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In the United States, Thanksgiving will be celebrated on Thursday, November 27th, 2025.
This can be a polarizing holiday. Whether employees dread family memories or dislike the day’s origins, it’s never a unanimous favorite. That’s why at work, we take extra care to focus on Turkey Day’s best PR representatives: food and thankfulness. Both are excellent for team bonding, and both are sort of what HeyTaco is all about.
No matter how each employee feels about it, we can help forge a positive association with this time of year by highlighting togetherness and the spirit of gratitude. Here are 21 Thanksgiving team-building activities, with options for in-person, hybrid, and remote teams.
Why celebrate Thanksgiving at work?
Acknowledging holidays at work can help improve work-life balance. It breaks up the routine, makes employees feel appreciated, and mirrors real life, where holidays happen.
Incidentally, all of this creates a more beneficial environment for camaraderie and familiarity across teams. Playing games, watching movies, or having lunch together gives us chances to see our coworkers in a new, more informal light. Employees need to feel they’re seen as humans at work. What we don’t discuss as often is that they can need help seeing one another that way, too.
Thanksgiving in particular is the perfect fit for a culture of appreciation. If you’ve wanted to center gratitude in your organization, but haven’t quite found the ideal time to begin, here it is.
Thanksgiving team-building ideas for the office
It’s easy for in-person teams to bask in the reason for the season. A handful of these Thanksgiving team-building ideas throughout the week can end up creating a new holiday tradition that reinforces team bonds.
1. Holiday food drive
Reach out to a local food bank and invite employees to gather canned goods and other non-perishables. Discuss which goods are in demand this season and meet those needs with higher-value items.
2. Gratitude card swap
Teams can buy or make holiday cards for a coworker they’re grateful for. Or, have management drop a line for each team member. Keeping morale up during holidays is important, as it’s a high turnover time of year.
3. Chili cookoff
Who’s taking the prize–three-bean vegetarian or beef with extra taco seasoning? We won’t make our predictions yet. But we do encourage extra care and coordination when hauling your famous secret chili recipe to work.
4. Friendsgiving celebration
If Thanksgiving isn’t a part of everyone’s culture, or they’re far away from family, host a Friendsgiving. Allow teams to include foods or activities that they’d like to make part of the tradition.
5. Gratitude wall
Clear the employee wall and dedicate the last half of November to gratitude. Tack up a cutout of a tree with bare branches. Employees add “leaves” of sticky notes sharing what they’re thankful for.
6. Pie-making contest
Pumpkin, sweet potato, berry, apple. Everyone’s a winner when the team gets to sample various seasonal pastries. This is an instance where a physical award won’t go unappreciated; every home baker loves a blue ribbon.
7. Gratitude jar
If the gratitude wall is making some employees feel a little sheepish, have them add their thanks anonymously to a gratitude jar. Bust out these missives at meetings, so perhaps the group realizes they’re also grateful for these little things. “I’m thankful that everyone here is also in a bad mood on Mondays. That way, mine doesn’t stand out.”
8. Volunteer day
Shelters, soup kitchens, animal rescues, assisted living facilities–many of these places need extra hands during the holiday season. If you want to make charitable contributions part of Thanksgiving team building, there’s no better way to bond.
9. Thanksgiving potluck
Give the team some extra time mid-day to do Thanksgiving their way. Ordering in or homemade, a veritable cornucopia of their faves makes a great fall feast.
10. Afternoon movie
Surprise everyone before they break for the holidays by switching on a classic Thanksgiving movie instead of pushing for a deadline.
11. Holiday decorating
Every office has at least a few people who are crazy for Christmas. Let them head up an informal decorating committee and get the fun started. Thanksgiving is the traditional time to start decking the halls.
12. Thanksgiving coloring or crafting
If your organization backs any mindfulness-as-wellness initiatives, swap out the meeting for a little coloring or crafting session. These activities are good for switching off the brain, putting adult concerns aside temporarily, and enjoying the present moment.
13. Administrative hours
Give teams time to play catch-up, collaborate to solve challenges, and clear the decks as the year winds down. If it’s been a high-pressure period, they’ll be grateful!
14. Caramel apple decorating
Sweet treat-oriented teams can dip apples in caramel and deck them out with candy, nuts, chocolate drizzle, and more.
15. Coffee break
Let coworkers treat one another to their favorite seasonal beverage, from spice-laden teas and warm ciders to triple-shot lattes that make the afternoon fly by. Pair them off at random, crossing departments if possible.
16. Game day
From trivia tournaments to video games, any holiday is ideal for letting teams engage with their preferred games. When everyone looks forward to playing a particular game together, it’s a sure sign of an effective team ritual.
17. Autumnal icebreakers
“Do you prefer apples or pumpkins?” “What’s your favorite thing about fall weather?” “Do you have any fall traditions?” Steer your usual icebreaker sessions toward seasonal topics.
Remote team-building activities for Thanksgiving
Virtual employees want to build stronger team connections. However, they’re often too focused on their own plates to take initiative. These Thanksgiving-relevant team activities involve short time investments, gratifying deeds, and easy participation.
18. Gratitude minute
It takes just one minute at the end of a virtual meeting. Go around the “room” and let everyone share what they’re thankful for.
19. Recipe swap
If your team is so inclined, create an annual holiday cookbook that finds its legs during the season of feasting. Let employees share their favorite recipes, and don’t forget to let them know how well it worked in your kitchen.
20. Volunteer day, virtual teams edition
Letting employees have the day off to do volunteer work in their area is a great holiday gift. After all, this is an activity people want to do, but struggle making time for. Have everyone who participates share their experience, helping to reinforce company values such as leadership and respect.
21. Virtual gratitude wall
Use a platform of your choosing to make a virtual employee wall, and dedicate it to gratitude for the holiday season. Let employees know you’re prioritizing the small stuff, so they look for tiny moments or kindnesses that deserve a bigger spotlight.
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🎄BONUS: Get a head start on Christmas cheer. Check out more holiday celebrations, team activity, and gift ideas. |
Give thanks every day with HeyTaco 🌮
What if your latest team-building exercise became more than a Thanksgiving tradition? What if it were merely the jumping-off point for daily appreciation?
HeyTaco integrates seamlessly into workflows to make gestures of gratitude second nature. Try it for free and make work more meaningful year-round.
