Thanksgiving Trivia Game



Felix the Cat was no turkey


Do you know what character was the first Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon?  Who was the first woman who stepped off the Mayflower onto Plymouth Rock?

You would if you played my Thanksgiving trivia game.

I created this to use an icebreaker at a recent event by sticking labels on attendees' backs. They had to ask others questions about who they were.  When guests come, label their backs and pass out copies of the explanations to help with the questions and answers and add to the learning.  If you have guests who are strong on Thanksgiving facts, you could make it a trivia contest over dessert.

Thanksgiving Trivia and Name Game


Who or What/Description

Squanto/A Wampanoag Indian who traveled to England and was later kidnapped and held to be sold into slavery. He helped the Pilgrims and was a friend of the colony. He helped with food and agricultural practices as well as translation and guiding. He died in 1622. His loss was mourned by the Pilgrims.

John Weymouth/The English explorer who traveled with Squanto and later paid Squanto’s way back to the New World after Squanto was rescued from slavery

Samoset/A member of the Wabanake tribe who Squanto met in England and who traveled back to New England coast with Squanto. He made the actual first contact with the settlers by saying “Welcome.”

Massasiot Ousamequin/ Leader of the Wampanoags. He sent his tribe members back for more food during the celebration when it appeared that the Pilgrims had not realized how many Native Americans would be attending.

Myles Standish/ Military leader of the Plymouth Colony and Mayflower expedition. Supposedly asked John Alden to woo Pricilla Mullens for him. Never a Piligrim, he helped found the town of Duxbury, Mass. The Pilgrims met him in Holland.

John Alden /Said to be the first person to set foot on Plymouth Rock. A ship’s cooper. In Longfellow’s 1858 poem is said to have courted Priscilla on behalf of the widowed Standish, but there is no evidence to that. He had Priscilla have the most descendents of any Mayflower arrival – including John Adams, Jodie Foster, and Longfellow himself

Priscilla Mullens /See above. Only 17 when the Mayflower set sail, her parents and brother died during the first winter. Her marriage to Alden was the third the Pilgrims celebrated in the New World.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow/ American poet and descendent of Alden and Mullens. He based his famous 1858 poem “The Courtship of Miles Standish” on family tradition, although there is no historical evidence. A great-great-grandson of the Aldens did publish the story in 1814

Mary Chilton Winslow /First woman to step upon Plymouth Rock. She later married the brother of a Mayflower passenger, moved to Boston and had 10 children.

William Bradford/ Governor of the colony for more than 30 years. Took major responsibility for arranging Mayflower exodus. One of the founders of the religion the Pilgrims practiced.

William Brewster/ Only one of original Pilgrims to have any university training. Helped organize the separatist religion and helped win approval from the Virginia Company to settle in the New World

George Washington /Created the first “national” Thanksgiving Day in 1789

Abraham Lincoln/ Created the recurring national Thanksgiving Day in 1863 with annual observances after campaign by Hale

Sarah Josepha Hale/ Wrote “Mary Had a Little Lamb” – Writer, editor - She campaigned for national day of Thanksgiving

Franklin D. Roosevelt/ Moved Thanksgiving from the “last” Thursday to the fourth and later the third Thursday of the month, some say to help increase the impact of the Christmas shopping season during the depression. Many states kept to the older schedule, resulting in “Republican” and “Democrat” Thanksgivings, with the later also known as “Franksgiving.” In 1941, Congress set the official date for Thanksgiving, but as late at 1956 some states were not in conformity to it.

Felix the Cat/ A silent film cartoon character who first appeared in 1919’s Feline Follies who became very popular in American culture. He was the first inflatable balloon introduced into the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1927, although he was not filled with helium until the year after. The inflatable balloons were introduced to replace the animals from the Central Park Zoo who used to be part of the parade.

Detroit Lions/ The Lions have hosted a Thanksgiving Day NFL football game since 1934. The NFL has offered TD games since the league began in 1920.

Speedwell/ The ill-fated second ship the Pilgrims set sail on. It began taking on water and most colonists were transferred to the Mayflower (although some had to be left behind for space). It was later determined that the crew itself damaged the ship to get out of the year-long contract to go to the New World and back.

Mayflower/ The ship the Pilgrims made it to America in

Oceanus Hopkins/ The only child born to the Pilgrims during the crossing. He died a few years later. Son of Pilgrims Stephen and Elizabeth Hopkins

Irene Castle/ Along with her husband and dance partner, Vernon Castle, she helped to introduce the dance the Turkey Trot in the 1910s. Vernon and Irene were popular specialty and ballroom dancers. A movie of their life was made in 1939 with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers

Thomas Hunt/ British slaver who kidnapped 20 Native Americans from the Plymouth area (including Squanto) and attempted to sell them for 20 pounds each in Spain. Was a one-time lieutenant of John Smith of the Virginia Colony.

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Photo credit: SheKnows