Thanksgiving kicks off the official holiday season. Traditionally, it is celebrated with family. Family members get together and have a meal of traditional Thanksgiving foods. These foods include things such as turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, and warm pumpkin pie. Besides all the great food, it is also a time to give thanks for everything good that has happened throughout the year, and gives us a good chance to show appreciation for those who support us.

After the Thanksgiving meal is over, when the dishes are washed, and the leftovers are put away, it's time for games and activities. Instead of the usual card and board games this Thanksgiving, try some new games and activities to keep the festivities going for hours. Games and activities are fun for kids and adults of all ages, and they bring close families even closer than ever before. Here are some simple, and enjoyable Thanksgiving activities that everyone can enjoy.

Have fun and enjoy your Thanksgiving!

• Have guests form two lines. Each player in turn must carry a spoonful of cranberries from the front of the line to a given point and back, then hand the spoon to the next player in line. If any of the cranberries drop off, the player must stop and replace them before continuing. The first team to finish wins.
• Each player must run a certain distance, holding a spoon with a cranberries on. The players run in turn. If the cranberries falls down, the player must put it in the spoon again and continue to run. To run without a cranberries in the spoon means to break the rules. The player who covered the distance in the shortest time is the winner.

Provide each player with a list of "hashed" (or mixed up) words, all relating to Thanksgiving such as:

YEKUTR...........(turkey)

GSINSERD.......(dressing)

MIRGPIL.......(pilgrim)

TVESHAR...........(harvest)

The first player to unscramble his/her list, wins a small prize. You can add more words to the list. Also consider having a timer. Give a prize to the first done and also the last.

Players sit on chairs forming a circle. There should be one more player than there are chairs. The player without a chair is the leader. The leader points to each of the other players to give them a name, such as "Cranberry, Corn, Apple, Turkey," anything related to Thanksgiving. After names are chosen, the leader calls out two names, "Turkey and potato." Those two players must quickly switch places. The leader keeps calling at a quick pace, until suddenly someone says "The cornucopia has tipped over!" Everyone, including the leader, then scrambles for a new place. The player without a seat is the new leader. The leader may give the same name to more than one person.

Surprises are always fun, and playing games to win a surprise is even more fun. This is a fun Thanksgiving Day game that everyone who brings a wrapped gift can participate in. The gifts don't have to be new. They can be useful items in good condition that are no longer wanted or needed.

Have each person participating in the mystery gift game bring a wrapped gift. It can be big or small, and the value doesn't matter. It's fun to guess what the prizes are, and the prize you thought you wanted might not turn out to be the best choice after all.

Begin the game by having the first player roll two dice. If that player rolls numbers that add up to six, they get to choose a wrapped surprise. If they roll anything else, the game rotates clockwise to the next player. As each person rolls a total of six, they get to choose a mystery gift. They can take a gift from another person instead of the pile if they so choose. After everyone has a prize in hand, take turns opening the mystery gifts.

Consider hosting a mystery gift game especially for kids. Participating kids should bring a wrapped toy or other surprise, and the game can be played in the same manner as the adult version

Do you want to plan Thanksgiving Day activities that will make a lasting impact on friends and family members? Buy an inexpensive fabric or vinyl tablecloth and a laundry marker. Have each guest write anything they wish on the tablecloth. Bring out the tablecloth every year to reflect on past messages and create new ones. This is definitely one of the most fun and sentimental activities you could possibly host for special friends and loved ones on Thanksgiving Day.

Kids will love the challenge of this game and the added bonus of their efforts...a scrumptious apple pie.

Things Needed:

• Potato peelers
• Paring knives
• Apples

How to Play?

Using the peeler (kids) or knife (adults only), see who can produce the longest unbroken strip of apple skin. For an added challenge, see who can produce one that is both the narrowest and longest

The leisurely pace of Turkey Day can be challenging for small celebrants. Keep spirits high with this fun game. The dexterity test fills downtime between courses (and may have kids hunting for runaway game pieces).

Things Needed:

• Chopsticks
• Unshelled walnut
• Acorn
• Cranberry
• Pea
• Small plate

How to Play?

Give each player a set of chopsticks and place an unshelled walnut, an acorn, a cranberry, and a pea on a small plate next to the oldest player. She begins by using the chopsticks to pass each object, from largest to smallest, to the person on her right, who receives it with chopsticks and passes it along to the next player. The object is to try to get all four objects back to the starting plate without dropping any of them. Players unable to manage the chopsticks can use a teaspoon instead.

The leisurely pace of Turkey Day can be challenging for small celebrants. Keep spirits high with this fun game. Try it post-dessert. Adults can play while collapsed on the living room sofa.

Things Needed:

• Hard-boiled egg

How to Play?

To start, one guest leaves the room while a hard-boiled egg is hidden. The others then call the seeker back and direct him toward the egg, saying "gobble, gobble" instead of "warmer" and "giblet, giblet" instead of "colder." Once the egg is found, a new seeker is named, and the game repeats.

Bring the thrill of the gridiron to your living room wall with this pigskin version of Pin the Tail on the Donkey.

Things Needed:

• Poster board
• Brown card stock
• White opaque paint marker
• Poster tacks
• Blindfold

How to Play?

1. For the game pieces, first create a goal post from two-inch-wide strips of poster board. (The uprights and the crossbar are each 20 inches long, and the post is 6 inches tall.) We attached ours to the wall using poster tack.

2. For the footballs, cut 5-inch-long shapes out of brown card stock. We found some in the scrapbook aisle of our craft store that looks like football leather. Use a white opaque paint marker to decorate and add players' names to the footballs. Put a blob of poster tack on the back of each one.

3. Players line up about six feet away from the goal. One at a time, each player is blindfolded, spun around three times by another person, and set loose to try to stick their football between the uprights. (No reaching out your empty hand to feel the wall.) Play several rounds with 3 points awarded for each field goal. Highest score wins.

1. Several players of all ages stand in a circle holding hands. The first person who is "It" (the deer) laces through the circle, ducking under the hands of various players, and finally taps a player (the hunter). The hunter then breaks from the circle and follows the deer, imitating its movements precisely.

2. If the hunter catches the deer, the deer goes into the middle of the circle. But if the hunter doesn't follow the deer's movements exactly, or doesn't catch the deer before it has gone around the circle once, he has to stand in the center of the circle. The game continues until there are too many people standing in the center to be encircled by the remaining players.