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Thanksgiving trivia questions and answers

By Votense · Published 2026-10-11 · Updated 2026-10-11

These Thanksgiving trivia questions and answers are grouped into history, food and traditions, so you can run one round at a time. They suit a family dinner, a class on American history, or an office lunch. The answers follow each question. Read the question, let people guess, then reveal the answer.

If you want the round to be scored, use the trivia questions and answers template as a starting point. Replace its questions with the ones you want, then host it live from the same screen or share the link so each person sees their score with the right answers underneath.

Running a Thanksgiving round that works for everyone

Mix the groups so that a history fan and a food fan both get a question they can answer. Keep each round to about eight questions. For a mixed family, start with the food round, which most people can answer, and finish with history, which gives people something to argue about. For a class, the history group works well as a short review after a lesson.

The questions here are a starting list. Some groups, such as the parade and the poem, are better with one or two questions swapped for ones your group knows. The quiz maker lets you edit each question and its answer before you share it.

History and dates

  1. On which day of the week is US Thanksgiving held? Answer: Thursday, the fourth Thursday of November.
  2. When is Canadian Thanksgiving held? Answer: The second Monday in October.
  3. Which ship carried the Pilgrims to Plymouth in 1620? Answer: The Mayflower.
  4. Which Patuxet man helped the Plymouth colonists learn to farm and fish? Answer: Squanto, also known as Tisquantum.
  5. Which president proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving in 1863? Answer: Abraham Lincoln.
  6. Which writer campaigned for many years to make Thanksgiving a national holiday? Answer: Sarah Josepha Hale.
  7. In which year did the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade begin? Answer: 1924.
  8. In which year did the giant Snoopy balloon first appear in the Macy’s parade? Answer: 1968.
  9. Who wrote the poem, often sung at Thanksgiving, that begins “Over the river and through the wood”? Answer: Lydia Maria Child.

Food and the table

  1. Which fruit native to North America is served as a sauce with turkey? Answer: The cranberry.
  2. Which continent is the potato native to? Answer: South America.
  3. Which bird is the centrepiece of most American Thanksgiving dinners? Answer: The turkey.
  4. What is the forked bone of a cooked bird called, the one people pull for luck? Answer: The wishbone, or furcula.
  5. What horn-shaped basket, filled with fruit and grain, is a symbol of abundance? Answer: The cornucopia.
  6. Which dessert is made from a squash-like fruit and is a Thanksgiving favourite? Answer: Pumpkin pie.

Words, traditions and culture

  1. What is the name for the day after Thanksgiving, when many shops open early? Answer: Black Friday.
  2. What does the word “cornucopia” mean in Latin? Answer: “Horn of plenty”.

More trivia for the season

The Halloween trivia questions cover the weeks before, and the Christmas trivia questions cover the weeks after. For a question you want to ask as a poll rather than a quiz, see the poll maker.

Frequently asked questions

Is Thanksgiving the same in every country?

No. Canada holds its Thanksgiving on the second Monday in October, and other countries have harvest festivals with their own dates. The questions here are about the United States unless they say otherwise.

How do I run these as a quiz?

Use the trivia questions and answers template or build a quiz in the quiz maker, and paste in the questions you want. There is no Thanksgiving template yet, so the general trivia template is the closest starting point.

How accurate are the history answers?

Each answer is a well-established fact. History is often retold with added detail, so check any date or name against a reference you trust before a formal event or classroom test.