Unusual Thanksgiving Dinner Ideas – Food & Activities

Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November in the United States and on various dates in other countries like Canada. Thanksgiving started as a day for people to give thanks for the fruits of the harvest and the blessings of the preceding year and dates back to the 17th century.

Thanksgiving was federally formalized in the US through Abraham Lincoln’s presidential proclamation in 1863 with Congress formally confirming it to be held on the fourth Thursday in November in 1941. Traditionally a celebration of the year and the harvest, in the modern incarnation it is common for Americans to share a family meal, attend church services and watch special sporting events.

Thanksgiving kicks off what Americans call the ‘Holiday Season’ with the following day – Black Friday – marking the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. In this guide to unusual ways to spend Thanksgiving, we will look at some unusual Thanksgiving dinner ideas as well as non-traditional things to do with friends and family.

• Non-Traditional Thanksgiving Ideas for Dinner
• Unconventional Thanksgiving Ideas
• Thanksgiving Controversy

Non-Traditional Thanksgiving Ideas for Dinner

The centerpiece of the Thanksgiving holiday is the Thanksgiving dinner, which often consists of foods native to the Americas. You will usually find roast turkey as the main part of the meal – with 40 million turkeys consumed on Thanksgiving Day in 2019. This is usually accompanied by mashed or roast potatoes as well as various fall vegetables, sweetcorn, sweet potatoes, squash, gravy, stuffing and cranberry sauce, with pumpkin pie often served for dessert.

However, if you just aren’t a fan of turkey – some people complain it can be too dry – or you fancy changing things up and serving something different this Thanksgiving, we have a world of unusual Thanksgiving dinner ideas you can try. If you still want to go for a roast, then we suggest prime rib which will wow your guests. Well-cooked prime rib is full of flavor, juicy and will work with all the usual trimmings you make for Thanksgiving. Other great non-traditional Thanksgiving ideas include bacon-wrapped pork medallions, honey-roast ham or cider-glazed roast chicken.

Those looking to veer away from the typical meat roast will find they open up a number of different avenues for enticing spreads. Lasagna is a crowd favorite and is great for large numbers of people and you could even opt for pumpkin lasagna for a more seasonal approach. A great decadent choice is lobster risotto, which is sure to add a little luxury to proceedings, while true comfort food in the form of a chicken pot pie will win any skeptics over.

For a completely different approach utilizing seasonal produce, why not try a butternut squash or pumpkin curry? If you need a vegan selection, a hearty vegan meatloaf can be made from chickpeas and mushrooms or for vegetarians go for a French-style vegetarian casserole that combines the delights of ratatouille and potatoes au gratin.

Sides can be just as important as the main meal and a grapefruit and goat’s cheese fennel salad is something people might never have tried before, which would work nicely with grilled fish or a beef stew. Sweet and sour braised red cabbage is a vibrant winter wonder, or a sweet potato salad with feta, dried cranberries and red onions. Let yourself get creative with your thinking and set a new tradition.

Unconventional Thanksgiving Ideas

Thanksgiving is celebrated through big public parades in cities across the USA such as Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade in New York City, America’s Thanksgiving Parade in downtown Detroit and ABC’s Dunkin’ Donuts Thanksgiving Day Parade in Philadelphia. You can get involved in the revelry of the parades if you live in or close to one of the cities where they are hosted, or just sit back and watch along at home on TV.

Churches all across the country hold special services over the Thanksgiving weekend, while American football is synonymous with Thanksgiving for many. Professional games often take place on Thanksgiving Day, with the NFL playing games on Thanksgiving since its creation in 1920. The Detroit Lions always host a Thanksgiving Day game as do the Dallas Cowboys, while the league added a third game in 2006. It is a big moment in the calendar for sportsbooks and the best daily fantasy sites, but if you want to do something out of the ordinary, here are some unconventional Thanksgiving ideas for things to do.

Friendsgiving

Friendsgiving emerged in the 2010s as an alternative to Thanksgiving for people who could not or did not want to return home for the holiday or simply wanted to celebrate with their friends. It often takes place the weekend before or after Thanksgiving Day itself and was popularized by millennials, since developing into an additional celebration to Thanksgiving itself.

The meal involved at Friendsgiving is often a potluck where each guest brings a dish to be shared by everyone, with participants either groups of friends or coworkers. It has increased in popularity as the millennial generation’s habits of delaying marriage and parenthood until later on in their lives have become commonplace. For many people who stay unmarried or don’t have children longer into their adult years, the most important people in their lives are likely to be their friends and not family members. If this sounds like you, then gather your closest friends and enjoy a Friendsgiving together.

Turkey Trot

However you celebrate Thanksgiving it’s usually a time of fairly substantial eating and drinking, so it won’t hurt to build some exercise into the festivities. Turkey Trots are typically 5k races but do range in length from casual one-mile (1.6km) fun runs to full-on marathons and are growing in popularity for many.

The first ever Turkey Trot took place in Buffalo, New York back in 1896 and remains one of the biggest in the country to this day. Starting Thanksgiving Day with a run is a great way to build up an appetite for the big meal later and the whole family can join in this healthy activity

Volunteer

A nice way to spend Thanksgiving is to volunteer your time to a charity and give back to those in need. Most communities will put on food drives where they collect a range of non-perishable items, while charities like The Salvation Army serve up Thanksgiving dinners to hundreds of people in various different locations. If you can’t find the time during Thanksgiving, you can always get involved in Giving Tuesday, which takes five days later and is a celebration of charitable giving.

Football

As we’ve already explained football is a strong Thanksgiving pastime but you don’t just have to watch it on TV. Touch football is a safe and fun way to get your family and friends together for a team-building activity that everyone will enjoy.

If you want to take in a live game, there are many options with the regular college football season ending on Thanksgiving weekend, with lots of teams playing a rival then. Some high school football games including state championships as well as more casual ‘Turkey Bowl’ matches take place over the weekend as well as your usual backyard games.

Watch Thanksgiving TV

If you do want to relax in front of the TV you can jump into a host of Thanksgiving specials, while we love the holiday episodes of popular shows like Gilmore Girls, Bob’s Burgers and everyone’s favorite Friends.

One particularly strange event during this holiday is the National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation which is a ceremony taking place at the White House Every year shortly before Thanksgiving where the president of the United States pardons a turkey. This sees the National Turkey Federation (NTF) present a live domestic turkey to the president who spares the turkey from slaughter. It started in the 1940s and since the 1970s during George W Bush’s presidency instead of being slaughtered and eaten the turkey was pardoned and spared.

Thanksgiving Controversy

Non-traditional Thanksgiving ideas and unique Thanksgiving ideas may become more appealing when you discover the murky controversy surrounding the holiday. The history of Thanksgiving centers around an autumn harvest feast on Thursday November 28, 1621 held between the Pilgrims and their Native American neighbors in Plymouth, Massachusetts. In September 1620 a small ship named the Mayflower left Plymouth in England with over 100 passengers in search of religious freedom in a ‘new world’ and after a punishing crossing lasting over 66 days eventually surfaced by the tip of Cape Cod, further north than their intended destination which was to be the mouth of the Hudson River.

A month later, the Mayflower crossed over Massachusetts Bay into Plymouth where they began working to establish a settlement. During their first winter in their new home only half of the ship’s passengers survived to see their first New England spring, finally leaving the ship and moving ashore. The first settlers were greeted by tribesmen who taught the Pilgrims how to survive and feed themselves in the area as well as forge an alliance with the Wampanoag local tribe which endured for over 50 years.

After their first successful corn harvest, Pilgrim Governor William Bradford organized a feast to celebrate with the Wampanoag people which lasted for three days. It is now remembered as America’s ‘first Thanksgiving’, with the second taking place in 1623 and starting an annual tradition to give thanks for that year’s harvest.

However, controversy surrounds the myth of the first Thanksgiving and the story that the friendly Indians welcomed the Pilgrims to their America, taught them how to survive there, and then sat down to share dinner with them before disappearing. Many Americans – especially those of Native American ancestry – believe Thanksgiving celebrations hide the true history of violence and bloodshed that really took place between these European settlers and Native Americans.