving 101: Celebrate America’s Favorite Holiday with America’s Thanksgiving Expert
Thanksgiving 101: Celebrate America’s Favorite Holiday with America’s Thanksgiving Expert