In India, we don’t celebrate the Thanksgiving tradition, so 28th November is just like any regular day when people go to offices, kids to school; there are no exclusive sales on the stores. So, it’s a pretty ordinary day, unlike the USA.
I love the Thanksgiving tradition because the sole purpose of this tradition is to enjoy the day with family and friends who are like families. The culture resembles our ‘Diwali festival,’ the day when we all mingle together and spent time with our loved ones by celebrating the gorgeous day.
Now, there is no rule book where it is mention that you have to follow the rules on Thanksgiving.
You can celebrate the day the way you want, it’s all about giving value to ‘togetherness.’
Here, in this article, I thought of compiling –
20 such incredible ways to celebrate Thanksgiving with your family happily and merrily.
Decorate Your House
Yeah!
Decorating the indoor of the house is probably the best thing to do during this time of the year. It starts with Halloween and continues till the New Year.
The time of October till December feels excellent in the US and Canada. I have been there, so I could say that it feels like a continuous celebration.
Stores like Macy’s, Walmart, Fred Meyer sells tons of variety of decorative that you can use for decorating your house. The activity gets entertaining when the whole family participates.
When the men and kids of the house remain busy in decoration while the ladies keep a tab on the rich food that is yet to come on the table.
Make a Special Thanksgiving Dish
Well, you got to figure out a week ago on the Thanksgiving menu. Some prefer traditional and straightforward dishes, whereas some prep themselves for an extravagant menu for Thanksgiving celebration at home.
I do remember, I made a special Indian Chicken dish for my family to cherish the Thanksgiving of 2017. It was a homely and pleasant one, not a very typical American celebration.
So, we were also invited to a friend of ours’ for dinner, and a few other members of his family were also there. That was the first time that I saw a typical American Thanksgiving tradition.
It was nicely decorated, and the table was full of several delicious ‘Thanksgiving dishes’ sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie, turkey, sauté green beans, Grilled corn, and bottles of wine.
It felt nice, and the togetherness of families reminded me of my parents back in India.
Convey Your Gratitude
Conveying gratitude and thankfulness is a tradition that we must all preserve. It holds human values and keep us humble. So, to make it interesting and exciting, you can DIY art crafts and convey your message to your host or family members.
Like, you can make handwritten ‘THANK YOU’ card or DIY wall décor to express your thoughts and good wishes.
Host a Gathering
Hosting a Thanksgiving party or family celebration could be one of the best ways to bring everyone together in one place.
Modern life has become so busy and tries to push us away from our dear ones. But festivals and traditions like Thanksgiving keep us all together and united.
So, as a part of the celebration, you can invite family and friends to enjoy the day by sharing with each other sorrows and happiness, celebrate the success that one has achieved and eat delicious food together.
Having a Potluck could also be a fantastic way to celebrate happy thanksgiving with everyone. A gathering where each will bring something to share and create a grand meal.
Play Thanksgiving Games
Amidst everything, Thanksgiving is also about being who you are and let yourself stress-free.
Games of any sort are always fun to play. Not always it has to be an outdoor game, even indoor games can be entertaining too. You can play Thanksgiving Bingo, Scavenger Hunt with your kids, Stuff the Turkey game, monopoly, and many more.
Even sometimes, you create ridiculous games, especially for Thanksgiving, that doesn’t even exist. But above all, it’s about having fun, so as long as you are having a stress-free happy Thanksgiving celebration, any game is good to go.
Bake Cookies
Baking cookies doesn’t have to be only on birthdays or during Christmas, you can bake cookies whenever you want.
Instead, you can involve your family in helping you out in baking the cookies. It will be a learning process as well as a quality way to spend time with the family.
Most of the families in the USA loves to bake cookies at home on Thanksgiving apart from Turkey and Pie, according to CountryLiving.
Take a Thanksgiving Trip
How about a beautiful Thanksgiving trip to your grandparent’s house?
It always feels great to visit our grandparents. I lost my grandpa when I was only 3, so being the eldest granddaughter of my grandma, she always treats me like a princess.
During summer and winter vacations, my mother used to leave me for a few days to my grandma, and those days were the best as I don’t have to study or do any homework. She used to tell me, her childhood stories that she spent in her village, and I used to listen to them dearly.
Even now at least, twice a month, I talk to my grandma over the phone. She is old now, and I miss those days.
Coming back to what I was saying, a surprise Thanksgiving trip would be a fantastic idea to rejuvenate childhood memories at your grandparents’ house.
Read Thanksgiving Stories to your Little Ones
What could be better than spending your evening reading your little ones’ Thanksgiving stories?
These moments are the ones that will be remembered long when your kids will grow up and no longer can you read to them the Thanksgiving stories.
Create memories with your kids and family, indulge yourself more in being with family. During this day of the year, forget about your meetings, calls, emails, budgets everything that occupies your mind all day. Thanksgiving is the day to make memories with your family.
Go for Shopping in Macy’s & Walmart and Fred Meyer
I used to love going to these supermarkets while living in Seattle for two years during the festive season. It used to be a treat to my eyes to see ‘festive sale’ going all around the store.
Now, who doesn’t love shopping?
But when you see a board of ‘sale’ hanging on the corner of the store, it’s like a magnet pulling you inside.
So, if you are like me, who keeps looking for sale and loves shopping during the festive season. You should then visit Macy’s, Walmart, Fred Meyer, and QFC as you will find deals going on and also gift coupons.
My favorite was QFC and Macy’s because both were located just in 8 minutes of walking distance from my apartment in Bellevue, Seattle.
Do Thanksgiving Craft with Kids
Keeping your kids in craft activity is a great thing to do. If you tell your kid to sit quietly at a place, they will never do that. They will hop around the house, jump, scream, sing.
I believe craft is the only thing that can make them calm and concentrate only on doing that.
It is productive and boosts a kids’ brain. Thanksgiving craft is something that with kids’ we adults too love to make. Creating something beautiful and simple with papers, spare clothes, or anything is exciting and allows you to spend time with your kid.
Binge-watch
The term ‘binge-watch’ has come from the new age streaming platform Netflix. Now, there are 10 other equally best streaming platforms like Netflix that provide tons of movies and original series to watch.
Holidays are an excellent time for binge-watching popular series at home in pajamas with pizza and popcorn.
So, if you are not with your family on Thanksgiving, you are staying in a different state or country and terribly missing the tradition being with your family.
This might give you the little happiness that you are looking for. There are some great binge-watching original series available at Netflix, Amazon Prime Videos, Hulu, or Hotstar. Out of so many options, you can opt for any.
Even Netflix India also has great content now, and it’s growing rapidly, giving a fierce competition to the other streaming platforms.
Help the Homeless with Food
Last but not least, I will say nothing, but it feels great when you could feed the poor or homeless. Thanksgiving defines togetherness, celebrating the harvest and thankfulness to the Almighty for providing us with good food.
Now, think about those poor and homeless who can’t even feed themselves a proper meal.
So, won’t you feel better if you see they are eating your food with pleasure?
As human beings, this is the least we can do and serve the purpose of a beautiful Thanksgiving Day.
Conclusion:
Happy Thanksgiving to you all.