Would You Rather? 30 Thanksgiving Dinner & Gratitude Dilemmas
Activity Workshop · Printables
Would You Rather? 30 Thanksgiving Dinner & Gratitude Dilemmas
Thanksgiving is the one meal a year built entirely around a table full of people — the turkey coming out of the oven, the drive to grandma's house, the kids' table negotiations, and the quiet moment before everyone digs in when someone asks what they're thankful for. This printable collects 30 would-you-rather dilemmas made for exactly that mood: food, cooking, family visits, and the small things worth being grateful for, with nothing required but a table and someone willing to ask the question.\n\nWe've split the questions into three levels by age, from easy picks like mashed potatoes versus stuffing for the youngest kids, to harder questions about tradition, honesty, and what gratitude actually means for older ones. The sheet is built to be used again and again all season — at the dinner table, in the car on the way to grandma's, or as a calm classroom warm-up the week before the holiday.
About this sheet
Thanksgiving dinner has a very specific kind of waiting built into it — the turkey still has forty minutes to go, the adults are talking, and every kid at the table is somewhere between hungry and bored. This printable exists for exactly that stretch of time: no batteries, no extra pieces, just a sheet of questions that turns waiting into an actual conversation.
It's also built to be different from a generic would-you-rather sheet. Every dilemma here lives inside the Thanksgiving world specifically — turkey versus ham, pie versus pie, the parade versus the football game, gravy versus cranberry sauce — so the questions feel like they belong at this particular table, not recycled from any other holiday or any other day of the year.
The gratitude questions are doing real work too, not just decoration. Instead of asking kids to simply list something they're thankful for, several dilemmas ask them to weigh two honest options against each other — saying thanks out loud versus writing it down, a big once-a-year thank-you versus noticing small things daily — which tends to produce better answers than a straight "what are you thankful for" ever does.
Print it once and it's good for the whole week: the actual dinner table, the car ride to grandma's house, a rainy afternoon with cousins, or a calm classroom warm-up the Monday before break. Keep it somewhere easy to grab, since the best moment to use it is usually whenever the meal isn't quite ready yet.
What you get
- 30 Thanksgiving-themed would-you-rather dilemmas, sorted easy / medium / hard
- A follow-up question for every dilemma, so kids explain their pick instead of just naming one
- One clean printable page, ready for the dinner table, the car, or the classroom
- No prep and no supplies — just print and start asking
How to use it
- Print the sheet. Download and print the single page in black and white or color — no cutting or assembly required.
- Pick a level. Start with the easy dilemmas for younger kids, move to medium for the family table, or jump to the hard set for tweens and teens.
- Ask and follow up. Read the dilemma out loud, let everyone make their pick, then ask the follow-up question so each person explains why.
- Reuse it all season. Keep the sheet handy for the car ride to grandma's, the wait before dinner, or a classroom warm-up the week of the holiday.
Download free
Pick an age, download the A4 PDF with answers, and print. No sign-up.
Frequently asked questions
- What ages is this printable for?
- The 30 dilemmas are grouped into easy, medium, and hard tiers, so the same sheet works for a five-year-old at the kids' table and a thoughtful twelve-year-old sitting with the adults — just pick the tier that fits.
- Do I need anything besides the printed page?
- No. There's nothing to cut out, color, or set up beforehand — just print the single page and read a dilemma out loud whenever there's a few spare minutes before or during the meal.
- Can I use this at the actual Thanksgiving table?
- Yes, that's exactly what it's designed for — pass it around the table while the turkey rests, or use one or two dilemmas as an icebreaker before everyone starts eating.
- How is this different from a regular would-you-rather game?
- Every question here is written specifically for Thanksgiving — turkey, pie, family visits, gratitude — rather than being generic silly dilemmas, and each one comes with a follow-up question that asks the child to explain their choice instead of just picking an answer.
- Can I use it for a classroom Thanksgiving activity?
- Yes — teachers often use a handful of the easier questions as a calm five-minute warm-up the week before break, since no supplies or prep are needed beyond the printed sheet.
- Why do some questions ask about gratitude instead of just food?
- Thanksgiving is as much about giving thanks as it is about the meal, so several dilemmas ask kids to weigh two honest ways of being grateful against each other, which tends to lead to a more thoughtful answer than simply naming one thing they're thankful for.