Thanksgiving would you rather questions are quick two-option questions, like "Would you rather have pumpkin pie or apple pie for the rest of your life?", that get kids ages 5 to 9 talking at the holiday table. They work because the choice is easy and the reason behind it is not.
Thanksgiving dinner has a lot of waiting in it. Waiting for the turkey to come out, waiting for the cousins to arrive, waiting for the grown-ups to finish talking so dessert can start. A good would you rather question turns that waiting into the best part of the day.
These 75 Thanksgiving would you rather questions are written for kids ages 5 to 9. They work at the kids’ table, at the big table, in the car on the way to Grandma’s, and on the slow Friday after. Every question has two options a 5-year-old can picture and a 9-year-old can argue about.
They are sorted into eight categories, from turkey and pie to thankful choices, with a last set of slightly bigger questions for when the table is still talking after the plates are cleared.
How to Play
Ask one to three questions per meal, let everyone answer, and always ask why.
Ask one to three questions per sitting: one to kick the conversation off, one in the middle, one for the last bite if the table is still talking. Pick the slot, ask the question, then move on. Five in a row is a quiz, not a conversation.
Let everyone answer, grown-ups included. Kids commit harder to an answer when they hear Grandpa pick pumpkin pie for breakfast and defend it. Relatives who do not see the kids often get a way in that is not “So, how is first grade going?”
Ask the follow-up. After the first answer, follow with “Why?”, “What would happen next?”, or “Tell me more about that.” The first answer is usually the draft. The second answer is the real one.
There is no wrong answer. If a kid picks a third option that was not offered, that counts too.
TRY THIS
Let a grandparent ask the first question. Kids answer a grandparent differently than a parent, and the stories that follow are often ones the parents have never heard.
1. Turkey and the Big Meal
The meal is the reason everyone is in the same room, so start there. These questions are easy wins for the youngest kids at the table.
1. Would you rather eat only turkey for a week or never eat turkey again?
2. Would you rather have mashed potatoes that taste like ice cream or ice cream that tastes like mashed potatoes?
3. Would you rather carve the turkey or set the whole table by yourself?
4. Would you rather have gravy on everything or no gravy at all?
5. Would you rather eat Thanksgiving dinner for breakfast or breakfast for Thanksgiving dinner?
6. Would you rather have a turkey as big as a car or a pumpkin as big as a house?
7. Would you rather eat dinner with a spoon only or with a fork only?
8. Would you rather pick every food on the table or pick who sits next to you?
9. Would you rather have cranberry sauce that wiggles like jelly or stuffing that bounces like a ball?
10. Would you rather help cook the whole meal or do all the dishes afterward?
2. Pie, Dessert and Leftovers
For most kids, dessert is the main event. These questions work well in the stretch between the meal and the pie.
11. Would you rather have pumpkin pie or apple pie for the rest of your life?
12. Would you rather eat pie with whipped cream on top or ice cream on the side?
13. Would you rather have a pie the size of a pizza or a cookie the size of a plate?
14. Would you rather eat dessert first or save it for last?
15. Would you rather have leftovers for a week or a brand new Thanksgiving dinner every night?
16. Would you rather invent a new pie flavor or invent a new kind of cookie?
17. Would you rather share your pie with the whole table or get one tiny slice all to yourself?
18. Would you rather have a turkey sandwich on Friday or turkey soup on Saturday?
19. Would you rather bake the pie or decorate it?
3. Around the Table
These questions are about the people at the table. They work best once everyone has sat down and the room has warmed up.
20. Would you rather sit at the kids’ table or the grown-ups’ table?
21. Would you rather say the toast before dinner or pick the music during dinner?
22. Would you rather have dinner with 30 relatives or just your family at home?
23. Would you rather sit next to the funniest person at the table or the person who tells the best stories?
24. Would you rather hear a story about when your parents were kids or a story about when your grandparents were kids?
25. Would you rather make the name cards for everyone’s seat or make the centerpiece for the table?
26. Would you rather have Thanksgiving at your house or at someone else’s?
27. Would you rather have your cousins sleep over or sleep over at your cousins’ house?
28. Would you rather teach the grown-ups a game or have the grown-ups teach you one?
4. Thankful Choices
These questions make thankfulness a choice between two good things instead of a speech. They tend to get longer answers than kids expect to give.
29. Would you rather say thank you to someone in a letter or in person?
30. Would you rather be thankful for a friend or for a favorite place?
31. Would you rather make a thank you card for your teacher or for your neighbor?
32. Would you rather help someone without them knowing or help someone and see them smile?
33. Would you rather make a gift for someone or pick one out at a store?
34. Would you rather have one best friend or lots of good friends?
35. Would you rather spend a day with your family at the beach or in the snow?
36. Would you rather thank a person who makes your food or a person who keeps you safe?
37. Would you rather write down three things you are thankful for or draw them?
38. Would you rather share your favorite toy for a day or share your favorite snack for a day?
5. The Long Weekend
Thanksgiving is usually a four-day weekend. These questions fit the car ride there, the parade on TV and the slow Friday after.
39. Would you rather watch the parade or be in the parade?
40. Would you rather be a giant balloon in the parade or ride on a float?
41. Would you rather play football in the yard or play a board game inside?
42. Would you rather take a long walk after dinner or a long nap after dinner?
43. Would you rather drive five hours to see family or have family drive five hours to see you?
44. Would you rather spend Friday building a blanket fort or raking a giant pile of leaves to jump in?
45. Would you rather go to sleep early on Thanksgiving night or stay up late with your cousins?
46. Would you rather start decorating for winter holidays on Friday or wait until December?
47. Would you rather have a four-day weekend every week or a long summer every year?
6. Harvest and Fall
Thanksgiving started as a harvest celebration. These questions use the fall season, farms and growing food as a way in.
48. Would you rather grow your own pumpkins or pick your own apples?
49. Would you rather live on a farm or live in a big city?
50. Would you rather have a pet turkey or a pet cow?
51. Would you rather be a scarecrow for a day or a farmer for a day?
52. Would you rather find the biggest leaf in the yard or the most colorful one?
53. Would you rather plant a garden that grows only vegetables or only flowers?
54. Would you rather drink hot apple cider or hot chocolate?
55. Would you rather find a giant pumpkin or a tree full of apples?
56. Would you rather go on a hayride or through a corn maze?
7. Silly Thanksgiving
For the moment when the table needs a laugh. Read these with a straight face.
57. Would you rather have a turkey that talks or a pumpkin that sings?
58. Would you rather wear a pilgrim hat to school or a turkey costume to the grocery store?
59. Would you rather have a nose that can smell pie from a mile away or ears that can hear the oven timer from anywhere?
60. Would you rather have a turkey that does magic tricks or a turkey that tells jokes?
61. Would you rather slide down a mountain of mashed potatoes or swim in a lake of gravy?
62. Would you rather have every dish on the table be blue or every dish be the size of a grape?
63. Would you rather have a pie that never runs out or a glass of juice that never runs out?
64. Would you rather the turkey sit at the table with you or the pie run away from the table?
65. Would you rather be the size of a cranberry or the size of a giant pumpkin for a day?
66. Would you rather gobble like a turkey every time you laugh or quack like a duck every time you sneeze?
PARENT TIP
If the table goes quiet after a big question, answer it yourself first. Kids ages 5 to 9 often need to hear one honest answer before they give their own.
8. Bigger Questions for the Table
These are for kids at the older end of the range, or for the end of the meal when everyone is still sitting. They take a little longer to answer, which is the point.
67. Would you rather start a new family tradition or keep every old one the same?
68. Would you rather know what Thanksgiving will be like in ten years or remember every Thanksgiving you have ever had?
69. Would you rather cook dinner for someone who has nobody to eat with or invite them to your table?
70. Would you rather learn how your grandparents celebrated as kids or teach them how you celebrate now?
71. Would you rather be really good at saying thank you or really good at saying sorry?
72. Would you rather have a big family or a small family?
73. Would you rather be the person who makes everyone laugh or the person everyone talks to when they are sad?
74. Would you rather keep a family recipe secret forever or share it with the whole world?
75. Would you rather remember this Thanksgiving because of the food or because of the people?
Keep the Conversation Going After the Holiday
Thanksgiving is one day a year. The kind of talking that happens at a good holiday table, where everyone gets a turn and the answers lead somewhere, does not have to wait for the next one. A question on the counter at an ordinary Tuesday dinner does the same job.
Tell Me Cards is a deck of 107 open-ended conversation cards for kids ages 5 to 9, built on child psychology research. Pull one card at dinner, in the car or at bedtime, and the question is already chosen.
For more would you rather questions all year, see 200 Would You Rather Questions for Kids (Ages 5 to 9). For a table that needs a laugh, see 100 Funny Would You Rather Questions for Kids (Ages 5 to 9) and 100 Silly Would You Rather Questions for Kids (Ages 5 to 9). For quicker picks at the table, see 75 Thanksgiving This or That Questions for Kids (Ages 5 to 9).
Frequently Asked Questions
What are good Thanksgiving would you rather questions for kids?
Good ones give two options a young kid can picture right away, like “Would you rather have pumpkin pie or apple pie for the rest of your life?” Food, family, thankful choices and silly turkey questions all work. The 75 questions above are sorted by category so you can pick by mood.
How do you play would you rather at Thanksgiving dinner?
Ask one to three questions during the meal: one to start, one in the middle and one for the last bite. Everyone at the table answers, including the grown-ups, and someone asks “Why?” after each answer.
Are these questions okay for a 5-year-old?
Yes. Every question uses things a 5-year-old knows, like pie, cousins, leaves and parades. For the youngest kids, start with sections 1, 2 and 7, and save section 8 for kids closer to 9.
How can would you rather questions teach kids to be thankful?
Questions like “Would you rather say thank you in a letter or in person?” make kids think about who they are thankful for without a lecture. The follow-up does the work: “Who would you write to?” usually gets a real answer.