Thanksgiving trivia gives families, friends, classmates, and coworkers an easy activity to share before dinner, between courses, or during a holiday event. The topic is broad enough to include familiar traditions as well as surprising details about food, history, and popular culture.
This collection includes 150 Thanksgiving trivia questions and answers for children and adults. The seven rounds cover easy facts, kid-friendly questions, food, adult-level general knowledge, history, movies, and a final hard round, so hosts can adjust the game to suit their audience.
Test your holiday knowledge with 150 Thanksgiving trivia questions
Use one category as a quick icebreaker or combine several categories for a longer competition. Each round starts at number one, which makes it easy to divide the questions among teams or hosts.
Easy Thanksgiving trivia questions and answers
-
On which day of the week is Thanksgiving celebrated in the United States?
Answer: Thursday
-
In which month does the United States celebrate Thanksgiving?
Answer: November
-
What bird is most commonly served as the centerpiece of Thanksgiving dinner?
Answer: Turkey
-
What red sauce is traditionally served with turkey?
Answer: Cranberry sauce
-
Which pie made from an orange squash is a Thanksgiving favorite?
Answer: Pumpkin pie
-
What is the Friday after Thanksgiving commonly called?
Answer: Black Friday
-
What famous parade takes place in New York City on Thanksgiving morning?
Answer: Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
-
Which horn-shaped symbol represents abundance at Thanksgiving?
Answer: A cornucopia
-
What do people traditionally express on Thanksgiving?
Answer: Gratitude or thanks
-
Which sport is closely associated with Thanksgiving Day in the United States?
Answer: American football
-
Which country celebrates Thanksgiving on the second Monday in October?
Answer: Canada
-
What bread-based side dish is often cooked inside or alongside a turkey?
Answer: Stuffing
-
What creamy potato dish frequently appears on a Thanksgiving table?
Answer: Mashed potatoes
-
Which orange root vegetable is often topped with marshmallows?
Answer: Sweet potatoes
-
What gravy ingredient usually comes from the cooked turkey?
Answer: Turkey drippings
-
Which two NFL teams traditionally host Thanksgiving games every year?
Answer: The Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys
-
What part of a bird do two people traditionally pull apart for good luck?
Answer: The wishbone
-
Which department store sponsors New York City’s famous Thanksgiving parade?
Answer: Macy’s
-
What meal combines breakfast and lunch and may be served on Thanksgiving morning?
Answer: Brunch
-
What do many hosts ask guests to bring to a potluck Thanksgiving meal?
Answer: A dish to share
-
Which autumn color is commonly associated with pumpkins and Thanksgiving decorations?
Answer: Orange
-
What is an informal Thanksgiving celebration with friends often called?
Answer: Friendsgiving
-
Which nut is used in a popular Thanksgiving pie?
Answer: Pecans
-
What is the common name for the long weekend that begins with Thanksgiving?
Answer: Thanksgiving weekend
-
What leftovers are commonly placed between slices of bread the day after Thanksgiving?
Answer: Turkey and other Thanksgiving foods
Want to turn them into a playable trivia?
You can create one now for free.
Thanksgiving trivia questions and answers for kids
-
What sound is a turkey commonly said to make?
Answer: Gobble
-
What is a baby turkey called?
Answer: A poult
-
What is an adult male turkey called?
Answer: A tom or gobbler
-
What is an adult female turkey called?
Answer: A hen
-
What colorful part hangs beneath a turkey’s beak?
Answer: The wattle
-
What is the flap of skin that hangs over a turkey’s beak called?
Answer: The snood
-
Can wild turkeys fly for short distances?
Answer: Yes
-
Where do wild turkeys usually sleep at night?
Answer: In trees
-
How many legs does a turkey have?
Answer: Two
-
What fruit is cooked to make cranberry sauce?
Answer: Cranberries
-
What do pumpkins grow on?
Answer: Vines
-
Which season includes Thanksgiving in the United States?
Answer: Fall or autumn
-
What do deciduous trees often lose around Thanksgiving?
Answer: Their leaves
-
Which Peanuts character hosts an unusual Thanksgiving meal for his friends?
Answer: Charlie Brown
-
In A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, what snack does Snoopy serve with toast, popcorn, and jelly beans?
Answer: Pretzel sticks
-
What large inflatable objects are a signature feature of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade?
Answer: Character balloons
-
What utensil with pointed tines is used to eat Thanksgiving dinner?
Answer: A fork
-
Which vegetable is popped to make popcorn?
Answer: Corn
-
What sweet topping is sometimes placed on a sweet potato casserole?
Answer: Marshmallows
-
What is the name of the boat that carried the Pilgrims to New England in 1620?
Answer: The Mayflower
-
What did the Pilgrims call the colony they established in present-day Massachusetts?
Answer: Plymouth Colony
-
Which Indigenous people joined the English colonists at the 1621 harvest gathering?
Answer: The Wampanoag
-
What kind of race is held in many communities on Thanksgiving morning?
Answer: A turkey trot
-
What is the name of the bone people pull while making a wish?
Answer: The wishbone
-
Which word completes the holiday phrase “Give ____”?
Answer: Thanks
Want to turn them into a playable trivia?
You can create one now for free.
Thanksgiving food trivia questions and answers
-
Which tart berry is one of the few major commercial fruits native to North America?
Answer: The cranberry
-
What gas-filled spaces allow ripe cranberries to float?
Answer: Air pockets
-
Is a pumpkin botanically classified as a fruit or a vegetable?
Answer: A fruit
-
What pastry forms the base and sides of a pumpkin pie?
Answer: Pie crust
-
Which spice blend commonly includes cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves?
Answer: Pumpkin pie spice
-
What French term describes potatoes baked with cream and a browned top?
Answer: Gratin
-
What is the culinary name for a turkey’s edible heart, liver, and gizzard?
Answer: Giblets
-
Which bread is commonly used in Southern-style Thanksgiving dressing?
Answer: Cornbread
-
What is stuffing often called when it is baked separately from the bird?
Answer: Dressing
-
Which company’s test kitchen created green bean casserole in 1955?
Answer: Campbell Soup Company
-
Who developed the original green bean casserole recipe?
Answer: Dorcas Reilly
-
Which crunchy topping is traditionally added to green bean casserole?
Answer: Fried onions
-
What sweet liquid is commonly drizzled over pecan pie filling?
Answer: Corn syrup
-
Which potato variety has orange flesh and is often confused with a yam in the United States?
Answer: The sweet potato
-
What dairy product gives mashed potatoes a richer texture?
Answer: Butter
-
Which sauce made from meat juices is poured over turkey and potatoes?
Answer: Gravy
-
What technique involves soaking a turkey in a seasoned saltwater solution?
Answer: Brining
-
What dessert combines a nut filling with a pastry crust?
Answer: Pecan pie
-
Which corn dish has a texture similar to a soft pudding or soufflé?
Answer: Corn pudding
-
What dish is made by simmering cranberries with sugar and water?
Answer: Cranberry sauce
-
Which bread rolls are named for the Boston hotel where they originated?
Answer: Parker House rolls
-
What aromatic herb is especially common in traditional poultry stuffing?
Answer: Sage
-
Which Kentucky open-faced sandwich combines turkey, bacon, tomato, and Mornay sauce?
Answer: The Hot Brown
-
What dessert topping is made by whipping heavy cream?
Answer: Whipped cream
-
Which compound found in turkey is often blamed, somewhat unfairly, for post-meal sleepiness?
Answer: Tryptophan
Want to turn them into a playable trivia?
You can create one now for free.
Thanksgiving trivia questions and answers for adults
-
Since 1941, Thanksgiving has legally fallen on which Thursday in November?
Answer: The fourth Thursday
-
Which president issued a proclamation establishing a national Thanksgiving observance in 1863?
Answer: Abraham Lincoln
-
Which writer and editor campaigned for decades to make Thanksgiving a national holiday?
Answer: Sarah Josepha Hale
-
Which president moved Thanksgiving one week earlier in 1939 to lengthen the holiday shopping season?
Answer: Franklin D. Roosevelt
-
What nickname did critics give Roosevelt’s changed Thanksgiving date?
Answer: Franksgiving
-
In which city did the first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade take place?
Answer: New York City
-
Which lifting gas is commonly used inside Macy’s giant parade balloons?
Answer: Helium
-
Which cartoon character became the first giant character balloon in Macy’s parade in 1927?
Answer: Felix the Cat
-
Which broadcaster traditionally televises Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade?
Answer: NBC
-
Which city hosts America’s Thanksgiving Parade, an event with roots dating to 1924?
Answer: Detroit
-
Which NFL team began its Thanksgiving hosting tradition in 1934?
Answer: The Detroit Lions
-
Which NFL team began regularly hosting a Thanksgiving game in 1966?
Answer: The Dallas Cowboys
-
What charitable activity do many Americans participate in during the Thanksgiving season?
Answer: Donating food or serving community meals
-
What term describes the ceremonial release of a turkey by the U.S. president?
Answer: The presidential turkey pardon
-
Which president formalized the annual White House turkey pardon tradition in 1989?
Answer: George H. W. Bush
-
What shopping event follows Black Friday and encourages purchases from independent businesses?
Answer: Small Business Saturday
-
What online shopping day occurs on the Monday after Thanksgiving?
Answer: Cyber Monday
-
What charitable day takes place on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving?
Answer: GivingTuesday
-
What is the informal name for the night before Thanksgiving, when many people reunite in their hometowns?
Answer: Thanksgiving Eve
-
Which parade finale traditionally signals the beginning of the Christmas season with the arrival of Santa Claus?
Answer: Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
Want to turn them into a playable trivia?
You can create one now for free.
Thanksgiving history trivia questions and answers
-
In what year did the harvest gathering commonly called the first Thanksgiving take place at Plymouth?
Answer: 1621
-
Approximately how long did the 1621 Plymouth harvest gathering last?
Answer: Three days
-
Which Indigenous nation joined the Plymouth colonists at the 1621 gathering?
Answer: The Wampanoag
-
What was the name of the Wampanoag leader who attended the gathering with his people?
Answer: Ousamequin, also known as Massasoit
-
Which Plymouth colonist wrote an eyewitness account of the 1621 harvest celebration?
Answer: Edward Winslow
-
Which governor wrote about Plymouth Colony in Of Plymouth Plantation?
Answer: William Bradford
-
What English ship brought the Pilgrims to present-day Massachusetts?
Answer: The Mayflower
-
In which year did the Mayflower arrive in New England?
Answer: 1620
-
Which Indigenous interpreter helped the Plymouth colonists communicate and learn local farming practices?
Answer: Tisquantum, commonly called Squanto
-
To which Native community did Tisquantum belong?
Answer: The Patuxet
-
Which U.S. president proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving in 1789?
Answer: George Washington
-
During which war did Abraham Lincoln issue his 1863 Thanksgiving proclamation?
Answer: The American Civil War
-
Which magazine did Sarah Josepha Hale edit while advocating for a national Thanksgiving holiday?
Answer: Godey’s Lady’s Book
-
Which U.S. president signed the 1941 law fixing Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November?
Answer: Franklin D. Roosevelt
-
Which branch of the U.S. government passed the legislation establishing Thanksgiving’s modern date?
Answer: Congress
-
Which president refused to declare national Thanksgiving holidays because he favored separation of church and state?
Answer: Thomas Jefferson
-
Which earlier English colony held a thanksgiving observance at Berkeley Hundred in 1619?
Answer: Virginia Colony
-
Which Philadelphia department store launched a Thanksgiving parade in 1920, four years before Macy’s parade began?
Answer: Gimbels
-
What type of Macy’s employees participated in the first parade?
Answer: Store employees
-
During which war was Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade suspended from 1942 through 1944?
Answer: World War II
Want to turn them into a playable trivia?
You can create one now for free.
Thanksgiving movie trivia questions and answers
-
Which 1987 comedy follows Neal Page and Del Griffith on a difficult journey home for Thanksgiving?
Answer: Planes, Trains and Automobiles
-
Who directed Planes, Trains and Automobiles?
Answer: John Hughes
-
Which actor plays Neal Page in Planes, Trains and Automobiles?
Answer: Steve Martin
-
Who plays shower-curtain-ring salesman Del Griffith?
Answer: John Candy
-
Which animated television special features toast, popcorn, pretzels, and jelly beans as a holiday meal?
Answer: A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving
-
Which character invites herself and others to Charlie Brown’s Thanksgiving celebration?
Answer: Peppermint Patty
-
In the animated film Free Birds, what kind of animals travel back in time?
Answer: Turkeys
-
Which actress plays April Burns in Pieces of April?
Answer: Katie Holmes
-
In Pieces of April, what major kitchen problem threatens April’s Thanksgiving dinner?
Answer: Her oven is broken
-
Who directed the 1995 holiday film Home for the Holidays?
Answer: Jodie Foster
-
Which actress stars as Claudia Larson in Home for the Holidays?
Answer: Holly Hunter
-
In Addams Family Values, which character disrupts the Thanksgiving pageant at Camp Chippewa?
Answer: Wednesday Addams
-
Which 1993 comedy features Pauly Shore spending Thanksgiving with a South Dakota family?
Answer: Son in Law
-
Which 1997 Ang Lee drama is set during Thanksgiving weekend in Connecticut?
Answer: The Ice Storm
-
Which 2000 film follows four culturally diverse Los Angeles families preparing Thanksgiving dinner?
Answer: What’s Cooking?
Want to turn them into a playable trivia?
You can create one now for free.
Hard Thanksgiving trivia questions and answers
-
What type of agreement did Plymouth leaders and the Wampanoag establish in 1621?
Answer: A peace and mutual-protection agreement
-
Which animal did Wampanoag men contribute to the 1621 harvest feast?
Answer: Deer
-
According to Edward Winslow’s account, how many deer did the Wampanoag bring to the gathering?
Answer: Five
-
Which type of bird is specifically mentioned in accounts of the colonists’ preparations for the 1621 feast?
Answer: Fowl
-
What is the scientific name of the wild turkey?
Answer: Meleagris gallopavo
-
What is the scientific term for a bird’s wishbone?
Answer: The furcula
-
Which botanical genus includes both cranberries and blueberries?
Answer: Vaccinium
-
In which Massachusetts town is Plimoth Patuxet Museums located?
Answer: Plymouth
-
What was Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade originally called?
Answer: Macy’s Christmas Parade
-
Which puppeteer helped design the first giant balloons for Macy’s parade?
Answer: Tony Sarg
-
What identifying information was added to Macy’s released balloons so finders could return them for a reward?
Answer: A return address
-
Which Peanuts character has appeared in Macy’s parade in more balloon versions than any other character?
Answer: Snoopy
-
Which president received a live raccoon intended for Thanksgiving dinner in 1926 and kept it as a pet instead?
Answer: Calvin Coolidge
-
What was the name of Calvin Coolidge’s pet raccoon?
Answer: Rebecca
-
Which president was the first to receive the National Thanksgiving Turkey presentation at the White House in 1947?
Answer: Harry S. Truman
-
Which organization presents the National Thanksgiving Turkey to the U.S. president?
Answer: The National Turkey Federation
-
Which Canadian explorer held a 1578 thanksgiving ceremony in what is now Nunavut?
Answer: Martin Frobisher
-
In what year did a Canadian proclamation establish Thanksgiving on the second Monday in October?
Answer: 1957
-
What is the title of the poem in which Lydia Maria Child wrote, “Over the river, and through the wood”?
Answer: “The New-England Boy’s Song about Thanksgiving Day”
-
Which college football teams have played a Thanksgiving rivalry game known as the Egg Bowl?
Answer: Ole Miss and Mississippi State
Want to turn them into a playable trivia?
You can create one now for free.
How to host a Thanksgiving trivia game
Choose two or three rounds that fit the people around your table. The easy, kids, and food categories work well for a mixed-age family gathering, while the history, movie, and hard rounds give experienced players a greater challenge. Ten to 15 questions generally take about 10 to 15 minutes, so three short rounds can fill the period before dinner without delaying the meal.
For a larger Friendsgiving, classroom activity, or workplace event, divide participants into teams of three to six people. Read each question once, allow about 20 seconds for discussion, and award one point for every correct answer. Set aside one difficult question as a tiebreaker and decide before the game whether close spellings or partial names will receive credit.
Let guests know whether phones are allowed, and avoid questions that require personal beliefs or subjective judgments. If children and adults are playing together, rotate among easy, food, movie, and history questions so that every team has a chance to contribute. Jotform’s broader collection of trivia questions offers additional round ideas for longer events.
How to create a Thanksgiving trivia quiz with Jotform
Start with Jotform’s Thanksgiving Quiz template and replace its sample content with the rounds that fit your gathering. Single-choice fields work well for a fast family game, while short-answer fields create a more demanding final round. Add the correct answers and point values, then use separate form pages for food, history, movies, and other categories.
If you need extra questions for a bonus round, use Jotform’s AI Trivia Generator to produce a first draft based on a specific theme or difficulty level. Review every generated question for factual accuracy, remove anything that overlaps with the main list, and adjust the wording for the ages represented at your event before adding it to the quiz.
Create quizzes with Jotform AI Trivia Generator
Conditional logic can reveal an optional hint or send younger players to an easier question set. A timer can turn the hard category into a lightning round, and automatic quiz results make it easier to compare team scores after submission. Share the finished quiz with a direct link or QR code so guests can answer from their phones.
Hosts who are also coordinating a dinner can use the Thanksgiving Dinner RSVP template to collect attendance, dietary details, and potluck contributions separately from the trivia responses. Keeping the RSVP and quiz connected to the same event helps the activity feel planned without mixing guest information into the game itself.
Bring everyone together with a Thanksgiving trivia challenge
These 150 Thanksgiving trivia questions and answers can support a quick family icebreaker, a classroom lesson, a Friendsgiving tournament, or a workplace holiday activity. Select categories that suit the group, mix familiar questions with more challenging facts, and adjust the number of rounds to match the time available.
When the question set is ready, turn it into a Jotform quiz, test the scoring and links, and share it before or during the gathering. A clear format, balanced difficulty, and a few thoughtfully chosen tiebreakers can give everyone at the table a reason to participate.
This article is for families, teachers, party hosts, and workplace organizers who want ready-to-use Thanksgiving trivia for holiday gatherings, classroom activities, Friendsgiving celebrations, and friendly competitions with questions for different ages and difficulty levels.
Send Comment: