Thanksgiving Charades Ideas for the Whole Family (Free List)
Charades is one of the easiest games to run after Thanksgiving dinner because it needs no board, no screens and no setup beyond a bowl of folded slips. Players take turns acting out a word or phrase without speaking while their team guesses before a timer runs out. Mixing easy prompts for young kids with harder ones for teens and adults keeps everyone in the game. Below is a free list of Thanksgiving themed prompts grouped by difficulty, plus a few house rules that keep rounds short and fair.
Practical tips
- Easy prompts: turkey, pie, football, eating, napping on the couch, setting the table, a pilgrim hat.
- Medium prompts: carving the turkey, a parade balloon, mashing potatoes, saying grace, washing a mountain of dishes.
- Hard prompts: the turkey that got away, burning the rolls, a traffic jam on the way to grandma's, Black Friday doorbuster line.
- Use a 60-second timer per turn so younger players don't lose interest.
- Let kids under 7 pick from the easy bowl only, and let them use sound effects if they get stuck.
- Keep score by team and stop at a set number of rounds so the game ends before people drift off.
Frequently asked questions
How many people do you need for Thanksgiving charades?
Four is enough for two small teams, and it works well with up to 20 people split into two or three teams.
How long should each charades turn last?
About 60 seconds works for most mixed-age groups; give adults 45 seconds if you want it harder.
What if a young child can't read the slip?
Have a teammate whisper the word or use picture slips for pre-readers.