60+ Thanksgiving Would You Rather Questions
Thanksgiving would you rather questions solve a problem every host knows by heart: three generations are sitting around one table, the food is forty minutes away, and the conversation has already run out. Two options and a question mark restart it instantly. No box to open, no rules to explain to a seven-year-old, no scoring, and nothing that has to be cleared off a table already covered in plates.
It is also the gentlest way anyone has found to get phones face-down. Asking people to put them away rarely works; giving them something better to do works every time. One question, everyone answers, and suddenly the cousin who had been scrolling since he arrived is arguing passionately about gravy. The table gets loud in the good way, and nobody had to be told off to make it happen.
Below are 63 brand-new Thanksgiving questions across five categories — the meal, desserts and leftovers, family and the table, autumn traditions, and pure silliness — plus how to run them between courses and a gratitude twist worth stealing. If you'd rather skip straight to playing, the free game on this site deals them out one at a time.
Why It Works at the Thanksgiving Table
It spans every age at the table. Thanksgiving is one of the very few days a year when a five-year-old, a fifteen-year-old, two sets of parents, and a grandparent all eat in the same room at the same time. Almost no game handles that spread. This one does, because "turkey with no gravy or gravy with no turkey" is equally answerable at five and at eighty-five, and neither end of the table has an advantage. Nobody has to read anything, remember anything, or be quick.
Every topic is safe. The reason big-family conversation stalls is not that people have nothing to say — it is that half the obvious topics are landmines. Work, money, politics, who is dating whom, why someone did not come this year. A question about mashed potatoes has none of that. It gives everyone something to be opinionated about that costs nothing, which is exactly the temperature you want an hour before pie.
It keeps children in their chairs. The hardest stretch of the day is the twenty minutes before food lands and the twenty minutes after adults have finished but are still talking. That is when kids slide under the table, disappear upstairs, or start something that ends in tears. A round of silly questions gives them a reason to stay put and, better, a reason to be listened to by adults — which is usually all they were after.
It steers the day away from the topics you were dreading. Every family has one relative who opens with something you would rather not discuss over turkey. You cannot really stop them, but you can crowd them out. A table already busy debating whether cranberry sauce should come from a can is a table that is genuinely occupied, and a well-timed question is a far more graceful redirect than changing the subject by force. It works because it is not obviously a rescue — it just looks like fun.
And it costs nothing to start. No printing, no shopping, no setup while you are already juggling four dishes. You read one question out loud and the game has begun. That matters on the one day of the year when the host has the least spare capacity of anybody in the house.
63 Thanksgiving Would You Rather Questions, Sorted Into 5 Categories
Turkey, gravy, stuffing and the great side-dish debates. Read these while the food is still cooking and watch how fast the room takes sides.
- Would you rather have turkey with no gravy or gravy with no turkey?
- Would you rather eat only mashed potatoes all day or only stuffing all day?
- Would you rather carve the turkey in front of everyone or wash every dish afterwards?
- Would you rather have a perfectly cooked turkey and no sides or ten incredible sides and no turkey?
- Would you rather eat one enormous plate or five small plates spread across the whole afternoon?
- Would you rather have cranberry sauce straight from the can or the homemade kind with orange peel in it?
- Would you rather be the person who cooks the entire meal or the person who cleans the entire kitchen?
- Would you rather sit down to dinner at noon or at eight in the evening?
- Would you rather sit next to the food or next to the person who tells the best stories?
- Would you rather have green bean casserole or sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top?
- Would you rather eat a Thanksgiving dinner cooked entirely by the kids or entirely by a robot?
- Would you rather skip the starters and go straight to dinner or nibble all day and skip the main meal?
- Would you rather have the exact same menu every year forever or a completely different meal each Thanksgiving?
Pie loyalty runs deep, and leftovers are their own second holiday. Perfect for the slow stretch between dinner and dessert.
- Would you rather have pumpkin pie or pecan pie for the rest of your life?
- Would you rather have one slice of every pie on the table or a whole pie of your favorite kind?
- Would you rather eat leftovers for a solid week or have none at all?
- Would you rather have a cold turkey sandwich at midnight or a hot plate reheated the next day?
- Would you rather have whipped cream on everything or ice cream on everything?
- Would you rather take home the biggest container of leftovers or the very last slice of pie?
- Would you rather have dessert first and dinner second or wait three hours for pie?
- Would you rather have apple pie with a scoop of vanilla or pumpkin pie under a mountain of cream?
- Would you rather have leftovers that never run out or a fridge that always has room?
- Would you rather be the one who bakes all the pies or the one who tastes every single one?
- Would you rather eat stuffing cold from the fridge or mashed potatoes straight out of the bowl?
- Would you rather have one perfect leftover sandwich or three pretty good ones?
- Would you rather send everyone home with leftovers or quietly keep the whole lot for yourself?
Hosting, seating plans, family stories and the eternal question of which table you belong at. Warm, never pointed.
- Would you rather sit at the grown-ups' table or at the kids' table?
- Would you rather host Thanksgiving at your house or travel to someone else's?
- Would you rather say grace in front of everyone or make the toast at the end of the meal?
- Would you rather hear every family story ever told or tell one story that gets retold for years?
- Would you rather have twenty people round the table or six?
- Would you rather sit next to the youngest person there or the oldest?
- Would you rather everyone put their phones in a basket for the whole meal or take one big family photo nobody can escape?
- Would you rather be asked about school and work all afternoon or be asked to explain your cooking?
- Would you rather have the whole family arrive two hours early or two hours late?
- Would you rather be in charge of the seating plan or in charge of the music?
- Would you rather have a table so long you can't hear the far end or one so small you're touching elbows?
- Would you rather learn one family recipe properly or hear one family story you've never heard before?
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▶️ Play Free NowThe parade, the football, the walk, the nap, and the annual argument about when decorations are allowed. Good for after the plates are cleared.
- Would you rather watch the parade in the morning or the football in the afternoon?
- Would you rather go for a long walk after dinner or fall asleep on the sofa?
- Would you rather brave the Black Friday crowds or shop from the sofa in your pajamas?
- Would you rather have Thanksgiving on a warm sunny day or with the first snow falling outside?
- Would you rather jump into an enormous pile of leaves or find your way through a corn maze?
- Would you rather spend the morning cooking with music on or watching the parade with a coffee?
- Would you rather have a house that smells of cinnamon all November or of roasting turkey all day?
- Would you rather put the holiday decorations up the day after Thanksgiving or wait until December?
- Would you rather spend the weekend at a pumpkin patch or an apple orchard?
- Would you rather run the turkey trot in the morning or sleep an extra hour?
- Would you rather wear your coziest sweater all weekend or the same pair of fluffy socks all weekend?
- Would you rather have autumn last twice as long or have Thanksgiving twice a year?
Pure nonsense, which is where the biggest laughs live. This is the round that keeps small children at the table until the pie arrives.
- Would you rather gobble like a turkey every time someone says "pass the potatoes" or hum every time you eat pie?
- Would you rather be chased across a field by one determined turkey or a flock of extremely polite geese?
- Would you rather have hands made of mashed potato or hair made of stuffing?
- Would you rather wear a full turkey costume to dinner or eat the entire meal with a giant serving spoon?
- Would you rather have a gravy boat that never empties or a bread basket that refills itself?
- Would you rather be able to talk to the turkey before it's cooked or have the pie talk back to you?
- Would you rather have every food on your plate taste like pumpkin or every drink taste like cranberry?
- Would you rather float above the parade as a giant balloon or be one of the people holding the ropes?
- Would you rather sneeze every time you smell cinnamon or hiccup every time you say thank you?
- Would you rather eat your whole dinner with your eyes closed or standing up?
- Would you rather have a pet turkey that follows you everywhere or a pumpkin that rolls after you?
- Would you rather nap for three days straight after dinner or never feel full again?
- Would you rather sing every answer you give all afternoon or whisper every single one?
How to Play at the Table
Between courses. The natural home for this game is the gap — after the plates are cleared and before dessert appears, when everyone is too full to move but not ready to leave. Ask one question, let it run, then ask another when it dies down. Three or four questions covers that stretch neatly, and because you can stop mid-round without anything being ruined, the pie arriving is not an interruption.
While you're waiting for the food. The pre-dinner wait is the harder one to fill, because people are hungry and the host is busy. Hand the list to whoever is least useful in the kitchen and let them run a round from the doorway. It keeps guests out from underfoot, gives the early arrivals something to do with the late arrivals, and means the first thing anyone says at the table is not "how long now?"
One round per person. The cleanest format at a big table is simple: go round in seating order and let each person choose the question they want to ask everybody. It guarantees the quiet ones get a turn without being put on the spot, and it stops one enthusiastic uncle running the whole thing. At a table of ten that is a comfortable half hour, which is roughly how long the after-dinner lull lasts anyway.
The kids' table version. Send the silly section down to the kids' table and let the oldest child read. Two changes make it land better with under-tens: let them answer out of order, and let them add a reason only if they want to, because "because it's funny" is a perfectly good reason at seven. If the two tables are close enough, ask the same question at both and compare — the grown-ups losing a vote to the kids on stuffing is reliably the best moment of the afternoon. If your gathering leans younger overall, the broader family game night question set works the same way on any other day of the year.
The Gratitude Round Variation
Here is the twist worth stealing, and it is the reason this game belongs at Thanksgiving rather than just at any dinner. Play it normally — but after each person gives their answer, they say one thing they're grateful for. That is the whole rule. Answer, then gratitude, then pass to the next person.
It works for a reason that is slightly sneaky. Going round a table asking people to name something they are thankful for is a lovely tradition and also, for a lot of people, quietly excruciating — teenagers freeze, shy adults reach for something generic, and the whole thing can feel like a performance. But attach it to a silly question about gravy and the pressure vanishes. Everyone is already laughing, everyone has already spoken once, and the gratitude arrives on the back of something light instead of into a silent room.
Keep it short and keep it un-policed. One sentence is plenty, small things absolutely count, and nobody should be pushed to elaborate or made to go again because their answer was too silly. "This gravy" from an eight-year-old is a real answer and should be treated as one. If you want to make it a keepsake, write each person's gratitude on a scrap of paper and keep them in a jar — reading last year's aloud before you start the new round becomes a tradition on its own after two or three years. Some families do it before the meal instead of after, which works just as well: one question and one gratitude each, and then everybody eats.
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▶️ Play Free Now❓ Frequently Asked Questions
What ages are Thanksgiving would you rather questions for?
Everything on this page is clean and works from about four upwards. The meal, dessert, and silly rounds suit the youngest players because they only need a picture in their head, while the family and traditions rounds have real trade-offs that teenagers and grandparents enjoy arguing about. A mixed-generation table can play the same round together with nobody left out and nobody talked over.
Are these good for a big family gathering?
They're built for exactly that. A big table is usually three or four separate conversations that never quite meet, and one question asked out loud pulls all of them into the same room. Because everyone answers the same thing, a cousin who arrived an hour ago is on equal footing with the person who cooked, and there's no turn order to explain to latecomers.
How long does a round take?
A single question takes about ten seconds to ask and anywhere from thirty seconds to five minutes to settle, depending on how strongly people feel about mashed potatoes. A round where everyone answers one question is roughly five minutes at a table of eight — the perfect length for the gap between courses or the last stretch before the food is ready.
Are these Thanksgiving questions kid-friendly?
Yes. Every question here is clean, warm, and safe for the kids' table and the grown-ups' table alike. There's nothing political, nothing about anyone's relationships, and no joke that requires someone at the table to be the punchline. The silly section in particular exists to keep younger children seated and laughing while the adults finish their plates.
Can we play Thanksgiving would you rather questions online?
Yes — play the free Would You Rather game and it deals out questions one at a time with live vote percentages, so your table can see how its picks compare with everyone else who answered. No download and no sign-up, on any phone — handy when the list on this page runs out and dessert still hasn't arrived.
