Thanksgiving Traditions for a Happier Life

Incorporating meaningful traditions into your Thanksgiving celebration can enhance your happiness and create lasting memories.

Thanksgiving is a time to express gratitude and spend quality time with loved ones. Incorporating meaningful traditions can enhance the joy and connection during this holiday

Thanksgiving Traditions

Thanksgiving is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada.

While the specific traditions and customs may vary between the two countries, the core theme revolves around giving a happy thanksgiving for the blessings of the harvest and the preceding year.

1. Thanksgiving Dinner

   • Turkey: Roast turkey is the centerpiece of the Thanksgiving meal. It’s often accompanied by stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and a variety of side dishes.
   • Side Dishes: Traditional side dishes include stuffing (or dressing), mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, corn, and dinner rolls.
   • Desserts: Pumpkin pie, pecan pie, and apple pie are popular desserts during Thanksgiving.

2. Family Gatherings:

   • Thanksgiving is a time for families and friends to come together. Many people travel long distances to spend the holiday with their loved ones.
   • It’s common for families to share a meal and express gratitude for the good things in their lives.

3. Parades and Football:

   • In the United States, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City is a famous tradition. It features giant balloons, floats, marching bands, and celebrity performances.
   • Football is also a significant part of the Thanksgiving tradition. Many people watch football games, either live or on television, during the holiday.

4. Thanksgiving Day Parades:

   • Apart from the Macy’s Parade, many cities across the U.S. host their own Thanksgiving Day parades with floats, marching bands, and performances.

5. Volunteering and Charity:

   • Some people choose to spend Thanksgiving volunteering at local charities or participating in community events to help those in need.

6. Black Friday:

   • The day after Thanksgiving is often referred to as Black Friday, marking the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. Many retailers offer significant discounts, and people often take advantage of sales to start their holiday shopping.

7. Native American Perspectives:

   • In recent years, there has been a growing acknowledgment of the Native American perspective on Thanksgiving, emphasizing the need to understand the complex history and impact of European colonization on indigenous peoples.

8. Canadian Thanksgiving:

   • In Canada, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday of October. While the themes of gratitude and harvest are similar, the specific traditions and foods may differ from those in the United States.

Traditions At Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a time for expressing gratitude and spending quality time with family and friends.

While fun Thanksgiving traditions and customs often revolve around a big meal, there are many fun and meaningful traditions you can incorporate into your celebration to make it even more special.

Start Your Own Family Traditions

For small families, the majority of the activities on this list make perfect Thanksgiving traditions.

Young families can start simple and choose traditions that work for them, whether it’s family stories, food, decorating a gorgeous table, or going for a stroll after Thanksgiving.

Throw a Friendsgiving

Thanksgiving Day is a time to celebrate everyone we love, even those who are not romantically linked.

Celebrate “Friendsgiving” with your selected family members as a way to express gratitude to everyone in your circle and to indulge in yet another table filled with seasonal delicacies.

Host A Themed Thanksgiving

Give Thanksgiving a new theme every year to mix and spice things back up.

Take a trip down memory lane with traditional foods and retro décor one year combining vintage style and traditional recipes.

The next time, update it with chic table decor and modern accents.

Ask visitors to bring a meal that fits the theme or to dress appropriately for the event.

Write Thank-you Notes

Thanksgiving is all about giving on Thanksgiving night, as the name would imply.

Give each guest a thank-you card with a unique message inside, even if you can always express your gratitude in person.

Spend some time reflecting on the reasons these people mean so much to you before the celebrations start, and then share those reasons with them.

Not able to meet in person? After Thanksgiving, send them a card as a post-holiday treat.

Try a New Recipe

You can try a few new dishes to mix things up, even if you adore your tried-and-true Thanksgiving dinner.

For example, this Hasselback sweet potato dish is sure to impress a crowd.

Set the Thanksgiving Table with Your Kids

Setting the Thanksgiving table is a great Thanksgiving tradition, to share with your children, and it also helps them feel responsible for helping with the Thanksgiving lunch.

Turn the Tablecloth Into a Keepsake

Express your gratitude by drawing on the tablecloth for a memento that also serves as a fun exercise.

Place a white tablecloth over the table and distribute cloth table markers all over the place.

Invite your visitors to make a funny self-portrait, a list of things for which they are grateful, or even just to scribble down their fondest Thanksgiving memory.

You’ll have a reusable souvenir at the end of Turkey Day and the meal to spruce up the Thanksgiving table for years to come.

Bless the Food

Make a heartfelt Thanksgiving prayer or Thanksgiving poem to show your thankfulness for your loved ones, friends, and food.

Establish a custom whereby each person at the meal shares their top gratitude for 2023.

Start With a Big Breakfast

If your family enjoys their Thanksgiving meal a little later than usual Thanksgiving morning, a hearty breakfast will help prevent hungry kids.

There’s a reason why breakfast is the most significant meal of the day, regardless of your breakfast personality.

Make it a Progressive Dinner

Make Thanksgiving a progressive feast, a family tradition, with each course served at a separate place, to break up the effort.

One home serves appetizers first, followed by a soup kitchen, by a large meal at another, and dessert to cap off a big feast of delicious food for the day.

While sharing hosting duties (and, uh, cleaning) responsibilities, it is a friendly competition that keeps things lively.

Finish With Pumpkin Pie

Actually, any kind of pie would do, but pumpkin pie just says Thanksgiving to us.

Kick off the Holiday Season

The holidays officially begin the previous year with Thanksgiving, so make the most of it.

Consider exchanging little Hanukkah gifts or ornaments for Christmas trees, watching a holiday film, or singing a few carols.

Alternatively, go all out and decorate the Christmas tree together.

After all, many hands make light labor!

Draw Names For Holiday Gifts

There’s no better moment than spending time in the present to discuss the holiday gift dilemma.

Put all of the names in a hat, and then each participant should choose one to determine the other’s company and who gets what.

Use Thanksgiving as a chance to obtain clues about what loved ones might want before going Black Friday shopping if that’s not your own family tree’s custom.

Light A Memory Candle

Commemorate friends, family, and loved ones by lighting candles in their honor.

It serves as a reminder that their spirit is still present during the festivities even though they are unable to physically attend.

Host a Family Game Night

After dinner, a classic game night is a great way to celebrate and keep your whole family all together.

Playing games like dominoes, checkers, board games, or cards allows both adults and children to participate.

Save a list of the winners so you can refer to it every year.

Have an honorary family drink

Whatever you choose to drink beer, wine, a cocktail, or a mocktail create a family favorite and declare it such.

For Thanksgiving, at the very least.

Serve a Signature Cocktail

Serve a custom cocktail to kick off the festivities with something special for all the guests to enjoy.

For larger gatherings, anything as easy as mulled wine, a cranberry sauce, gin and tonic, or spiked apple cider works well.

If you’re more of a bartender, you may also create unique fall cocktails.

Share Family History

Thanksgiving turkey day is the only time the best day to the family tree and learn about your own family tree’s history.

Even after years and years of dating, you most likely don’t know everything there is to know.

Pose queries and share anecdotes.

For kids, who can pick up a lot about family history from grandparents and other elder relatives, this holds particular significance.

New Thanksgiving Traditions

Thanksgiving traditions can vary from family to family and region to region, and they often evolve over time.

While many people continue to observe traditional Thanksgiving customs, some individuals and families choose to incorporate new and unique traditions to make the holiday more meaningful and enjoyable.

Christmas Season

Christmas, also known as the holiday season, refers to the period of time surrounding the celebration of Christmas, which is a significant Christian holiday that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ.

It typically includes the weeks leading up to December 25th and may extend into early January.

The specific dates and customs associated with the Christmas season can vary depending on cultural, regional, and religious traditions.

Decorate for Christmas Tree

After cleaning up the Thanksgiving dinner, start hanging all the holiday decorations throughout the halls.

The time has come!

Christmas Pajamas

Christmas pajamas are special sleepwear or loungewear items that family wears during the holiday season, especially on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning.

These pajamas are often designed with festive and Christmas themes, patterns, and colors.

They can be made for people of all ages, from children to adults, and are often worn as a fun and cozy tradition to get into the holiday spirit.

Give Thanks and Keep Traditions Alive

Embrace the warmth of family, the joy of togetherness, and the spirit of gratitude this Thanksgiving.

Let’s revive and cherish our cherished traditions, creating lasting memories that bind us together.

This Thanksgiving, let’s pledge to uphold and celebrate the traditions that make our family unique and our bonds unbreakable.

Don’t wait! The season of gratitude is here, and it’s the perfect time to express your love and appreciation.

Click Imprint to find the ideal Thanksgiving gifts that will make your friends smile with joy.

Resources

“7 Thanksgiving Traditions Around the World | GoAbroad.com.” GoAbroad.com, www.goabroad.com/articles/gobble-up-these-7-thanksgiving-traditions-around-the-world.