16 Thanksgiving Family Games

Relative Insanity

Jeff Foxworthy might be a redneck, but having hosted Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader, the comedian also knows a thing or two about games. (Speaking of which, pro-wrestler and voice of Ferdinand John Cena hosts a recent Nickelodeon reboot of the game show.) Foxworthy’s board game, Relative Insanity, is kind of like Cards Against Humanity, but for your crazy relatives (at least those 14 and up).

Read a setup card aloud, like: “When my brother brought out his new baby to show the family, Granny blurted out..”. Then everyone else chooses one of their punch line cards to finish the phrase, like: “You are not the father!” or “Somebody took a trip to the land of bad decisions,” etc. Play to the reader, who will pick the funniest one and award that player a point. This game is four to 12 players. If you like it, check out the expansion travel pack.

Quick—name three famous Michaels in under five seconds. Perfect for ages 10 and up, 5 Second Rule has been a hit at our family gatherings. Simply pick a card and try to name three things that fit the topic in five seconds.

This fast-paced party game is harder than you might think. It preys upon that human condition of being able to recall anything until asked to do so. Got an adults-only Thanksgiving party planned? Try the grown-up version, 5 Second Rule Uncensored.

Quick—name five things that would make a person sneeze. Name 5 is very similar to the 5 Second Rule, but you have to name five things within 90 seconds instead of three things in five seconds. It is recommended for ages 12 and up and can be played in 45 minutes.

You don’t have to possess drawing skills to win at Telestrations, but it doesn’t hurt. Perfect for ages eight and above, this fun and interactive game is an amalgamation of Pictionary and the Telephone game.

Four to six players start by sketching a word they are given. After a minute, play passes, and the person to your left has to guess what you drew. Then it gets passed again and the next person has to sketch that word and so on and so forth. At the end of the round, when you get your sketch pad back you can see how far off the results are from the original word.

For the literary family who finds thinking of nouns, verbs, and adjectives fun, may we present Gobble Gobble Mad Libs. This Turkey Day-themed phrasal template word game features 21 hilarious stories about Thanksgiving dinner, traditions, and Black Friday shopping. Here is a printable if you just feel like doing one.

Would you rather sail across the Atlantic on the Mayflower or grow a whole crop from seed and harvest it by hand so you have food to eat through the winter? In addition to silly scenarios such as these, Questions Galore Thanksgiving Edition is full of family fun for all ages, including icebreaker questions and conversation starters in case you need dinner table topics.

You Don’t Know My Life (YDKML) was developed by a professional celebrity interviewer who is trained in getting people to spill the tea. How it works: Everyone writes down an answer to a question card. The answers then get shuffled and dealt back out. Players read the answer aloud, then sum it up with a funny hashtag. The “judge” then tries to match the answer with the player who wrote it.

This question-and-answer game may be a little inappropriate for the kid’s table, but it can be modified for all ages. The question cards are color-coded, so just take out the edgier pink ones and skip over the ones that have to do with grown-up stuff like jobs. This is a great way to hear new stories for once, instead of the ones that get repeated every year 😉

Strike a pose. Frozen Unicorns is a “hilarious pocket-size party game of silly statues” from the makers of Randomise, another family-friendly game that involves drawing, acting, or describing. In this statuesque game, players select a card based on difficulty. The harder it is, the more points it’s worth. For instance, an “easy” frozen ballerina is worth one point, while a medium-level difficulty frozen cowboy would be worth two, and a harder pose, like the frozen breakdancer, will garner three points. This game can be played with a minimum of three players, ages six and up.

Herd Mentality is a bovine-themed Family Feud-style game where you try to guess the most popular answer to questions like, “Would you rather have robot arms or robot legs?” This “udderly addictive family board game” is for four to 20 players, ages 10+.

Four or more players in teams can have a ball with Buzzword. You and your teammates (ages 10+) have 45 seconds to solve 10 clues. Each answer contains the Buzzword. There is also a junior version for kids ages seven and up.

Finally, a family-friendly version of Cards Against Humanity. The only things that differ in Kids Against Maturity are that you get 10 white answer cards to start and the question cards are blue. Oh, and the person with the hairiest knuckles goes first.

From the makers of the hilarious adult party game What Do You Meme? comes a family-friendly edition with all of the R-rated content removed. Compete to create the funniest memes by using a caption card to caption the photo card for each round. The judge picks the funniest combo and the winner is crowned meme king or queen.