Help me come up with a new Thanksgiving family tradition

November 13, 2013 1:18 PM

So, I have a friend whose family has an amazing Easter tradition. They have a traditional easter egg hunt in their yard, only some of the eggs contain candy and some of them contain various numbers of tickets. Their mom buys a range of amazing and not so amazing prizes (think PS3 to a new spatula, or whatever). Next ensues a crazy bidding war on the prizes, using the collected tickets. I want to start a new Thanksgiving tradition that compares in awesomeness.

About 15 people participate in the Easter egg hunt. Which is similar to the amount of people that are at my house on Thanksgiving. The features that make the egg hunt awesome are the delight of finding something (might not be able to be replicated) along with the fierce competition that goes into ticket collecting, and another round of fierce competition that goes into the bidding war. Also, all ages can easily participate.

I was thinking that Bingo might be an idea to begin this new Thanksgiving tradition. Prizes would also obviously be involved. I am looking for any and all creative input to expand this idea.

posted by corn_bread to Grab Bag (6 answers total)

First, your username is perfectly matched to this question! Next, how cold will it be where you are? Here in Tennessee, it's not very cold and won't be snowing so I'd think you could do the very same thing and just call it a scavenger hunt.
posted by dawkins_7 at 1:39 PM on November 13, 2013

How about something else, like Everybody Performs Time --- everybody has to sing, recite, dance, yodel, do a skit, draw, something creative. Singly or in teams of their choosing, of course.
posted by easily confused at 2:01 PM on November 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

White Elephant? In my experience it's not particularly competitive (in the sense that you actually care about any of the items exchanged much) though it's competitive while being played (small alliances form and dissolve, usually adults helping kids get certain items that kids might actually use).
posted by axiom at 2:07 PM on November 13, 2013 [4 favorites]

My family does a white elephant BINGO at Thanksgiving, complete with the rule that you can trade your prize for someone elses if you like it better. It gets CRAZY and is so fun! We also have a variety of prizes, and theres usually some intense competition or bartering for some of those items.
posted by I_love_the_rain at 9:08 PM on November 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

In the other thread I was spitballing a tailor made family bingo game. Create a throwaway mail, and have everyone mail in with their ideas of standard quirks, catchphrases, and such that family members always do. You'll need a game master/moderator who can check the list and cull the stuff that might hurt feelings (uncle bob falls asleep on the sofa, that's okay, uncle bob starts talking about the gold standard, maybe leave that out). There are a ton of online bingo sheet generators, you can enter the data in and the number of sheets you want.

As the day goes on, cross off the things that happen. The best part is that no one knows what actions will be on the card. Prizes for the first through nth people to bingo.
posted by Ghidorah at 3:35 AM on November 14, 2013 [1 favorite]

Both of your examples involve hunting for treasures and such, so maybe something along that theme would be best for you?

Easy: Send everyone out for greenery. to create "found art" Christmas decorations. Provide general art supplies for them to work with.

An easy method for your guests to use their found greenery to make a table centerpiece for your Thanksgiving dinner.

Advanced: Create a Thanksgiving-themed scavenger hunt. This would be tougher, as many places are closed on Thanksgiving. You would need to start soon to scope out locations, make up clues, maybe even hide some objects around town. You also need enough people to divide up in teams of three or four.

If you have any historical sites nearby, it could be fun to send them out there as part of the hunt--check fir geocaches already hidden near you, too! Incorporate them in your own hunt.

There is a restaurant in Durham named "Mayflower". Maybe have them get something there (even if it is just a photo of the front on their cellphones), if it is not too far from you.

Send them out to the grocery store (usually open early in the day on Thanksgiving) for Kashi Simply Maize cereal, turkey jerky, "Indian" corn, etc.

Have them decorate a gourd as part of the hunt and give an award for the best one.

Scavenger hunts are fun; we've done some great Halloween-themed ones.
posted by misha at 10:04 AM on November 14, 2013