Thanksgiving Fill-in-the-Blank Story (Free Printable)

On this page

1. What’s on the printable
2. The 24 words the story asks for
3. How to play
4. A quick guide to the word types
5. Ways to play it
6. Write your own Thanksgiving story
7. More Thanksgiving printables
8. Questions hosts ask

If you grew up with Mad Libs books, you already know how this works. Nobody knows the story while they’re choosing words, so a turkey ends up arriving “on a trampoline” and a relative toasts their “sparkly elbow.” The whole game is the moment the reader gets to that line.

It suits almost any Thanksgiving crowd. Kids who are learning parts of speech get to shout out words, grandparents get to hear their name in a ridiculous sentence, and teenagers who refuse to play anything might still toss in a word, just to see what happens.

What’s on the printable

The PDF has two pages:

• The word list. Twenty-four numbered lines, each labeled with the kind of word it needs: NOUN, ADJECTIVE, FOOD, RELATIVE’S NAME and so on. This page is safe for anyone to see.
• The story. The host copy, marked “read aloud,” with a numbered blank everywhere a word goes. Keep this page hidden until it’s time to read.

Before you print, type in who’s cooking the turkey (Grandma, Uncle Ray, you) and a dog’s name, real or made up. The story works both into several spots. Leave them empty and it uses “Grandma” and “Biscuit.” The PDF comes in US Letter or A4.

The 24 words the story asks for

Here’s the word list in order, so you know what’s coming before you print. It doesn’t give away the story.

1. A number
2. An adjective
3. A noun
4. A plural noun
5. A plural noun
6. A food
7. A relative’s name
8. A color
9. An adjective
10. A silly word
11. A verb ending in -ing
12. A noun
13. A plural noun
14. A number
15. A relative’s name
16. An adjective
17. A body part
18. An exclamation
19. A food
20. A verb
21. A plural noun
22. A noun
23. An adjective
24. A verb

How to play

1. Pick one reader. They hold both pages and keep the story out of sight.
2. The reader goes down the word list and asks the group for each one: “I need a plural noun.” Take the first answer shouted, or go around the table so everyone gets a turn.
3. Write each word on its numbered line. Don’t explain why you need it.
4. When all 24 lines are full, the reader turns to the story and reads it aloud, dropping in word 1 at blank 1, word 2 at blank 2, and so on.
5. Read it with a straight face. Pause for a beat before each filled-in word.
6. Print a fresh word list and pick a new reader for round two.

On a phone or TV, Play mode asks for one word at a time, then shows the finished story with everyone’s words highlighted. It’s handy when the printer’s out of ink or the crowd is too big for one sheet of paper.

A quick guide to the word types

Kids (and a few grown-ups) will ask what an adjective is. Keep this handy:

Word type	What it means	Examples
Noun	A person, place or thing	trombone, sock, Ohio
Plural noun	More than one of a thing	pickles, llamas, bowling balls
Adjective	A word that describes something	soggy, sparkly, enormous
Verb	An action word	wiggle, tiptoe, cartwheel
Verb ending in -ing	An action happening now	sneezing, moonwalking, yodeling
Exclamation	Something you’d shout	Yikes, Holy guacamole, Oh no
Body part	Any part of you	elbow, eyebrow, big toe
Silly word	A made-up word	flibberjab, zoinkle

Food, color, number and relative’s name explain themselves. For “relative’s name,” a real person at the table is funnier than a made-up one.

Ways to play it

Around the table

The classic version above. It works best with 4 to 12 people, all in earshot. With more than that, split into two groups with their own reader and let each group read its finished story to the other.

Everyone fills in their own

Hand each guest (or pair) a word list and a pen before dinner. After dessert, the host reads the story once for each list. Say you’re hosting 10 people: that’s 10 versions of the same story, and it gets funnier every time because people start listening for the spots where their words will land. Limit it to four or five readings if attention starts to drift.

At the kids’ table

Let a strong reader be the host and the younger kids call out words. It’s secretly good parts-of-speech practice, and the story is clean enough for any age. For more kid-friendly ideas, see our Thanksgiving games for kids.

In a classroom

Project the word list and have students raise hands to fill each blank, or give each pair a word list as a warm-up. Read the finished story aloud at the end of the lesson. Before you read, check that any class-supplied words are ones you’re happy to say out loud to the room.

For a Friendsgiving

Grown-ups play it just the same way. Use real names of people at the table for both relative blanks, and have the reader do a dramatic voice. It’s a good game for the lull between dinner and dessert.

Write your own Thanksgiving story

Once your crowd has played ours, they may want to make one. It’s a good job for a couple of older kids while the grown-ups clean up.

1. Write a short, simple story first, about 150 to 300 words. Something ordinary works best, like a family getting ready for dinner or a turkey trying to escape the oven.
2. Go back and cross out 15 to 25 words. Pick nouns, adjectives and verbs in the funniest spots, and leave enough regular words that the story still makes sense.
3. Label each crossed-out word with its type: noun, adjective, verb, food, relative’s name.
4. Make the word list: just the labels, numbered in order.
5. Test it on one person, then read it to the table.

A good rule of thumb: about one blank per sentence, with a few extra saved for the big finish, and never two blanks side by side unless it’s an adjective in front of a noun. Too many blanks and the story turns into noise.

More Thanksgiving printables

The story takes about 10 minutes. Pair it with a longer game: our Thanksgiving bingo keeps a whole room busy for half an hour, and the Thanksgiving word scramble is a quiet option for the kids’ table. You’ll find every game we make for the holiday in our free printable Thanksgiving games and on the Thanksgiving games page.

Questions hosts ask

By the Party Game Book editors. Every game here is free to print for personal, classroom and non-commercial use. How we make and check our games.