21 Amazing Facts About Thanksgiving to Share with Your Family and Friends

Thanksgiving is the second most popular holiday in the United States, according to a Harris poll (2015). People drive 50 miles or more to see family, eat too much, and watch lots of football. Millions also watch the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

What do you and your family do?

If you need something to talk about, these Thanksgiving facts will spark conversation.

Thanksgiving Turkey Trivia

• The Butterball Turkey hotline takes over 100,000 questions about cooking the holiday feast each year.
• Americans eat over 44 million turkeys (averaging 16 pounds apiece) on Thanksgiving. If you put all that meat on a scale, it would weigh 704 million pounds.
• TV dinners got their start after Swanson overbought 260 tons of turkey. A sales rep named Gerry Thomas suggested they package the turkey with peas, dressing, gravy, and sweet potatoes in tin trays like the airlines used. 10 million trays sold the first year and TV dinners won a permanent spot at the grocery store.
• Ben Franklin wanted the turkey to be America’s national mascot.  In a letter to his daughter, he wrote “the Turkey is in Comparison (to the bald eagle) a much more respectable Bird.”
• Studies show it’s not the tryptophan in turkey that makes you sleepy.  It’s the 4500 calories of food you ate on Thanksgiving.
• 8 in 10 people say they prefer Thanksgiving leftovers.

These Turkey Accents will brighten up your classroom for Thanksgiving.

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade Trivia

• The first Macy’s Thanksgiving parade was in 1924.  It was so popular they got a TV contract with NBC a few years after.
• The first balloon character was Felix the Cat.  They hadn’t planned to deflate it, so it drifted up and popped shortly after the parade ended.
• The first parade featured animals from the Central Park Zoo, puppets on floats, and no        balloons.
• 3.5 million people go to New York City to watch, some arriving as early as 6:30 AM to grab a good spot. Over 50 million watch the parade on TV. 
• Macy’s parade is the largest float parade in the world. 
• Sonic the Hedgehog is the first video game character to get a balloon in the parade.
• Peanuts character Snoopy has the most balloons, with 8 featured in the parade since 1968.

Decorate your bulletin board with this Fall Winter Snoopy Pose Bb Set. 

Holiday Football Facts

• The first football game played on Thanksgiving was in 1876.  Yale took on Princeton.
• The Detroit Lions have played every Thanksgiving since 1934.  The only exception was when the players were called to fight in World War 2.
• The Dallas Cowboys have played all but 2 Thanksgivings since 1966.
• The Jacksonville Jaguars have never played on Thanksgiving Day.

Need a football to toss with family and friends on Thanksgiving?  We’ve got some:

Coated Foam Ball Football (softer for the kids)  Football Official Size

How Thanksgiving Became a National Holiday

• George Washington declared a National Day of Thanks on November 26, 1789. He wanted Americans to thank God for protecting them and helping them achieve independence.
• Thomas Jefferson didn’t want Thanksgiving to be a national holiday. He felt it would violate the First Amendment separation of church and state. 
• Sarah Josepha Hale lobbied to make Thanksgiving a holiday for decades. Finally, in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln granted her wish. She was also known for writing the childhood favorite Mary Had a Little Lamb.
• The first U.S. President to officially pardon a turkey was John F. Kennedy.

Welcome guests with this Thanksgiving Allinone Door Décor Kit.  

Thanksgiving Activities for Preschoolers

Turkey Dinner Collage

All you need is some glue, scissors, food clip art you can print out, and paper plates. Have the children cut out their favorite foods and glue them on the plates. (Thanks to PreKinders for this idea.)

Thankful Cards

One piece of construction paper should do. Have them write what they’re thankful for. Encourage them to add a picture they draw or paste on. Studies show that grateful people are happier, get better grades, and don’t get sick as often as ungrateful people.

Thanksgiving Countdown

Make a paper chain with enough links to count down the days until Thanksgiving. Each day a student tears off one link and everyone counts what’s left. (Thanks to Preschool Plan-it for this one.)

We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration. If you’d like to share your Thanksgiving traditions with us, we’d love to hear about them!