Who can solve the most Thanksgiving riddles before dessert? These 18 riddles get a little trickier with each round, so kids and grown-ups can play together.
Pick a host to read the clues aloud. Give one point for each correct answer. If players or teams tie after Round 3, give them 30 seconds to write down a guess for the dinner-table tie-breaker. The closest guess wins. If guesses are equally close, the lower one wins. Identical guesses share the win.
Round 1: The Thanksgiving Table
Start with six easy clues for younger players.
- I strut on two legs, spread my tail like a fan, and say “gobble” before anyone takes a bite. What am I?
- We start as lumpy spuds in brown jackets. Peel us, boil us, and squash us, and we turn into a fluffy side dish. What are we?
- I’m tiny, red, and tart on my own. Cook a bunch of me with sugar and I turn into a sauce. What am I?
- I bring a patch of orange to a flaky crust. Add a little cinnamon and serve me by the slice. What am I?
- My golden kernels stand in rows, and my silky hair peeks out of a green husk. What am I?
- I have a little handle and a spout, but my passenger is a sauce for your mashed potatoes. What am I?
Round 2: Fall and Family Traditions
Think beyond the dinner plate.
- I grow even though you can’t water me. Slide a leaf into my middle and there’s room for two more guests. What am I?
- I wear a tiny cap and fall from an oak. A squirrel might bury me, and I might grow into a tree. What am I?
- I start out flat on the table, end up on your lap, and often leave dinner with more crumbs than you do. What am I?
- I look like a curved horn, but when you tip me over, apples and squash tumble out instead of music. What am I?
- Two people tug on my two ends. I’m shaped like a Y, and whoever gets the bigger piece gets to make a wish. What am I?
- I’m still part of Thanksgiving dinner even when you eat me on Friday. At night I trade my place at the table for a shelf in the fridge. What am I?
Round 3: Wordplay and Tricky Clues
Read these aloud slowly. The wording matters.
- What letter starts “thanks,” ends “gravy boat,” and appears three times in “sweet potato”?
- I have a crust and a filling. Add one letter to the end of my name and I become a place where boats can tie up. What am I?
- A grandmother, her daughter, and her granddaughter each get one dinner roll. How can two mothers and two daughters share just three rolls?
- Which letter turns “heat” into something you can grow, grind into flour, and bake into a dinner roll when you add it to the front?
- Five cousins each take one roll from a basket that holds five rolls. After everyone has taken a turn, one roll is still in the basket. How?
- I’m what the turkey does out in the yard and what your hungry cousin does to a dinner roll. What word am I?
Dinner-Table Tie-Breaker
Exactly six people are at the Thanksgiving table. Each person clinks glasses exactly once with every other person. How many clinks do you hear?
Thanksgiving Riddles Answer Key
Show the answers
Round 1: The Thanksgiving Table
- A turkey.
- Mashed potatoes.
- A cranberry.
- Pumpkin pie.
- An ear of corn.
- A gravy boat.
Round 2: Fall and Family Traditions
- An extendable dining table. Its “leaf” is the insert that makes it longer.
- An acorn.
- A napkin.
- A cornucopia, also called a horn of plenty.
- A wishbone.
- A leftover.
Round 3: Wordplay and Tricky Clues
- T. It starts “thanks,” ends “gravy boat,” and appears three times in “sweet potato.”
- Pie. Add R to make “pier.”
- The middle person is both a mother and a daughter, so there are only three people.
- W. Put it in front of “heat” to make “wheat.”
- The last cousin took the basket with the final roll still inside.
- Gobble. A turkey makes the sound, and a hungry person can gobble up food.
Tie-breaker: 15 clinks. The first person has five partners. Count only new pairs after that: 5 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 1 = 15.