What Should You Do To Celebrate Thanksgiving?

Watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is an iconic annual parade featuring giant balloons, live performances and more. This year marks the 100th anniversary since the parade started. However, the 100th actual parade wont take place until 2026 because from 1942-1944 the parade was cancelled due to rubber and helium shortages from World War 2, when they didn’t have enough materials to make the balloons or let them fly. The giant balloons used to be released into the sky at the end of the parade from 1929-1931, but the tradition ended when a balloon collided with a airplane. The new balloons this year are Marshall, Minnie Mouse, Spider Man, and Goku.

Watch a football game

Every year on Thanksgiving, it is tradition for the Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys to play a football game. The Lions have been playing on Thanksgiving since 1934, when the owner of the team came up with the genius idea of football on Thanksgiving. The Cowboys have been playing on Thanksgiving since 1966, when their team president volunteered to play one Thanksgiving as long as they were allowed to play on the holiday each year after that. In all their years of playing on Thanksgiving, the Lions and the Cowboys have never played each other on the special day. The NFL matchups this year are the Detroit Lions vs. the Chicago Bears, the Dallas Cowboys vs. the New York Giants, and the Miami Dolphins vs. the Green Bay Packers.

Cook all day

It is traditional to cook a lot of food on Thanksgiving. Below are some popular food items.

Appetizers:
-Butternut Squash Soup
Main Course:
- Turkey
Sides:
- Mashed Potatoes
- Cranberry Sauce
- Stuffing
- Gravy
- Sweet Potato Casserole
- Dinner Rolls
Beverage:
- Pumpkin Juice
Dessert:
- Apple Pie
- Pumpkin Pie
- Apple Crisp

Eat a Thanksgiving meal with family and friends

On Thanksgiving, it is traditional to share a meal with family and friends to celebrate. Although the meal is often referred to as “Thanksgiving Dinner”, a survey from Statista in 2018 shows that 42% of people actually eat between 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm. Only 14% of people eat a “true” Thanksgiving Dinner between 5:00 pm and 7:00 pm.

Shop

On the Friday after Thanksgiving, many stores have sales and discounts. It is widely considered to be one of the busiest shopping days of the year. Last year, 72.6 million people in the country went to stores to shop, and people spent 9.5 billion dollars.

Give thanks

Thanksgiving is a holiday that celebrates gratitude and thankfulness. Recently, a new themed day has arisen called “Giving Tuesday.” On this day, the first tuesday after Thanksgiving, it is becoming new tradition to make a charitable donation and support a meaningful cause. This day has only been officially celebrated since 2012. That year, 10 million dollars were raised through Giving Tuesday fundraisers. Amazingly, the day has become so widely appreciated that 3.1 billion dollars were raised in 2023. Giving Tuesday is one of the biggest days for charity of the year.