Quiz template · Trivia
Thanksgiving family trivia questions and answers
20 easy, silly Thanksgiving questions for kids and grown-ups: gobbles, wattles, floating cranberries, parade balloons and the fluffy stuff on sweet potatoes.
Easy 20 questions 30 s each · about 15 min Checked against two sources
A Thanksgiving round the whole table can play, from a six-year-old to a grandparent. The questions are about the bird, the food and the parade, and the wrong answers are there to make the small players giggle. Nothing needs reading beyond a short line, so a parent can read each one aloud. Twenty questions take about 15 minutes, which fits nicely between the main course and the pie.
How to run it
- Play question 1 for zero points. Everybody gobbles, everybody learns which button to press, and the shy players relax.
- Let the kids read the four options out loud. Half the fun is hearing a seven-year-old say "turkey gravy" as a balloon filling with a straight face.
- Keep question 20 as the tie-breaker. If two teams are level, ask it aloud and the closest guess to the feather count wins the last slice of pie.
Questions and answers
1What sound does a turkey make?Easy
- AMoo, but politely
- BGobble
- CWoof
- DBeep beep
Reveal answer
B. Gobble
A male turkey's gobble can be heard about a mile away. This one is the warm-up, so nobody loses points for gobbling back.
2What is the red, wobbly flap of skin under a turkey's chin called?Easy
- AA noodle
- BA turkey tie
- CA wattle
- DA chin curtain
Reveal answer
C. A wattle
The wattle hangs from the throat and turns brighter red when the turkey gets excited. It wobbles when the bird walks, which is the best part.
3True or false: Wild turkeys can fly.Easy
- ATrue
- BFalse
Reveal answer
A. True
Wild turkeys are strong fliers over short distances. The big farm turkeys are too heavy to get off the ground, which is where the rumour comes from.
4Farmers flood the field to pick cranberries. What do the ripe berries do in the water?Easy
- AThey float
- BThey sink like stones
- CThey swim away
- DThey turn into juice
Reveal answer
A. They float
Each cranberry has tiny air pockets inside, so the berries pop up to the surface and farmers herd them into a corner like red rubber ducks.
5To a scientist, a pumpkin is which of these?Medium
- AA fruit
- BA root
- CA nut
- DA very round leaf
Reveal answer
A. A fruit
It grows from a flower and holds the seeds, so botanists call it a fruit, and even a kind of berry. Cooks still treat it as a vegetable.
6What makes the giant cartoon balloons float in the Macy's Thanksgiving parade?Easy
- AHot soup
- BTurkey gravy
- CPopcorn
- DHelium
Reveal answer
D. Helium
The balloons are filled with helium mixed with air. The first ones in 1927 were filled with plain air and had to be held up on sticks.
7What is the floppy bit that hangs down over a turkey's beak called?Medium
- AA nose sock
- BA snood
- CA beak hat
- DA drip
Reveal answer
B. A snood
The snood is a fleshy flap on the beak that stretches out when a male turkey shows off. Wattle under the chin, snood over the beak.
8Which soft, fluffy sweet often goes on top of sweet potatoes at Thanksgiving?Easy
- ACotton candy
- BGummy bears
- CMarshmallows
- DWhipped cream
Reveal answer
C. Marshmallows
Candied sweet potatoes are baked with brown sugar and a layer of marshmallows that goes golden and sticky on top. Dessert hiding on the dinner plate.
9Where do wild turkeys sleep at night?Medium
- AIn a burrow like a rabbit
- BIn a cosy nest on the ground
- CThey never sleep
- DUp in trees
Reveal answer
D. Up in trees
At sunset they fly up to a low branch and hop higher, branch by branch, to roost out of reach of foxes. A tree full of sleeping turkeys is a real sight.
10True or false: The country Turkey was named after the turkey bird.Medium
- ATrue
- BFalse
Reveal answer
B. False
It is the other way round. English traders got a similar bird, the guineafowl, through Turkey and named it after the place, and the name later stuck to the American bird.
11Who always comes last in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade?Easy
- AA giant turkey
- BSanta Claus
- CThe mayor on a bicycle
- DA marching band of chefs
Reveal answer
B. Santa Claus
The parade always ends with Santa's sleigh, which is the signal that the Christmas season has started. He has closed the parade since the very first one.
12What is a baby turkey called?Medium
- AA gobblet
- BA turklet
- CA puppy
- DA poult
Reveal answer
D. A poult
Baby turkeys are poults. They can fly short hops at about two weeks old and sleep in the trees with their mother soon after.
13Pumpkins belong to the same plant family as which of these?Hard
- AApples
- BCucumbers
- CCarrots
- DPeanuts
Reveal answer
B. Cucumbers
Pumpkins, squash, cucumbers, melons and watermelons are all in the gourd family, Cucurbitaceae. They all grow on sprawling vines with big yellow flowers.
14Gravy is usually made from which part of the turkey dinner?Easy
- AThe juices that drip from the roasting turkey
- BThe feathers, boiled
- CThe gobble, bottled
- DThe turkey's shadow
Reveal answer
A. The juices that drip from the roasting turkey
Gravy is a sauce made from the juices that run out of meat as it cooks, thickened with a little flour. The drippings from the turkey pan give it the flavour.
15The first Swanson TV dinner, sold in 1953, was a Thanksgiving-style meal built around which meat?Medium
- AFish fingers
- BHot dogs
- CTurkey
- DMeatballs
Reveal answer
C. Turkey
The tray held turkey, cornbread stuffing, peas and sweet potatoes and cost 98 cents. One story says the company had a mountain of unsold turkeys after Thanksgiving.
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Questions about this template
What age is this Thanksgiving quiz for?
About six and up. The questions are short, the wrong answers are silly on purpose, and every explanation adds a small fact a child can repeat at the table. The last five are a little harder so the adults stay interested.
How is this different from the other Thanksgiving quiz?
The other one is about history: the Mayflower, Lincoln and the first parade. This one is about turkeys, cranberries, pumpkins and the balloons, with no dates to remember. Play this one with children and the other one after they have gone to bed.
Can everyone play on one phone?
Each player or team joins from their own phone with the PIN, QR code or link, so a family can play as two or three teams. No app and no account are needed for players. The free plan covers 100 players.
Can I swap a question for one about our family?
Yes. Use this template to make your own copy, then edit any question, add one about Grandma's stuffing, change the timer or set the warm-up to zero points before you go live.
Sources
Every answer shown here was checked against two sources, listed below. Links last checked 30 October 2026.
- Wild turkey - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
- Twelve Unusual and Fascinating Facts About Wild Turkeys - The National Wildlife Federation Blogblog.nwf.org
- Wild Turkey Fact Sheet | Blog | Nature | PBSpbs.org
- Wild Turkey | Audubon Field Guideaudubon.org
- Cranberry - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
- Why Are Cranberries Harvested Underwater? How It Worksfarmersalmanac.com
- Pumpkin - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
- It's science: Why a pumpkin is actually a fruit - AgriLife Todayagrilifetoday.tamu.edu
- Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
- 11 Facts About the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Balloons-And What It Takes To Inflate Themmentalfloss.com
- Thanksgiving dinner - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
- Sweet potato - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
- Turkey (bird) - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
- Talkin' "Turkey": The Linguistic Link Between the Bird and the Country | Scientific Americanscientificamerican.com
- Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade: A Look Back At Nearly A Century Of Splendor, Pageantry And Helium - CBS New Yorkcbsnews.com
- Cucurbitaceae - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
- Gravy - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
- Frozen meal - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
- Frozen meal - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
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