Thanksgiving Traditions to Start With Your Family

A note before the list: we make Tribute, the group video maker, and it's one of the 12 traditions.

Where do American Thanksgiving traditions come from?

Most US Thanksgiving traditions trace back to a harvest meal. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's Thanksgiving Day fun facts, the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony held a 3-day feast in the fall of 1621 to celebrate the harvest, and it became a national holiday on October 3, 1863, when Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving. Franklin Roosevelt later set it on the fourth Thursday of November.

The rest came later and piled up: football, the parade, the turkey trot, the pardoned turkey. A traditional Thanksgiving list today is part history, part habit and part whatever your family did the year someone forgot the rolls.

What are the classic Thanksgiving family traditions?

These four are the backbone of Thanksgiving day for millions of families. If you're building traditions from scratch, start here.

1. Watching the Macy's parade

Macy's says its Thanksgiving Day Parade began in 1924, and the 2025 parade, its 99th, featured 32 balloons. Put it on the TV with coffee and cinnamon rolls, and give the kids a list of balloons to spot.

• Time needed: 3 hours, in the background
• Cost: Nothing

Best for: Little kids, grandparents and anyone not cooking.

Why it works: It gives the morning a start time and keeps the kitchen clear.

2. Running a turkey trot

Sign the family up for a local 5K and wear matching hats. It has become one of the biggest race days of the year: RunSignup counted 1,109,909 people in 936 Thanksgiving Day races on its platform in 2024. Walkers and strollers are welcome at most of them.

• Time needed: 2 hours, including the drive
• Cost: Race fees, often $25 to $50 a person

Best for: Active families and teens.

Why it works: You earn the second slice of pie, and the race shirt marks the year.

3. A gratitude jar

Set out a jar and slips of paper on November 1. Through the month, everyone adds what they're thankful for, signed or not. At dinner, pass the jar and read them aloud.

• Time needed: 5 minutes to set up, 15 minutes at dinner
• Cost: A jar and paper

Best for: Families with kids old enough to write.

Why it works: A month of small notes gives the table more to read than one rushed round of thanks.

4. The yearly thank-you video (a Tribute group video)

Every year, someone is missing from the table. Make that the tradition's starting point: two to three weeks before Thanksgiving, start a Tribute and ask everyone, at the table or not, to record a short answer to the same question. "What are you thankful for this year?" works the first time; "What surprised you this year?" keeps it fresh.

Tribute is a group video maker that turns messages from friends and family into one surprise video. It works by inviting everyone to record a short clip from their phone; Tribute compiles the clips, music and photos into a finished video you share or play together. Play it between dinner and pie, then watch last year's after. Over 8 million videos have been sent on Tribute, and it holds 4.9 stars from 7,000+ reviews.

• Time needed: 10 minutes at the table; open it 2 to 3 weeks ahead so people have time to record
• Cost: Free to start a draft; you pay from $35 when you publish and start collecting videos

Best for: Families spread across cities, countries and time zones.

Why it works: Unlike a once-a-year phone call, everyone's voice ends up in one place, and the videos stack up year after year.

👉 Start a thank-you Tribute

What are fun Thanksgiving traditions for kids and adults?

These fun Thanksgiving traditions add a little competition and a lot of noise. Most need nothing but the meal you're already making.

5. Breaking the wishbone

Set the wishbone aside to dry while you carve, then let two people pull it after dinner. Whoever gets the bigger piece makes a wish. The wishbone tradition is old, but rotating who gets to pull it each year keeps the peace.

• Time needed: 2 minutes
• Cost: Nothing

Best for: Kids and competitive siblings.

Why it works: It's tiny, it's ritual, and everyone remembers who won last year.

6. A thankful tree

Put bare branches in a vase and give each guest paper leaves to write on through the day. Keep the leaves in an envelope marked with the year. Kids love comparing what they wrote at six to what they wrote at twelve.

• Time needed: 15 minutes to set up
• Cost: Branches and paper

Best for: Families with young kids.

Why it works: The leaves become a record of the family, year by year.

7. A pie contest

Invite anyone who bakes to bring a pie, hide the names and number them. Everyone votes on a slip of paper, and the winner gets a wooden spoon trophy that passes to next year's champion. Expect trash talk to start in October.

• Time needed: 30 minutes at dessert
• Cost: Pies the bakers bring, plus a spoon and paint

Best for: Families with more than one serious baker.

Why it works: Dessert becomes an event, and the trophy gets a little history every year.

8. A family recipe swap

Ask every household to bring one recipe card for the dish they're known for. Copy them into a shared folder or a printed binder that grows each year. Ask a grandparent to tell the story behind their card at dinner.

• Time needed: 20 minutes before the holiday
• Cost: Index cards or a binder

Best for: Cooks and families with recipes nobody has written down.

Why it works: The family cookbook builds itself without anyone writing a cookbook.

9. Grace before dinner, or a round of thanks

Some families say grace before dinner; others go around the table with one thing each person is grateful for. Either way, keep it short and give the youngest person the first turn. If your family is mixed, a moment of quiet works for everyone.

• Time needed: 5 minutes
• Cost: Nothing

Best for: Every table.

Why it works: It marks the start of the meal and puts gratitude before the gravy.

What are unique Thanksgiving traditions to start this year?

If your family wants something nobody else does, these unique Thanksgiving traditions are easy to begin and hard to stop.

10. Kids' table graduation

When a teen moves from the kids' table to the adults' table, make a moment of it. Hand them a paper diploma, a fork tied with a ribbon and a short speech. The kids still at the small table will count down to their turn.

• Time needed: 5 minutes
• Cost: Paper and ribbon

Best for: Families with teens and tweens.

Why it works: It turns an awkward seating question into a celebration.

11. The Friday leftover sandwich bar

On Friday, set out rolls, turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce and gravy, and let everyone build their own. Name the best sandwich and write it on a card for next year. Some families like Friday more than Thursday.

• Time needed: 15 minutes
• Cost: Leftovers

Best for: Families who stay over for the weekend.

Why it works: Nobody cooks, and the meal is still a gathering.

12. Trimming the tree on Friday

Many families put up the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving, while everyone is still in town. Play music, order pizza and let the kids hang the first ornaments. Our list of Christmas traditions picks up from there.

• Time needed: An afternoon
• Cost: Decorations you already own

Best for: Families who love an early start on December.

Why it works: It uses the one weekend when the whole family is under one roof.

How do Canadian Thanksgiving traditions and others around the world compare?

Canadian Thanksgiving falls on the second Monday of October, earlier in the harvest season, and the meal looks familiar: turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie, served on whichever day of the long weekend suits the family. Thanksgiving traditions around the world tend to center on the harvest instead of a single meal; Korea's Chuseok and Germany's Erntedankfest both give thanks for the harvest in the fall. Compared to these, the American version is more about the gathering than the crop.

If your family mixes cultures, borrow from both. A non traditional Thanksgiving might pair turkey with your grandmother's tamales or swap pumpkin pie for mooncakes.

How do you start a new Thanksgiving tradition?

Pick one, announce it as a tradition from the first year, and repeat it. Traditions to start work best when they're small enough to survive a bad year: a sick host, a delayed flight, a burned turkey. Write it on the family calendar so it doesn't depend on one person remembering.

Picture your youngest, ten years from now, asking "Are we doing the video this year?" in early November. That's when you know it stuck. For words to go with it, see our happy Thanksgiving messages for family, and for the after-dinner crowd, our Thanksgiving games for family. When the season turns, our holiday season guide has December covered.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the most common Thanksgiving traditions?

Eating turkey with family, watching the Macy's parade and football, running a turkey trot, breaking the wishbone and sharing what you're thankful for are the most common. Many families also put up Christmas decorations the following weekend.

What are good Thanksgiving traditions to start with kids?

A gratitude jar, a thankful tree, the wishbone and a yearly thank-you video all work with kids. Pick one that's easy to repeat, and let the kids take ownership of it.

What is a unique Thanksgiving tradition?

Kids' table graduation, a pie contest with a passed-down trophy and a Friday leftover sandwich bar are unique traditions that fewer families try. A yearly video where everyone answers the same question is another.

When is Canadian Thanksgiving?

Canadian Thanksgiving is the second Monday of October. US Thanksgiving is the fourth Thursday of November.

How can family members far away join Thanksgiving traditions?

Ask them to add a slip to the gratitude jar by text, record a clip for the thank-you video or join the round of thanks over a call. A group video lets them take part on their own schedule.

How do you make a Thanksgiving tradition stick?

Keep it small, do it every year and call it a tradition from the start. Put it on the shared family calendar so it doesn't depend on one person.

👉 Start a thank-you Tribute and start a tradition the whole family is part of.