Family Trivia Night #1, Thanksgiving: answers and sources
Spoilers ahead! Play the video first. Here is every answer, the fun fact and the source we checked it against.
Scores: 0-19: Leftovers · 20-29: Side dish · 30-39: Main course · 40+: Pie champions. Don't forget your Couch Wager. Spotted a mistake? Email hello@ahaville.com with the question number.
Level 1: The feast
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Let's start easy: which bird stars at Thanksgiving dinner?
Turkey A wild turkey's head can change color when it's excited.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_turkey · nwtf.org/content/hunt/turkey-facts
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Which orange pie is a Thanksgiving classic?
Pumpkin pie It's the official state pie of Illinois.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumpkin_pie · wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._state_foods
- 3
Which tart red berry becomes a sauce for the turkey?
Cranberries Cranberries grow on low vines in sandy bogs.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Cranberry
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What do shoppers call the day after Thanksgiving?
Black Friday Cyber Monday comes three days later.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_(shopping) · wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyber_Monday
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Which country celebrates its Thanksgiving in October?
Canada It falls on the second Monday of October.
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What is Thanksgiving dinner with friends called?
Friendsgiving Merriam-Webster added the word in 2020.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendsgiving · merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Friendsgiving
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What sound is a turkey famous for?
A gobble It's mostly the males that gobble.
Source: nwtf.org/content/hunt/turkey-facts · wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_turkey
- 8
Which vegetable goes in the classic casserole with crispy onions?
Green beans The recipe was created in 1955.
- 9
In the South, what is stuffing often called?
Dressing Southern dressing is often made with cornbread.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuffing
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Last easy one: which NFL team plays at home every Thanksgiving?
Detroit Lions A tradition since 1934, except for the war years.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving_Day_football · wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit_Lions
Level 2: The parade
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Which store puts on New York's big Thanksgiving parade?
Macy's NBC has shown it nationally since 1953.
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Which gas lifts the giant parade balloons?
Helium The first balloons, in 1927, held plain air.
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Which cartoon cat flew in the parade's first balloon lineup?
Felix the Cat That was 1927. Garfield's balloon came in 1984.
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Which Peanuts star has the most parade balloon appearances?
Snoopy He first flew in the parade in 1968.
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Who arrives on the very last float?
Santa Claus His arrival kicks off the holiday season.
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The parade ends outside Macy's in which square?
Herald Square It's on 34th Street, in Manhattan.
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Where are the balloons inflated the night before?
By the Natural History Museum Crowds come by to watch them take shape.
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Why was the parade canceled from 1942 to 1944?
Rubber and helium went to war Macy's gave its balloons to the war as scrap rubber.
- 19
What does Macy's call a float with a balloon on it?
Falloon A balloonicle is a balloon with its own vehicle.
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Last one: which dance troupe performs at the parade every year?
The Rockettes They've danced in it every year since 1957.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Macy%27s_Thanksgiving_Day_Parade · wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockettes
Level 3: Quick: holiday movies
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Almost there! 🦌🔴👃
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolph_the_Red-Nosed_Reindeer_(TV_spe...
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Level 4: Football and the states
- 31
Besides the Lions, which team hosts almost every Thanksgiving?
Dallas Cowboys They've hosted since 1966, missing only two years.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving_Day_football · wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallas_Cowboys
- 32
How many NFL games are played on Thanksgiving Day?
3 games There have been three every year since 2006.
- 33
What did John Madden give the stars of Thanksgiving games?
Turkey legs His Turkey Leg Award began in 1989.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Madden · wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving_Day_football
- 34
In 1993, what rare weather hit the Cowboys' Thanksgiving game?
Snow Miami won 16-14 with a last-second field goal.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Lett · wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving_Day_football
- 35
Which state raises the most turkeys?
Minnesota It raised over 33 million in 2025.
Source: nass.usda.gov/Publications/Todays_Reports/reports/tuky092...
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Which state grows the most cranberries?
Wisconsin It grows more than half of America's cranberries.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Cranberry · nass.usda.gov/
- 37
Which state grows the most sweet potatoes?
North Carolina It's also North Carolina's official state vegetable.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_potato · wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._state_foods
- 38
Pecan pie is the official state pie of which state?
Texas The pecan is Texas' state tree, too.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._state_foods · wikipedia.org/wiki/Pecan
- 39
Police in which city first called it Black Friday?
Philadelphia They meant the crowds and traffic jams.
- 40
Last one: which sitcom had a Thanksgiving episode every season?
Friends In one, Joey gets a turkey stuck on his head.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/The_One_with_All_the_Thanksgivings · wikipedia.org/wiki/Friends
Level 5: Impossible
- 41
What do scientists call a bird's wishbone?
Furcula It's two collarbones joined together.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Furcula
- 42
Which amino acid in turkey gets blamed for sleepiness?
Tryptophan Chicken has about as much of it.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Tryptophan
- 43
Thanksgiving campaigner Sarah Josepha Hale published which rhyme?
Mary Had a Little Lamb She wrote to presidents for 17 years for the holiday.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Josepha_Hale · wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Had_a_Little_Lamb
- 44
What is the latest date Thanksgiving can fall on?
November 28 The earliest is November 22.
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Which president gave the first official turkey pardon?
George H. W. Bush That was in 1989, at the White House.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Thanksgiving_Turkey_Presentat...
- 46
Why do cranberries float?
They have air pockets inside So farmers flood the bogs to harvest them.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Cranberry
- 47
Most canned pumpkin comes from which kind of pumpkin?
Dickinson It's tan and looks more like a squash.
- 48
In 1928, what did Macy's do with the balloons after the parade?
Let them float away Finders could return them for a reward.
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Today's farm turkeys come from birds tamed in which country?
Mexico Spanish explorers took them to Europe in the 1500s.
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The very last one. Which Thanksgiving tradition is the oldest?
College football games Yale played Princeton on Thanksgiving in 1876.
The Big Aha stories
- The first Macy's parade had zoo animals: On Thanksgiving morning in 1924, Macy's workers marched through New York with floats, bands, and animals borrowed from the Central Park Zoo. They walked about six miles, from Harlem all the way down to the store on 34th Street. At the end, Santa Claus took a seat above the store's entrance, and was crowned King of the Kiddies. The crowds loved it, so Macy's did it again. In 1927, giant balloons took the animals' place. Sources: wikipedia.org/wiki/Macy%27s_Thanksgiving_Day_Parade · macys.com/social/parade/history/
- The year America had two Thanksgivings: In 1939, Thanksgiving was the last Thursday of November. That year, it would fall on November 30. Stores feared a short Christmas shopping season in hard times. So President Franklin Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving a week earlier. Not every state went along. Some kept the old date, so the country celebrated on two different Thursdays. Critics called the early one Franksgiving. In 1941, Congress settled it by law: Thanksgiving is the fourth Thursday of November. Sources: archives.gov/legislative/features/thanksgiving · prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2023/11/20/thanksgiving-as-a-...
Bonus question
What is a baby turkey called? We reveal the answer in the pinned comment under the video.