Safe, Fun Ways to Celebrate Thanksgiving

The holidays are upon us! We’re all getting tired of hearing “things look a little different this year,” but it’s still true - the best way you can show your love to friends and family is by staying home so everyone can be safe and healthy. There are a lot of emotions that come with that, and it's important to give yourself kindness and space to process them all. It's okay to be bummed that things are different - but there are still plenty of ways to celebrate the holidays without compromising on safety or fun! Here are some ideas for how to stay connected on Thanksgiving Day, whether your loved ones are near or far.

With Your Household

If you have other people living in your household, there are lots of festive ways to spend Thanksgiving Day together!

Board Game Tournament - Get out all your family board games and create a roster! Can the house Monopoly champion unseat the best Scrabble player? And will the Czar of Chutes and Ladders unseat them all?


Gourmet Baking - Unleash your inner Great British Bakeoff contestant and tackle a complicated recipe together! And if the results are better suited for Nailed It...that's okay too! 

Arts and Crafts - there are countless fun holiday crafts, for kids and adults alike. Try making a gratitude board, where each family member can fill out leaves on a tree (or feathers on a turkey!) with what they're grateful for this year.

Movie Marathon - Plan a movie marathon around a festive theme - while Thanksgiving-related movies are a little sparse, you could each pick a film that makes you feel grateful, or just give into the temptation and start on your Christmas collection.

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With Local Community

If you have friends and family in the area, it's a great opportunity to organize some coordinated, socially distant celebrating.
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Potluck-To-Go - decide who's going to cook the entree, sides, and dessert; then pack up portions for each household and deliver them door to door! The handoff is a nice way to see friendly faces on the holiday (masked, of course!), and then when you're home everyone can hop on a group call to compliment each other's cooking.
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Delivery Deluxe - if your friendgroup is less culinarily-inclined, then support a local business! Pick a restaurant for delivery - either a group favorite, or a completely new venue - and make sure each household orders at least one adventurous dish. Then organize a videochat to review your new gourmet discoveries!
potluck train

Volunteer/Donate - helping your community is a great way to feel connected. Start a fund drive for a local mutual aid organization, or organize a craft circle to make warm clothing items for donation now that the weather has turned crisp.

Holiday Walk - the post-dinner walk is one of the easiest traditions to safely maintain this year (with just a couple extra precautions). Meet up with friends for a masked, distanced walk - you'll want to keep your face nice and toasty anyways as the temperature drops!

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With Distant Family and Friends

​Thanks to the internet, there are more ways than ever to stay connected with your distant loved ones.

​Communal Cooking - choose a cherished family recipe, and arrange a time when everyone can video chat while making it. This is a great way to learn how to create beloved foods on your own, while still being able to ask Uncle Al how he gets those perfectly golden brown biscuits.


Online Board Games - there are tons of classic board games online, so Thanksgiving Game Night can still go on! Consider designating a couple tech-savvy family members as digital support so they can help troubleshoot for the less internet-inclined.

Gratitude Round Robin - randomly assign each person a participating family member to send a grateful email. Encourage loved ones to write what they love about the other family member and why they're grateful to be in the same family. Then put all the emails together so everyone can reminisce and share the love.

Host a Virtual Event - sometimes the best way to cope with missing old traditions is to start new ones. Gather your friends and family online to spend quality time together with a virtual event - like our interactive murder mystery! Having an organized event can take the pressure off of coming up with Zoom small talk, and our family-friendly show brings loved ones together with hilarious results.

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What are your plans for the holidays? However you choose to celebrate, we hope you stay safe, healthy, and surrounded by love.