60+ Thanksgiving Trivia Questions and Answers
Thanksgiving is one of those holidays where everyone ends up sitting around together for a while, so having a few games ready can make the day a little more fun. Thanksgiving trivia is an easy one because there’s really nothing to set up, and kids and adults can all play together.
I put together 65 Thanksgiving trivia questions and answers below, with a mix of easy questions, questions for kids, Thanksgiving food trivia, history, and some harder ones for anyone who thinks they know everything about Thanksgiving.
Easy Thanksgiving Trivia Questions
Start with these easier Thanksgiving trivia questions if you have a mix of kids and adults playing.
1. What month is Thanksgiving celebrated in the United States?
Answer: November
2. What day of the week is Thanksgiving celebrated in the United States?
Answer: Thursday
3. What bird is most commonly served for Thanksgiving dinner?
Answer: Turkey
4. What red sauce is commonly served with turkey on Thanksgiving?
Answer: Cranberry sauce
5. What pie is especially popular at Thanksgiving?
Answer: Pumpkin pie
6. What vegetable is commonly mashed and served as a Thanksgiving side dish?
Answer: Potatoes
7. What part of a turkey is traditionally broken by two people while making a wish?
Answer: The wishbone
8. What famous Thanksgiving parade takes place in New York City?
Answer: Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
9. What sport is traditionally watched on Thanksgiving in the United States?
Answer: Football
10. What major shopping day comes directly after Thanksgiving?
Answer: Black Friday
11. What orange vegetable is often made into a Thanksgiving casserole?
Answer: Sweet potatoes
12. What Thanksgiving side dish is commonly made with bread and seasonings?
Answer: Stuffing
13. What is a baby turkey called?
Answer: A poult
14. What is the fleshy part hanging from a turkey’s neck called?
Answer: A wattle
15. What season does Thanksgiving take place in?
Answer: Fall
Thanksgiving Trivia Questions for Kids
These are good Thanksgiving trivia questions to use at the kids table or when younger kids are playing with the family.
16. What sound does a turkey make?
Answer: Gobble
17. What fruit is used to make cranberry sauce?
Answer: Cranberries
18. What orange fruit is commonly used to make Thanksgiving pie?
Answer: Pumpkin
19. What are baby turkeys called?
Answer: Poults
20. How many legs does a turkey have?
Answer: Two
21. What season comes after fall?
Answer: Winter
22. What holiday comes about a month after Thanksgiving?
Answer: Christmas
23. Which would you normally use to eat mashed potatoes: a fork or a straw?
Answer: A fork
24. What do many families talk about being on Thanksgiving?
Answer: Thankful or grateful
25. What sweet topping is sometimes put on sweet potato casserole?
Answer: Marshmallows
26. Which is usually sweeter: pumpkin pie or mashed potatoes?
Answer: Pumpkin pie
27. What do we usually call the big meal eaten on Thanksgiving?
Answer: Thanksgiving dinner
28. What color are most pumpkins?
Answer: Orange
29. What animal is most closely associated with Thanksgiving?
Answer: Turkey
30. What do you call the people invited to your home for Thanksgiving?
Answer: Guests
Thanksgiving Food Trivia Questions
If Thanksgiving dinner is everyone’s favorite part of the day, see how many of these food questions they can get right.
31. What ingredient gives pumpkin pie its name?
Answer: Pumpkin
32. What type of potatoes are commonly topped with marshmallows at Thanksgiving?
Answer: Sweet potatoes
33. What tart red fruit is cooked into a sauce often served with turkey?
Answer: Cranberries
34. What nut is used to make pecan pie?
Answer: Pecans
35. What vegetable is the main ingredient in green bean casserole?
Answer: Green beans
36. What crispy topping is commonly added to green bean casserole?
Answer: Fried onions
37. What seasoned bread side dish is sometimes called “dressing”?
Answer: Stuffing
38. What spice is commonly found in pumpkin pie spice along with cinnamon, ginger, and cloves?
Answer: Nutmeg
39. What sauce is commonly poured over turkey and mashed potatoes?
Answer: Gravy
40. What small bread is commonly served alongside Thanksgiving dinner?
Answer: Dinner rolls
41. What Thanksgiving pie is made with nuts and a sweet filling?
Answer: Pecan pie
42. What is the main ingredient in mashed potatoes?
Answer: Potatoes
43. What dairy ingredients are commonly added to make mashed potatoes creamy?
Answer: Butter and milk or cream
44. What Thanksgiving pie is often served with whipped cream?
Answer: Pumpkin pie
45. What vegetable gives sweet potato casserole its orange color?
Answer: Sweet potatoes
Thanksgiving History Trivia Questions
These Thanksgiving history questions are a little harder and work well for older kids and adults.
46. In what year did the harvest gathering commonly called the First Thanksgiving take place?
Answer: 1621
47. Where did the 1621 harvest gathering take place?
Answer: Plymouth, in present day Massachusetts
48. Which Indigenous people joined the Plymouth colonists at the 1621 harvest gathering?
Answer: The Wampanoag
49. About how long did the 1621 harvest celebration last?
Answer: Three days
50. Which U.S. president proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day in 1863?
Answer: Abraham Lincoln
51. During which major U.S. conflict did Abraham Lincoln issue that Thanksgiving proclamation?
Answer: The Civil War
52. Which president signed legislation establishing Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November?
Answer: Franklin D. Roosevelt
53. What ship carried the Pilgrims to North America in 1620?
Answer: The Mayflower
54. What present day state is home to Plymouth?
Answer: Massachusetts
55. What was the name of the English colony established at Plymouth?
Answer: Plymouth Colony
Printable Thanksgiving Games for the Whole Family
If you’re planning Thanksgiving and want more than one game ready to go, you don’t have to come up with everything yourself.
My Thanksgiving Family Games Bundle includes 20 printable Thanksgiving games and activities for kids, adults, and the whole family. You can print a few for the kids table, have games ready while everyone waits for dinner, or pull them out after everyone is finished eating.
Everything is already made for you, so all you have to do is print the games you want to use and have them ready for Thanksgiving Day.
GET THE THANKSGIVING FAMILY GAMES BUNDLEThe bundle contains 20 printable games and activities, including a Thanksgiving trivia game, along with answer key pages for applicable games.
Hard Thanksgiving Trivia Questions
Now let’s make it a little harder. These questions are good for older kids and adults or for a final trivia round.
56. What year did the Mayflower arrive in present day Massachusetts?
Answer: 1620
57. Approximately how many passengers traveled on the Mayflower?
Answer: 102
58. Which U.S. president moved Thanksgiving earlier in November in 1939 before the holiday was later fixed on the fourth Thursday?
Answer: Franklin D. Roosevelt
59. Which writer and editor spent years campaigning for Thanksgiving to become a national holiday?
Answer: Sarah Josepha Hale
60. What was the name of the agreement signed aboard the Mayflower before the settlers established Plymouth Colony?
Answer: The Mayflower Compact
61. Which department store sponsors the famous Thanksgiving Day parade in New York City?
Answer: Macy’s
62. In what year was the first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade held?
Answer: 1924
63. What did the early Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade feature before giant character balloons became a tradition?
Answer: Live animals from the Central Park Zoo
64. Which NFL team began its tradition of hosting a Thanksgiving game in 1934?
Answer: The Detroit Lions
65. Which NFL team began its Thanksgiving home game tradition in 1966?
Answer: The Dallas Cowboys
How to Play Thanksgiving Trivia
You can keep Thanksgiving trivia really simple. Have one person read the questions while everyone else calls out their answers or writes them down.
For a bigger group, split everyone into teams and give one point for every correct answer. You could have kids play against adults, split the table into two teams, or save the hard Thanksgiving trivia questions for a final round worth extra points.
If you’re playing during Thanksgiving dinner, you don’t even have to keep score. Read a question every so often and see who can answer it first.
Ways to Use These Thanksgiving Trivia Questions
Thanksgiving trivia doesn’t have to be a sit down game. Pull up this page while everyone is waiting for dinner and start asking questions, use them at the kids table, or play a few rounds after dinner.
You can also write individual questions on pieces of paper and put them in a bowl. Pass the bowl around the table and let everyone take turns pulling out a question.
For younger kids, stick with the easy and kid friendly questions. If kids and adults are playing together, mix questions from all of the sections so no one knows if they’re getting an easy one or a hard one next.
