25 Things You Never Knew About Thanksgiving
If we know one thing about Thanksgiving, it's that the meal is the main event. Between the traditional roasted turkey, the mouthwatering Thanksgiving sides, and the sweet Thanksgiving desserts, it's hard to even think about anything else! But amid all the feasting, you should probably take some time out to remember what this special fall holiday is really all about. In addition to Thanksgiving blessings that you can read before you start eating, we've rounded up some fun Thanksgiving trivia questions to share with your friends and family at the dinner table.
Here you'll learn Thanksgiving fun facts about the first holiday, how football became a Turkey Day tradition, and who was the first president to pardon a turkey. You can use your new knowledge of these interesting facts about Thanksgiving to impress your guests, or create a fun Thanksgiving trivia quiz to see who really knows their stuff. The winner gets to pick which Thanksgiving movie you'll watch after the big dinner! In addition to these Thanksgiving facts, keep your dinner interesting with these Thanksgiving jokes you can crack or meaningful Thanksgiving quotes to read out loud.
About 46 million turkeys are prepared for Thanksgiving in America each year.
This is according to the National Turkey Federation, which also reported that 95 percent of Americans polled eat turkey at Thanksgiving. Gobble, gobble!
The first Thanksgiving is believed to have taken place in 1621 in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Surprisingly, there's actually very little information on record about this “first” Thanksgiving. But we do know that it was a three-day festival to celebrate a bountiful harvest, and that it was attended by pilgrims and the Wampanoag people.
What meats were served at the first Thanksgiving?
Believe it or not, there is no record of turkey being on the menu at the first Thanksgiving. Venison, swan, duck, and goose were likely served instead. People also feasted on seafood, including lobster, oysters, fish, and possibly eel.
Who was the first president to pardon a turkey?
The first president on record to pardon a turkey was John F. Kennedy. The reprieve took place in 1963 when JFK received a 40-pound turkey with a sign around its neck that said, "GOOD EATING, MR. PRESIDENT!"
It wasn't until 1989 that George H.W. Bush officially made turkey pardoning an annual event.
President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday.
For more than 200 years, days of thanksgiving were celebrated by individual colonies and states. In 1863, amid the Civil War, President Lincoln made Thanksgiving a permanent national holiday, according to the History Channel.
Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey to be the official bird of the U.S.
In a letter to his daughter, he lamented the choice of the bald eagle as the official bird because of its "bad moral character." He noted that a turkey is a "more respectable bird" as well as native to the country.
Thanksgiving once took place on a different Thursday in November.
President Franklin Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving to the second-to-last Thursday in November in 1939. It was an attempt to help the economy during the Great Depression to expand the Christmas shopping season. In the end, most states still celebrated on the last Thursday of the month, while Colorado, Mississippi, and Texas observed both Thursdays.
The Detroit Lions always play on Thanksgiving Day.
While you probably watch football every Thanksgiving, you might not have realized that the Detroit Lions play every single year! In 1934, they played the Chicago Bears on the holiday as a way to attract more fans. Even though the Lions lost the game, it was the start of a tradition that holds strong today.
Minnesota produces the most turkeys in the country.
There's a chance your holiday bird came from Minnesota—they produce around 40+ million turkeys every year!
It's estimated that over 30 million households make green bean casserole every year.
The infamous casserole turned 65 years old in 2020—it was originally called the "Green Bean Bake" when Dorcas Reilly, a home economist who worked in the Campbell’s Soup Co. test kitchen, invented it in 1955. You can see the original recipe in the National Inventor's Hall of Fame in Akron, OH.
About 200 cranberries are needed to make one can of cranberry sauce.
Ocean Spray, which is the largest producer of cranberry products in the U.S., produces almost 80 million cans of cranberry sauce a year—85% of that supply is sold during Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Pumpkin pies haven't changed much over the past 200 years.
Cookbooks from the late 1700s contained recipes for pumpkin pies that were similar to the custard-like filling we have today.
The author of "Mary Had a Little Lamb" helped Thanksgiving become a holiday.
Sarah Josepha Hale, who also wrote the famous children's poem, lobbied state and federal officials for years to make Thanksgiving an official holiday. She argued that the day could help bring unity to the divided country amid the Civil War.
The breaking of the wishbone is actually based on an ancient tradition.
Breaking a wishbone is probably one of those traditions that you never really understood. It originated with the Etruscans, an ancient Italian civilization who believed that birds were oracles and could predict the future. Basically, they kept this bone—the furcula—in order to hold on to the bird's supposed powers so they could continue making wishes.
The first Turkey Trot included only six runners.
In 1896, the first ever Turkey Trot was hosted by a YMCA in Buffalo, NY with just six contestants! The first person to win was Henry A. Allison, while Mary Anne Bolles was the first woman to run the race in 1972.
Which president refused to make Thanksgiving a national holiday?
Thomas Jefferson famously refused to recognize Thanksgiving because it involved prayer, and he believed strongly in the separation of church and state.
Which president received a raccoon as a Thanksgiving gift?
President Calvin Coolidge received a live raccoon for Thanksgiving in 1926. It was intended to be dinner, but the president's family ended up keeping the raccoon as a pet. They named it Rebecca.
The first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade took place in New York City in 1924.
It featured live animals from the Central Park Zoo, Broadway performers, Macy's employees, and small floats. The last float held a Santa Claus who waved to spectators.
When did the parade first feature balloons?
Today, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is famous for its oversized balloons, which made their debut in 1927. They included a Felix the Cat balloon and inflated animals like elephants, tigers, and a hummingbird, according to the History Channel.
Jingle Bells was originally written as a Thanksgiving song.
First published in 1857, Jingle Bells was written by James Lord Pierpont and intended to be sung on Thanksgiving. If you listen carefully to the lyrics, you'll notice there's no mention of Christmas!
How did football become a Thanksgiving tradition?
This tradition began in 1876 with a game between Yale and Princeton. Not long after that, the holiday was chosen for the date of the college football championships.
Butterball has a Turkey Talk-Line to answer all of your burning questions about cooking turkey.
The hotline has been open since 1981. Each year, turkey experts answer more than 100,000 questions from households in the U.S. and Canada.
What's the best thing about hosting Thanksgiving?
According to a 2015 Harris Poll, 79 percent of Americans say "having a fridge full of leftovers is the best thing about hosting Thanksgiving." Bring on the leftover turkey sandwiches!
Most Americans secretly dislike a classic Thanksgiving food—but they eat it anyway because of tradition.
A 2019 survey conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of Instacart found that 68 percent of Americans dislike a Thanksgiving dinner staple.
The most hated foods were canned cranberry sauce (29%), green bean casserole (24%), sweet potatoes/sweet potato casserole (22%), pumpkin pie (21%), and even turkey (19%).
How did Thanksgiving lead to the creation of TV dinners?
In 1953, the Swanson company had 260 tons of frozen turkey leftover after Thanksgiving. So the company packaged the turkey into trays along with popular Thanksgiving side dishes. It was a huge success and the rest is TV (dinner) history!
