Friendsgiving Games for Adults: 11 That Work After Dinner

Friendsgiving games should be short, easy to explain and optional. The meal is the main event. Games come after, when everyone is full, and their only job is to give people something to laugh at that is not the dishes. This guide lists 11 games for adults, how to play each, and how many to plan. Most need only paper and pens. The Thanksgiving dinner timeline shows where a game fits in the evening, and the whole topic is on the Friendsgiving planning hub.

How Many Games to Plan

Two or three, plus a spare. Ten to fifteen minutes each is plenty. Put them after dinner, before dessert if you want people to stay at the table. Have a no-setup backup ready, because a game is more likely to be dropped than extended, and a skipped game is a good result: it means people were already talking.

Our kit of 10 Thanksgiving games has these: bingo, trivia, would you rather, most likely to, word scramble, word search, scavenger hunt, pass the pie, a drawing game and A-to-Z. The list below covers all ten, then adds a gratitude jar, which is a good activity that is not in the kit.

The 11 Games

1. Thanksgiving Bingo

Give each guest a card of squares with things that may happen at dinner: someone asks for seconds, the gravy runs out, someone says “pass the potatoes”, a toast, a dog under the table. Mark squares as they happen, and the first line wins. It works as an icebreaker as guests arrive and it needs no explaining.

2. Thanksgiving Trivia

Read out questions about the holiday, the food and the weather, in teams of two to four. Keep it to about 10 questions and mix easy ones with hard ones. A tie-breaker question makes the end clean. Keep the questions about facts that have an answer, and be careful with history, since there is more to say than a quiz can hold.

3. Would You Rather

Ask a question with two choices and have everyone pick a side by moving to one end of the room or by raising a hand. “Would you rather only eat pie for the rest of your life or never eat pie again?” It needs no paper, and it works as a backup if another game falls flat.

4. Most Likely To

Read a prompt such as “Who is most likely to fall asleep after dinner?” and on three everyone points at one guest. It is quick and personal, and it works best in a group that knows each other. Keep the prompts kind, since the point is to laugh with people.

5. Word Scramble

Hand out a sheet of scrambled Thanksgiving words, such as “keytur” for turkey, and set a timer. The first to unscramble the most wins. It can be played alone on paper, which suits a guest who does not want to perform.

6. Word Search

A grid with Thanksgiving words hidden in it. It is quiet and works well on a side table, so guests who want a break from the noise can join in or leave whenever they like.

7. Scavenger Hunt

Give each team a list of things to find in the room or the house, such as an acorn, a receipt, a photo of someone’s shoes, or something orange. It gets people up and talking. Set a 10 minute limit and decide in advance which rooms are off limits.

8. Pass the Pie

A pass-the-parcel style game: music plays while a wrapped item or a paper pie goes around the table, and when the music stops the person holding it takes a turn or a prize. Keep the music short, and have a few small prizes. It works at a table without anyone having to stand up.

9. The Drawing Game

One person draws a Thanksgiving word on a pad or a whiteboard, such as “cranberry sauce”, while the team guesses. A timer of a minute a round keeps it moving. Bad drawing is part of the fun, so no one needs to be good at it.

10. A to Z

Go around the table and name a Thanksgiving food, thing or word for each letter of the alphabet, one letter per person. If someone gets stuck, the next person goes. It needs no setup and it works in a loud room.

11. The Gratitude Jar

Not a game exactly, but the one that matches the day. Put a jar and slips of paper on the table as people arrive. Each guest writes something they are thankful for, and after dinner you pass the jar and read a few out loud. It works with any group, and the slips are a nice thing to keep. Printable thankful cards are in our suites.

What to Skip

Games that embarrass someone, ones that need a long explanation and ones that depend on drinking more than people wanted all tend to go badly. Skip anything that makes a guest perform alone, and anything that takes more than 15 minutes. If someone does not want to play, let them watch or help keep score. If alcohol is part of your dinner, do not make it the goal of the game.

Prizes and Scoring

Prizes can be small: a mini pie, a candle, a bottle of cider, a ribbon or a turkey-shaped trophy, or just the right to choose the next song. Keep the stakes low. Appoint a scorekeeper before the game starts, so it does not slow the evening. For trivia and bingo, the answer key is the thing that settles disputes, so have one and have a rule that the host’s decision is final.

Where Games Fit in the Evening

An example for a 5:00 pm dinner: guests arrive at 4:00 with bingo cards on the table, dinner is served at 5:00, plates are cleared at about 6:15, one 15 minute game follows, pie comes out around 6:45, and the gratitude jar closes the night. The timeline tool builds the cooking side of that schedule, and you can slot the games in after the plates are cleared.

The Printable Game Pack

If you would rather not write your own questions and cards, the Host Kit and the Everything Kit include a PDF of 10 Thanksgiving games with answer keys that matches your theme. The Everything Kit adds a big-screen game show for a TV or a laptop. See the suites below, and read how to host Friendsgiving for the rest of the plan.

Printable Help

The suites below show the three kits side by side. The games are in the Host Kit and the Everything Kit, and the plainest set, the Printable Suite, has the invitation, potluck sign, labels and place cards. Everything on this page also works with paper and a pen.