48 Best Thanksgiving Trivia Questions to Stump Your Family

Kate McGregor
·5 min read

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Between Thanksgiving dinner, football games, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and all the familial chaos, there's precious little downtime during the holiday festivities. You may not even be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the National Dog Show. However, after Thanksgiving dinner is done and the leftovers are put away (and then taken back out for a post-dessert helping of stuffing), you may find in the midst of an awkward silence or two.

Now, we fully recommend you embrace the food coma and browse the best online Black Friday and early Cyber Monday deals, but your family may get antsy. Enter: Thanksgiving trivia. The best Thanksgiving trivia questions aren't just great for showing off your knowledge with a slew of holiday facts; you can use them to make up a (friendly) competition—and maybe even start a new tradition. So split your family into teams, and get your Thanksgiving trivia on!

Trivia Questions About the History of Thanksgiving

Question: How many women were at the very first Thanksgiving celebration?
Answer: Five

Question: When was the first Thanksgiving NFL game?
Answer: 1920

Question: When was the first Thanksgiving football game?
Answer: 1876

Question: How long was the first Thanksgiving celebration?
Answer: Three days

Question: What Native American tribe celebrated the first Thanksgiving with the Pilgrims?
Answer: The Wampanoag

Question: Which Native American friend to the settlers acted as an interpreter?
Answer: Squanto

Question: In what month did the very first Thanksgiving celebration likely take place?
Answer: September

Question: When was the first Turkey Trot?
Answer: 1896

Question: Where was the first Turkey Trot?
Answer: Buffalo, New York

Question: During which Revolutionary War battle did troops stop to observe a day of Thanksgiving?
Answer: The Battle of Saratoga

Question: What city has the oldest Thanksgiving Day Parade?
Answer: Philadelphia

Question: When did the Mayflower officially depart England for America?
Answer: September 6, 1620

Question: How long was the Mayflower's voyage from England to America?
Answer: 66 days

Question: Where did the Pilgrims first land when arriving on America's shores?
Answer: Provincetown, Massachusetts

Question: Where did the Pilgrims settle?
Answer: Though the Mayflower initially landed off the coast of Cape Cod, they ultimately settled in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Question: Which Founding Father once proclaimed, "No citizen of the U.S. shall refrain from turkey on Thanksgiving Day"?
Answer: Alexander Hamilton

Question: How many other countries celebrate Thanksgiving?
Answer: 11 (Canada, Liberia, South India, Ghana, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Japan, the Netherlands, Granada, and China)

Presidential Thanksgiving Trivia Questions

Question: Which President tried to make Thanksgiving the third Thursday in November to help boost the economy for the holiday season?
Answer: Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Question: Which President officially made Thanksgiving the fourth Thursday of every November?
Answer: Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Question: Which President received a live raccoon as a Thanksgiving present?
Answer: Calvin Coolidge

Question: Which President refused to celebrate Thanksgiving as a national holiday?
Answer: Thomas Jefferson

Question: Which President declared two Thanksgivings in one year?
Answer: James Madison

Question: Who was the first President to receive a ceremonial Thanksgiving Turkey?
Answer: Harry S. Truman

Question: Which President made Thanksgiving a permanent national holiday?
Answer: Abraham Lincoln

Question: Who was the first President to pardon a turkey?
Answer: John F. Kennedy

Food-Themed Thanksgiving Trivia

Question: How many calories on average are consumed, per person, at Thanksgiving dinner?
Answer: 4,500

Question: How much did the world's most expensive Thanksgiving dinner on record cost?
Answer: $150,000 at New York City's Old Homestead Steakhouse

Question: What meats were served at the first Thanksgiving celebration?
Answer: Venison, swan, duck, and goose were likely—not turkey!

Question: What seafood was served at the first Thanksgiving feast?
Answer: Lobster, oysters, fish, and possibly eel

Question: About how many pumpkin pies are consumed every Thanksgiving?
Answer: About 50 million

Question: How much does the average Thanksgiving turkey weigh?
Answer: About 15 pounds

Question: When did canned cranberries first come about?
Answer: 1912

Question: What meat is the most popular alternative to turkey on Thanksgiving?
Answer: Ham

Question: Statistically, what is Americans' favorite Thanksgiving side dish?
Answer: Stuffing

Question: What state consumes the most turkey every Thanksgiving?
Answer: California

Question: How many Americans prefer Thanksgiving leftovers to Thanksgiving dinner?
Answer: About 80 percent

Thanksgiving Entertainment Trivia

Question: What 18-minute monologue is performed on many rock and classic rock stations every Thanksgiving?
Answer: Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant"

Question: What year did Adam Sandler release "The Thanksgiving Song?"
Answer: 1992

Question: Which retailer was the first to host a Thanksgiving Day parade?
Answer: Gimbels department store hosted a Thanksgiving Day parade in Philadelphia in 1920, four years before Macy's held its first.

Question: Why is football played on Thanksgiving?
Answer: Baseball used to be too popular, so football was played instead to promote the sport.

Question: Where did the name Black Friday come from?
Answer: The nefarious name was actually used to deter people from shopping.

Question: What was missing from the first Macy's Thanksgiving Parade?
Answer: Balloons!

Question: Black Friday is the biggest day of the year for what trade profession?
Answer: Plumbers

Question: Sarah Josepha Hale, who campaigned for Thanksgiving to be made a national holiday, wrote what famous song?
Answer: "Mary Had a Little Lamb"

Question: What year did the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade first have balloons?
Answer: 1928

Question: On average, how many people attend the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade each year?
Answer: About 3.5 million

Question: How many people participate in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade each year?
Answer: About 8,000

Question: What popular song's real title is "The New England Boy's Song About Thanksgiving Day"?
Answer: "Over the River and Through the Woods"

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