Thanksgiving Trivia Quiz — 30 Questions with Answers

History, food, football and turkeys: 30 questions with the answer explained after each one

Thirty Thanksgiving trivia questions for the table: the 1621 harvest at Plymouth and the Wampanoag, Lincoln and Sarah Josepha Hale, Franksgiving, the first Macy's parade balloon, the Detroit Lions and what a baby turkey is called. Play 10, 20 or all 30, read the fact after each answer, and find the full answer list under the game.

How to play

Choose 10, 20 or all 30 questions.

Pick one of four answers, or press 1 to 4.

Read the explanation, then press Next.

Your best score is saved in this browser.

The questions shuffle every round.

What it actually trains

General knowledge and recall: it is a quiz, not a brain drill. If you enjoyed it, our Christmas Trivia has 40 more.

Tips to score higher

Many answers turn on dates: 1620 is the voyage, 1621 the feast, 1863 Lincoln, 1941 the fixed fourth Thursday.

Canada’s Thanksgiving is in October, on the second Monday.

Turkey vocabulary comes up a lot: tom, hen and poult.

Read questions aloud at the table and let each person answer in turn.

Thanksgiving trivia questions and answers

  1. In what year was the harvest feast often called the first Thanksgiving held at Plymouth? 1621. The Mayflower arrived in 1620; the three-day harvest feast took place in autumn 1621.
  2. Which Native American nation shared the 1621 harvest feast with the Plymouth colonists? Wampanoag. About 90 Wampanoag men came with their leader Massasoit, Edward Winslow wrote.
  3. Which ship carried the Pilgrims to America in 1620? Mayflower. The Speedwell set out too but leaked and turned back.
  4. In which modern US state is Plymouth Colony? Massachusetts. Plymouth is about 40 miles south-east of Boston.
  5. Which president proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day in 1863? Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln set the last Thursday of November, in the middle of the Civil War.
  6. Which writer campaigned for 17 years to make Thanksgiving a national holiday? Sarah Josepha Hale. Hale, an editor, also wrote "Mary Had a Little Lamb".
  7. Which president moved Thanksgiving a week earlier in 1939, nicknamed "Franksgiving"? Franklin D. Roosevelt. Congress fixed it on the fourth Thursday of November in 1941.
  8. Thanksgiving in the United States is on which day? The fourth Thursday of November. In 2026 that is Thursday 26 November.
  9. When is Thanksgiving in Canada? The second Monday of October. Canada’s earlier harvest and Parliament’s 1957 proclamation set the October date.
  10. In what year was the first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade? 1924. The 1924 parade had live animals from the Central Park Zoo; giant balloons came in 1927.
  11. Which character was the first giant balloon in the Macy’s parade, in 1927? Felix the Cat. Felix the Cat led the first balloon line-up.
  12. Which NFL team has hosted a Thanksgiving game almost every year since 1934? Detroit Lions. The Dallas Cowboys have hosted the second game most years since 1966.
  13. Which president made the presidential turkey pardon an official yearly event in 1989? George H. W. Bush. Earlier presidents spared the odd turkey; Bush made the pardon a ceremony.
  14. What is a male turkey called? A tom. Males are toms (or gobblers), females are hens and chicks are poults.
  15. What is a baby turkey called? A poult. A poult. A cygnet is a young swan, a leveret a young hare.
  16. Which turkeys make the famous gobble sound? Only males. Hens cluck, purr and yelp; the gobble is the male’s call.
  17. Can wild turkeys fly? Yes, in short fast bursts. Wild turkeys fly short distances and roost in trees at night; farm turkeys are too heavy.
  18. Which founding father wrote that the turkey was "a much more respectable bird" than the bald eagle? Benjamin Franklin. Franklin said it in a 1784 letter to his daughter. He never formally proposed the turkey as a national bird.
  19. Which US state grows the most cranberries? Wisconsin. Wisconsin grows more than half of the US crop, in flooded bogs at harvest time.
  20. Which US state raises the most turkeys? Minnesota. Minnesota leads the country in turkeys raised, USDA figures show.
  21. Which member of the Patuxet people, who spoke English, helped the Plymouth colonists? Tisquantum (Squanto). Tisquantum had been taken to Europe and back, and taught the colonists to plant corn.
  22. Green bean casserole was created in 1955 in which company’s test kitchen? Campbell’s. Dorcas Reilly’s recipe used Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup.
  23. What is the shopping day after Thanksgiving called? Black Friday. Cyber Monday follows three days later.
  24. The wishbone two people pull apart is which bone of the bird? The furcula. The furcula is two collarbones fused into one.
  25. The song "Over the River and Through the Wood" was first a poem about which holiday? Thanksgiving. Lydia Maria Child’s 1844 poem was titled "The New-England Boy’s Song about Thanksgiving Day".
  26. Botanically, what is a pumpkin? A fruit (a kind of squash). Pumpkins are winter squashes, and like all squashes they are fruits that hold seeds.
  27. Which West African country also celebrates a national Thanksgiving Day in November? Liberia. Liberia, founded with help from the US, celebrates on the first Thursday of November.
  28. What horn-shaped basket overflowing with produce is a symbol of Thanksgiving? A cornucopia. Cornucopia is Latin for horn of plenty.
  29. Roughly how many Pilgrims survived to the harvest of 1621? About 50. About half of the 102 Mayflower passengers died in the first winter.
  30. Swanson’s first TV dinner in 1953 was famously a way to use up too much of which food? Turkey. The company’s story is that it had around 260 tons of unsold Thanksgiving turkey.

Frequently asked questions

How many Thanksgiving trivia questions are there?

Thirty, each with four choices and an explanation. Play 10, 20 or all 30 in a new order every time.

Where are the answers?

Under the game, open Printable list and answers for every question with its answer and a short explanation.

When was the first Thanksgiving?

The harvest feast usually called the first Thanksgiving took place at Plymouth Colony in autumn 1621 and lasted three days, with about 90 Wampanoag men and the surviving colonists.

Is it suitable for kids?

Yes. The questions are family friendly and every answer comes with a short explanation, so kids learn as they play.