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The short answer The best Friendsgiving games fit around a potluck: secret missions as people arrive, a match-the-dish-to-the-cook game while the food comes in, Friendsgiving This or That cards at the table, and a survey game or a pie draft once the plates are cleared. Below are 18 ideas for a table of friends, sorted by when to play them, with a sample plan for a 3-hour Friendsgiving. Two of them are free printables.
A Friendsgiving runs differently from family Thanksgiving. Guests show up at different times carrying foil-covered dishes, half the group might not know the other half, and nobody is stuck there out of obligation. The games that work are quick, a little competitive, and easy to drop in and out of while someone reheats the stuffing.
Start with the cards. Our Friendsgiving This or That deck has 45 questions about potlucks, hosting and leftovers, like “Bring a side or bring dessert?” and “Real plates or paper plates?” Add your party’s name, then print it or play it on a phone.
Friendsgiving This or That
How to play: Cut the cards apart and stack them by the pie or in a bread basket. Take turns drawing a card and reading both choices aloud. On three, everyone points: left hand for the first choice, right hand for the second.
- Host the potluck or bring a dish?
- Bring a side or bring dessert?
- Homemade dish or store-bought with no shame?
- Classic turkey or something totally different?
- Assigned dishes or potluck roulette?
- Sit at a table or eat on the couch?
- Dress up or sweatpants?
- Name cards at the table or sit anywhere?
- Arrive early to help or arrive right on time?
- Cook all day or order the main dish?
- Board game after dinner or a movie?
- Pie first or pie last?
+ 33 more in the printable.
Games for while the potluck comes together
The first hour of a Friendsgiving is all arrivals and oven traffic. These games run in the background, so people can join as they walk in.
1. Secret missions
Write a small mission on an index card for each guest and hand one over at the door, face down. “Get three people to say the word gravy.” “Start a conversation about the best pie.” “Get the host to show you a photo of their pet.” Missions stay secret until dessert, when everyone reveals theirs and the group votes on who pulled it off best. It breaks the ice for guests who only know the host.
2. Match the dish to the cook
As each dish arrives, the host gives it a number card and quietly writes down who brought it. Guests fill out a slip matching numbers to names, based on nothing but the food. Reveal the answers after the first plate. Friends who always bring the same dish are a giveaway, so you’ll want a few surprises.
3. Homemade or store-bought
Every cook gets to keep their secret until the end. Guests mark each dish H or S on a card as they taste. The person with the most correct calls wins the first slice of pie. This one rewards the friend who quietly bought the rolls and put them in a nice basket.
4. Dish name-off
Put a folded tent card and a marker next to the food table. Each cook gives their dish a fancy restaurant-menu name: “Heritage Russet Cloud with Butter Reduction” for mashed potatoes, say. The table votes on the best name before anyone eats. It takes five minutes and gets people talking about the food.
Ask every cook to fill in a tent card with the dish name, the main ingredients and any common allergens (nuts, dairy, gluten, shellfish). It makes the dish name-off easier, and guests with allergies don’t have to quiz anyone.
Games for at the table
Once everyone sits down, keep the games conversational. No one wants to put down a fork to stand up and act something out.
5. Friendsgiving This or That (free printable)
Pass the stack around the table. The person holding it reads a card, everyone points left or right on three, and whoever ends up in the smallest group defends their pick in one sentence. It’s the easiest game here to start with a mixed group, because nobody has to know anybody to have an opinion on canned cranberry sauce.
6. Two-word reviews
Before seconds, go around the table and review one dish each in exactly two words. “Dangerously buttery.” “Needs gravy.” “Life-changing stuffing.” The cook gets to respond in two words, too. Skip it if anyone at the table is touchy about their cooking.
7. Toast to the gravy boat
Each guest gives a short, dramatic toast to something on the table that isn’t a person: the gravy boat, the last dinner roll, the oven that survived the day. Keep a time limit of 30 seconds. Raise whatever’s in your glass, sparkling cider included.
8. Friend-group trivia
Before the party, the host writes ten questions about the group’s shared history. Where did half of you meet? Who has been to every Friendsgiving? What was on the menu the year the oven broke? Read them aloud and let people shout answers. Our Game Maker can turn your questions into a printable quiz with an answer key if you’d rather hand out sheets.
9. Gratitude hot seat
One person sits in the “hot seat” for a minute while everyone else names one thing they appreciate about them, quickly and specifically. Then the seat moves on. With friends, this lands better than the usual round of “I’m thankful for my health.” For a big table, do three or four people a year and rotate next time.
10. Kitchen disaster stories
Everyone tells their worst holiday cooking story in under a minute: the frozen turkey, the pie that slid off the counter, the smoke alarm that wouldn’t stop. The table votes for the best disaster, and the winner gets a wooden spoon trophy. It’s a nice way to make a nervous first-time host feel better.
Games for after dinner
When the plates are cleared and the dessert table is open, people have room for something louder.
11. Thanksgiving survey game (free printable)
Two teams, one host, and a board of hidden answers to questions like “Name something you’d find at a Friendsgiving that isn’t at family Thanksgiving.” It plays like the TV game show Family Feud with our own Thanksgiving questions. The 14 questions are written for adults, and the point values are our editors’ best guess at the most common answers, not a real poll. Plan on 30 to 45 minutes.
Thanksgiving Survey Game
How to play: Split into two teams and line them up. Two players face off: the host reads the question and the first to slap the table answers. The winning team guesses one player at a time until the board is clear or they get three strikes.
- Name something a guest brings to Thanksgiving dinner
- Name a food people fight over at Thanksgiving
- Name something people do after the big meal
- Name a topic you avoid at the Thanksgiving table
- Name something that can go wrong with the turkey
- Name a Thanksgiving leftover you eat the next day
- Name something people say they're thankful for
- Name something that makes Thanksgiving travel stressful
- Name a job the host gives a guest who asks to help
- Name something you'd find at a Friendsgiving that isn't at family Thanksgiving
- Name a question relatives ask at Thanksgiving that nobody wants to answer
- Name something people wear on Thanksgiving
+ 2 more in the printable.
12. Pie draft
Instead of everyone grabbing a slice at once, draft desserts like a fantasy league. Players roll a die or draw numbers for draft order, then pick one slice each, snaking back up the order. The last pick in round one gets the first pick in round two. With six pies and twelve people, the trades start almost immediately.
13. Thanksgiving charades
Two teams, a one-minute timer, and cards like “Carving the turkey” and “Unbuttoning your pants after a big meal.” Our free 52-card deck is printable from the Thanksgiving 60-second games page, along with 19 quick timed challenges; the turkey baster race and the whipped cream skyscraper suit a grown-up crowd.
14. Tablecloth drawing game
Cover the table in kraft paper before dinner. After the meal, teams take turns drawing Thanksgiving words right on the tablecloth while their team guesses against a timer: pumpkin pie, pilgrim hat, turkey trot, food coma. The finished tablecloth makes a good group photo.
15. Whose song is it?
Ask every guest to send the host one song before the party. Play them during cleanup, and the group tries to match each song to the friend who picked it. Song titles and artists only; the fun is in the surprise picks.
16. Recreate an old photo
If your Friendsgiving has run for a few years, dig up a group photo from an early one and restage it, poses and all. Newer friends stand in for anyone who couldn’t make it. Two minutes of setup and a long time laughing at the comparison.
17. Would you rather, Friendsgiving edition
Read a question, everyone picks, and the minority has to explain. Our Thanksgiving would you rather questions have more than enough to fill a slow stretch on the couch.
18. Leftover lottery
Ask everyone to bring an empty container. At the end of the night, the host fills each one with a scoop from several dishes, numbers them, and guests draw numbers from a bowl. Nobody goes home with only green beans, and the cleanup is mostly done. If drinking is part of your crowd, the guest who draws the last number can be in charge of the coffee for anyone driving home.
- Printed Friendsgiving This or That cards and the survey game board
- Index cards and pens for secret missions and guessing slips
- Numbered cards and folded tent cards for each dish
- A roll of kraft paper and some washable markers
- A die or numbered slips for the pie draft
- A phone timer
- A wooden spoon (or two) for trophies
- Extra takeout containers for the leftover lottery
Friendsgiving games by group size and time
| Game | Group size | Time | When to play |
|---|---|---|---|
| Secret missions | 6 to 30 | All night | Arrivals |
| Match the dish to the cook | 6 to 20 | 10 min | Arrivals |
| Homemade or store-bought | 6 to 20 | 10 min | First plate |
| Dish name-off | 6 to 20 | 5 min | Before eating |
| Friendsgiving This or That | 3 to 30 | 10 to 30 min | At the table |
| Two-word reviews | 4 to 12 | 5 min | At the table |
| Toast to the gravy boat | 4 to 12 | 10 min | At the table |
| Friend-group trivia | 4 to 20 | 15 min | At the table |
| Gratitude hot seat | 4 to 10 | 10 to 15 min | At the table |
| Kitchen disaster stories | 4 to 12 | 15 min | At the table |
| Thanksgiving survey game | 6 to 30 | 30 to 45 min | After dinner |
| Pie draft | 6 to 20 | 10 min | Dessert |
| Thanksgiving charades | 6 to 30 | 20 to 40 min | After dinner |
| Tablecloth drawing game | 6 to 16 | 20 min | After dinner |
| Whose song is it? | 6 to 25 | During cleanup | After dinner |
| Recreate an old photo | Any | 5 min | After dinner |
| Would you rather | 3 to 15 | 10 to 20 min | On the couch |
| Leftover lottery | Any | 10 min | Goodbyes |
A sample game plan for a 3-hour Friendsgiving
Say you’re hosting 12 friends from 5 to 8 p.m. on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, potluck style, with the turkey on you. Here’s one way to fit the games around the food.
- 5:00 to 5:45, arrivals: hand out secret missions at the door. Number each dish as it comes in and start the match-the-dish slips. Dish name-off cards go on the food table.
- 5:45 to 6:45, dinner: pass the This or That cards after everyone has a full plate. Two-word reviews before seconds, then the gravy boat toasts.
- 6:45 to 7:30, after dinner: reveal the match-the-dish answers, then play the survey game in two teams of six while the coffee brews.
- 7:30 to 8:00, dessert and goodbyes: run the pie draft, reveal the secret missions, and send everyone home through the leftover lottery.
That’s seven or eight games in three hours, most of them under ten minutes. If the group is having a good time, you can drop the survey game and keep the conversation going; the plan should bend around the people.
Friendsgiving doesn’t need to be a drinking party, but if yours includes wine or cider, most of these games have easy optional versions: the smallest group in This or That takes a sip, the toast round ends with a real toast. Keep alcohol-free drinks on the table, and sort out rides before the first pour.
How this differs from family Thanksgiving games
Family Thanksgiving games have to work for kids and grandparents. Friendsgiving games can lean on shared history, a later night and a bit more teasing. If your group is mostly adults and you want a longer list, our Thanksgiving games for adults includes a blind pie tasting, a dessert auction and potluck judging ballots. For history questions, our Thanksgiving trivia questions and answers explain where every answer comes from. Every printable we make for the holiday is on the Thanksgiving games page.
Questions hosts ask
What games do you play at Friendsgiving?
Good picks are secret missions while guests arrive, match the dish to the cook, This or That cards at the table, a Thanksgiving survey game after dinner and a pie draft for dessert.
How many games should I plan for Friendsgiving?
For a 3-hour party, plan four to eight short games and one longer one, like a survey game. Drop games freely if the conversation is going well.
What are good Friendsgiving games for people who don't know each other?
This or That cards and secret missions work best, since nobody needs shared history to play. Save friend-group trivia for a group that's been together a while.
Are there Friendsgiving drinking games?
Most of these games have optional drinking versions, such as a sip for the smallest group in This or That. Keep alcohol-free drinks out and plan rides home.
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.
