This Thanksgiving, avoid the same old conversations and sidestep the awkward moments. Here are ten fun activities and five ways to pivot when a conversation takes the wrong turn!
THANKSGIVING ACTIVITIES FOR KIDS & ADULTS
1. Harvest Dash: (outdoor game)
Set up a Thanksgiving relay race. Fill a large container with sunflower seed bird feed. Have smaller, clear containers at the opposite end.
Kids fill spoons or tiny mouthwash-size cups with seeds and race to dump them in the empty container.
They sprint back to the start and hand-off the spoon to the teammates.
Goal of the race is to be the first team to fill up the small container with the seeds.
Don’t worry if the seeds spill; that’s part of the fun! The birds will easily find them later.
2. Gourd Bowling
Set up ‘bowling’ using empty two-liter soda bottles. If preferred, the bottles can be weighted with seeds or water. Use a round, bumpy gourd as the ball.
3. Pumpkin Bocce Ball
Object of Game: Roll a pumpkin closest to the big pumpkin. You need a large pumpkin. Also purchase several miniature or round sugar pumpkins.
Instructions: Place the big pumpkin several feet away. Give each player a small pumpkin. Each player rolls (No tossing or throwing) their pumpkin and tries to be the closest to the big pumpkin. The player closest wins …
4. Gourd Roll
Have each person take a turn rolling a small, round gourd toward a target (draw a chalk circle or make a circle with string). Try to find one with lots of bumps for extra craziness! The person who gets closest to the target wins. Play on a sloped driveway or a small hill for extra fun.
5. Feather Float:
Give each player a feather (can be purchased at Amazon, Michael's or Walmart) One can also use a leaf.
To play, players must keep their object floating in the air as long as possible. Whoever keeps his or her feather (or leaf) floating longest - wins!
6. Minute to Win It:
Keep your guests entertained with Minute to Win It Games that you can play with 10 items you probably already have on hand.
7. Photograph Scavenger Hunt:
Give guests digital cameras or have them use cell phones. Tell them that they need to go around and take pictures with as many people at the event as possible and the person (team) that takes the most pictures with people at the event wins a prize. If a small gathering have more than one prize.
Even More Challenging
Have a list of people they need to get photos with (list 5 – 10) and now make it more interesting by creating a list of questions that they need to ask relative to find people to be in additional photos. This is where they get to know relatives and friends as they ask them for assistance.
8. What's on Your Phone
Get Teenagers Involved with "What's on Your Phone"
This $2 Etsy download is a scavenger hunt using cell phones. It will be a hit with the teenagers at your party!
9. Photo Booth Station
Set up a photo booth station in your house to ensure there will be fun photos you will cherish.
10. Thanksgiving Conversation Cards
Get the conversation going in the right direction with these free downloads.
WHEN THINGS GET WEIRD... HOW TO KEEP THE CONVERSATION MOVING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION ON THANKSGIVING.
1. Have a Stump Speech
People will ask vague, hard-to-answer “What’s new?” and “How’s life?” questions that often yield no good response. So have your own stump speech.
2. Come prepared
Be casually prepared with some talking points for when the silence falls: What interesting things did happen to you (or your friends, or your pets) in the past month? What are you proud of or looking forward to or grateful for? Make a list (mental is fine) on your way to the party. Include books, movies, music, events, interesting people you’ve met or places you've visited.
Someone Brought Up [Insert Divisive, Painful Topic Here].
3. Change the Subject!
What if you’re discussing something that makes you uncomfortable—politics, religion, "Game of Thrones"—and you don’t know how to pivot but you’re desperate. Here's an idea: repeat the last thing the person said—to express that you’ve heard them—and then shift to a wildly different place: “You can also do this by gently interrupting when someone is rambling and not making a point. Then move on.
4. Memorize These Words
Since you might be among a group of people you rarely see for Thanksgiving, it's likely that some of their comments (and some of your comments!) might not jive with everyone's beliefs. Stay cool, and keep on flowing - in other words, when a polarizing issue comes up, just let it go. Here's a great sentence to memorize: It's very interesting to hear your point of view; I have a somewhat different perspective."
5. Exit Gracefully
Know your convictions and what you don’t put up with. You don’t have to sit idly by as a conversation that offends you takes place. Excuse yourself and go to the bathroom or to get something else you "need": a glass of water, another drink, a buttered roll.
