5 Tips for a Virtual Thanksgiving

The promise to change Thanksgiving plans can help keep our families safe. These five ideas can make your virtual Thanksgiving fun and memorable! 


1. Organize a Show & Tell

There’s probably some item in your house that tells an interesting story about who you are or what you care about. Before Thanksgiving, ask each person to select one to three items from their house for a show and tell. On Thanksgiving Day, each person has 1-3 minutes to tell the story of each item. Feel free to ask follow up questions to keep the conversation lively.

2. Talk about New Year’s Resolutions

The new year is just around the corner and people love talking about themselves 🙂 Tap into the hope that the new year brings and ask each person what they hope to accomplish in 2021. Read this list of common New Year’s resolutions to get started and then share yours first. Remind everyone it’s not that they are committing to anything, just thinking about possibilities of what they may pursue.

BONUS IDEA: Print Promise Cards and put commitments in writing! Download our template at www.becauseisaidiwould.org/printcards

3. Ask Icebreaker Questions

A lot of virtual Thanksgiving ideas center around games (which is a great) but you might be surprised at how well creative ice breaker questions can start and keep a conversation going. Here is a list of great icebreaker questions:

  1. The zombie apocalypse is coming, who are three people you want on your team? And why?
  2. If you were a wrestler, what would be your entrance theme song?
  3. You have your own late night talk show, who do you invite as your first guest?
  4. What is your favorite quote or the best piece of advice that you have been given?
  5. What fictional family would you like to be a member of? Lol
  6. If you could write a book that was guaranteed to be a bestseller, what would it be about?
  7. Go here for more! 

4. Reflect on Gratitude

Let’s not miss the entire point of the holiday. Watch this compelling TED Talk on gratitude in advance or in each household at the same time. (Mute mics to prevent feedback and remind everyone to turn on Closed Captioning. It’s not a perfect transcription, but captions are helpful if computer speakers aren’t great.) Then have everyone share what they are most thankful for this year! Go first to get the ball rolling!

5. See More People

Physical distance prevents you from attending multiple Thanksgivings in different cities. That’s no longer true. Video calls are now much more culturally acceptable so you can connect with people you usually don’t see on this important day. Create a list of Thanksgiving celebrations you typically wouldn’t go to but would love to join. Text or email the host(s) ahead of time, asking in advance if it would be OK to call and say hello. Here are three ideas to help get the conversation started!

  1. Describe a meaningful holiday tradition.
  2. Show off your dog or cat and tell how you got them!
  3. Share one positive thing that has happened during the pandemic.

CDC Guidelines for Thanksgiving