Thanksgiving Quiz: 80+ Thanksgiving Trivia Questions and Answers for Adults and Family

How to Run a Thanksgiving Quiz

A Thanksgiving quiz works at the dinner table, after the pie, at the office potluck or on a video call with relatives. Read a question aloud, let people shout answers, then tap the question to check. The questions below go roughly from easy to hard, so you can stop wherever the table loses interest.

A few things make the round better. Mix easy, medium and hard questions so nobody is bored or left out. Lean on the food questions, because they get people hungry and talking. Keep history to a few questions and spend the rest on the modern holiday: parades, football, movies and the turkey itself. If some guests barely know each other, such as new in-laws, a quiz gives everyone something to talk about.

For teams, split into two or three groups, keep score and give a point for each right answer. It works just as well for a family as for a team-building event at work. Want games beyond trivia? See our list of Thanksgiving games for adults, kids and groups.

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Easy Thanksgiving Quiz Questions

Start here. These are the warm-up questions everyone at the table should be able to get, from the kids to the in-laws.

1. Thanksgiving in the United States falls on which Thursday of November?

   The fourth Thursday.
2. What date is Thanksgiving in 2026?

   November 26.
3. Which ship carried the Pilgrims across the Atlantic in 1620?

   The Mayflower.
4. What is the traditional centerpiece of a Thanksgiving dinner?

   Turkey.
5. Which jam-like red side dish comes either from a can or from fresh tart berries?

   Cranberry sauce.
6. Which orange, spiced pie is the classic Thanksgiving dessert?

   Pumpkin pie.
7. What is the name of the shopping day that follows Thanksgiving?

   Black Friday.
8. In which city does the famous Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade take place?

   New York City.
9. Who arrives at the very end of the big Thanksgiving parades?

   Santa Claus.
10. Two people pull on which part of the turkey, and the one who gets the bigger piece is said to have good luck?

    The wishbone.

Thanksgiving History Trivia Questions

The first Thanksgiving, the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag. Some of these answers are not what the school pageant taught.

1. In which year did the celebration most commonly called the first Thanksgiving take place?

   1621, after a good harvest in Plymouth Colony.
2. In which present-day state was Plymouth Colony founded?

   Massachusetts.
3. Why did the English settlers leave for the New World?

   They were religious separatists who wanted freedom from the Church of England. They had already moved to the Netherlands before sailing on the Mayflower.
4. Which Native American nation shared the 1621 harvest feast with the colonists?

   The Wampanoag.
5. Who was the chief of the Wampanoag at the time, also known as Ousamequin?

   Massasoit.
6. How long did the 1621 celebration last?

   Three days.
7. Roughly how many Wampanoag men joined the colonists at the feast?

   About 90. The colonists numbered only around 50, so the guests outnumbered the hosts.
8. Whose 1621 letter is the oldest surviving account of the feast?

   Edward Winslow’s.
9. Which animal did the Wampanoag bring to the feast, according to Winslow’s letter?

   Deer. The menu also included “wild fowl,” which may or may not have meant turkey.
10. Who was the governor of Plymouth Colony during the first Thanksgiving?

    William Bradford.
11. What was the name of the agreement signed aboard the Mayflower in 1620?

    The Mayflower Compact. It was signed by 41 of the 102 passengers.
12. The Wampanoag are also known by which poetic name?

    The People of the First Light.
13. Some historians argue that a thanksgiving feast took place about 60 years before Plymouth, when Spanish settlers shared a meal with the Timucua. In which state?

    Florida, near what is now St. Augustine.
14. Governor Bradford and Massasoit signed a peace treaty in 1621. Roughly how many years of peace followed?

    About 40.

How Thanksgiving Became a National Holiday

Presidents, a magazine editor and one very unpopular calendar change.

1. Which president issued the first Thanksgiving proclamation by the national government in 1789?

   George Washington.
2. Which magazine editor spent 36 years writing to presidents to campaign for a national Thanksgiving?

   Sarah Josepha Hale, nicknamed the “Mother of Thanksgiving.”
3. Which president answered Hale’s request with a proclamation in 1863, in the middle of the Civil War?

   Abraham Lincoln. He set the holiday for the last Thursday of November.
4. Which president moved Thanksgiving a week earlier in 1939 to give shoppers more time before Christmas?

   Franklin D. Roosevelt.
5. What did critics call that earlier Thanksgiving?

   Franksgiving.
6. In 1941 Congress settled the date for good. Which Thursday did it pick?

   The fourth Thursday of November.
7. Which president is credited with the first formal turkey pardon, in 1989?

   George H. W. Bush. Ronald Reagan was the first to use the word “pardon,” in 1987, and the Lincoln pardon story is likely apocryphal.

Turkey and Thanksgiving Food Trivia Questions

Food questions go over well at the table, because everyone has an opinion about the stuffing. They also work well before the pie comes out.

1. What is a female turkey called?

   A hen.
2. What is a male turkey called?

   A tom.
3. What are baby turkeys called?

   Poults.
4. What is the red flesh hanging under a turkey’s beak called?

   A wattle.
5. What is the wobbly red flap of flesh on top of a turkey’s beak called?

   A snood.
6. A group of wild turkeys is called a flock. What is another name for it?

   A rafter.
7. Which amino acid in turkey gets blamed for the post-dinner nap?

   Tryptophan. Most poultry has about the same amount, and the real culprit is probably overeating.
8. Where do you put the meat thermometer to check that a turkey is cooked?

   In the thickest part of the thigh.
9. What is the collective name for the organs in a small bag inside a store-bought turkey?

   Giblets.
10. Which state raised the most turkeys in 2025, about 32 million of them?

    Minnesota, followed by North Carolina.
11. Which state produces the most cranberries?

    Wisconsin.
12. How do growers and cooks check whether a cranberry is ripe?

    Ripe ones bounce.
13. Which state is famous for growing the most potatoes for the mashed potato bowl?

    Idaho.
14. Which company created green bean casserole in 1955, in the test kitchen of home economist Dorcas Reilly?

    Campbell’s, the soup company.
15. What do you get when a stuffed chicken goes inside a stuffed duck, which goes inside a stuffed turkey?

    A turducken.
16. Which hotline do panicked cooks call for help with a turkey emergency?

    The Butterball Turkey Talk-Line.
17. About how many turkeys do Americans eat on Thanksgiving, according to the National Turkey Federation’s usual estimate?

    Around 46 million.
18. In 1705 the town of Colchester, Connecticut, postponed its Thanksgiving by a week. Why?

    A molasses shortage, which meant no pumpkin pie.

Parade and Football Trivia Questions

Two things happen on the couch every Thanksgiving: the parade in the morning and the football game after.

1. In which year did the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade begin?

   1924. It was first called the Macy’s Christmas Parade and featured live animals from the Central Park Zoo.
2. Which character was the first giant balloon in the Macy’s parade, in 1927?

   Felix the Cat.
3. Which city holds the oldest Thanksgiving Day parade still going, which started in 1920?

   Philadelphia.
4. Which NFL team started its Thanksgiving game tradition in 1934, when its owner wanted to boost attendance?

   The Detroit Lions.
5. Which team joined the tradition in 1966?

   The Dallas Cowboys.
6. The Lions’ first Thanksgiving game in 1934 was against which team?

   The Chicago Bears, who won 19–16.

Thanksgiving Movie, TV and Music Trivia

For the people at the table who know more about movie plots than presidents.

1. Which sitcom has an episode titled “The One with All the Thanksgivings”?

   Friends.
2. “A Deep-Fried Korean Thanksgiving” is an episode of which TV series, in which Lorelai and Rory fit in four dinners in a day?

   Gilmore Girls.
3. Which Peanuts special aired on CBS on November 20, 1973, and won an Emmy the following year?

   A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. Snoopy’s menu is toast and jelly beans.
4. Who directed the Thanksgiving-travel comedy Planes, Trains and Automobiles, released in 1987?

   John Hughes. It stars Steve Martin and John Candy.
5. Which 1995 family film is set over a Thanksgiving weekend?

   Home for the Holidays.
6. In the 2013 animated film Free Birds, which actor voices Reggie the turkey?

   Owen Wilson.
7. Martin Scorsese’s concert film The Last Waltz was shot on Thanksgiving Day 1976. Which band was saying goodbye?

   The Band.
8. According to the poem, where does the family go “over the river and through the wood”?

   To grandfather’s house.

Thanksgiving Around the World

The United States is not the only country with a harvest holiday.

1. When is Thanksgiving in Canada?

   The second Monday in October.
2. Which West African country celebrates Thanksgiving on the first Thursday of November?

   Liberia.
3. Which Australian island territory celebrates a Thanksgiving that goes back to American visitors in the 1800s?

   Norfolk Island.
4. What is the Japanese holiday on November 23 known in English as?

   Labor Thanksgiving Day.
5. Which South Korean harvest holiday lasts three days?

   Chuseok.
6. Erntedankfest is a harvest thanksgiving celebrated in which German-speaking countries?

   Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

True or False Thanksgiving Questions

Quick calls for a fast round. Read the statement and let everyone vote.

1. True or false: a pumpkin is a vegetable.

   False. Botanically it is a fruit.
2. True or false: Benjamin Franklin campaigned for the turkey to be the national bird.

   False. In a 1784 letter to his daughter he criticized the bald eagle and praised the turkey, but he never proposed it as a national symbol.
3. True or false: the turkey on your plate makes you sleepier than other foods.

   False. There is not enough tryptophan in turkey to do that.
4. True or false: turkey was definitely the main dish at the 1621 feast.

   False. Venison is the only meat we know for certain, and “wild fowl” may or may not have included turkey.
5. True or false: before Lincoln’s proclamation, every state celebrated Thanksgiving on the same day.

   False. States held it on different days, and the South was mostly unfamiliar with it.
6. True or false: the Lions have played on Thanksgiving every single year since 1934.

   False. There was a six-season gap from 1939 to 1944.

Thanksgiving Trivia Games for Family: Name-It Round

This round works like Family Feud. Read the prompt, let each team call out as many answers as it can, and give one point for every answer that matches the list below. There is no single right answer, so the more people shout, the better.

1. Name a dish commonly served at Thanksgiving dinner.

   Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, green beans.
2. Name a dessert people eat on Thanksgiving.

   Pumpkin pie, apple pie, pecan pie, cheesecake, brownies.
3. Name a meat served at Thanksgiving besides turkey.

   Ham, roast beef, chicken, duck, pork.
4. Name a way to cook a turkey.

   Roasting, frying, grilling, smoking, baking.
5. Name a food people make from Thanksgiving leftovers.

   Turkey sandwich, turkey soup, casserole, turkey pot pie, salad.
6. Name something people do after Thanksgiving dinner.

   Watch football, nap, eat dessert, take a walk, play games.
7. Name a famous Thanksgiving parade.

   Macy’s, Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago, Houston.
8. Name a country that celebrates a holiday similar to Thanksgiving.

   Canada, Germany, Japan, Liberia, South Korea.

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Hard Thanksgiving Trivia Questions for Adults

Save these for the last round, once the table has warmed up.

1. Hale also wrote which famous nursery rhyme?

   “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”
2. In his 1621 letter, Edward Winslow wrote that after a good harvest the colony wished to do what together?

   “Rejoyce together.”
3. The Pilgrims wrote nothing about a landing rock. When was Plymouth Rock first mentioned?

   More than 120 years after they landed.
4. A 1970 speech by Wampanoag activist Frank “Wamsutta” James in Plymouth marked the first of which annual event?

   The National Day of Mourning, held every Thanksgiving Day.
5. The Wampanoag Nation suffered a severe smallpox epidemic from 1616 to 1619. What is that period known as?

   The “Great Dying.”
6. For about how many years have the Wampanoag lived in what is now Massachusetts and Rhode Island?

   More than 12,000 years.

Play Your Thanksgiving Quiz Online

If relatives are spread across the country, you can still play. Put everyone on a video call, share a link, and have each person answer on their own phone so nobody copies the loudest voice in the room.

In RoomPlay’s Quiz game, the AI Quiz mode builds a round on any topic: type “Thanksgiving” and the game builds the questions. Prefer a Family Feud-style round like the Name-It questions above? Try 100 to 1 with your family.

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