Thanksgiving Wheel

What each list is for

Choose a list with the buttons in What's on the wheel; each one fills the wheel and can be edited before you spin:

• Who brings what for a potluck: sides, pies, drinks and supplies, plus a vegetarian main, with the turkey or other main dish left to the host.
• Who does what for the kitchen and the table, from setting it to wrapping the leftovers.
• Gratitude questions for the table or a class circle: specific, easy to answer at any age, and none of them about money, health or anything private.
• After-dinner games for the long afternoon, with nothing to buy and almost nothing to set up.

A wheel helps at Thanksgiving because nobody has to be the one who decides. Send this wheel gives you a link for the family group chat that opens the same list on any phone, and its Google Classroom and Microsoft Teams buttons post it to a class. A sent wheel holds up to 40 entries, so each of these lists fits.

The lists on this wheel

Who brings what

Eighteen dishes and supplies for a potluck, from sides and pies to a vegetarian main and the ice; the turkey or other main dish stays with the host.

• Appetizers
• Green salad
• Mashed potatoes
• Sweet potatoes
• Stuffing
• Green beans
• Mac and cheese
• Roast veggies
• Cranberry sauce
• Cornbread
• Dinner rolls
• Pumpkin pie
• Apple pie
• Vegetarian main
• Drinks
• Ice
• Plates & cups
• To-go boxes

Who does what

Sixteen kitchen and table jobs, from setting the table to wrapping the leftovers.

• Set the table
• Place cards
• Peel potatoes
• Mash potatoes
• Stir the gravy
• Carve turkey
• Water glasses
• Make a toast
• Family photo
• Mind the kids
• Serve the pie
• Clear the table
• Wash dishes
• Dry dishes
• Wrap leftovers
• Take out trash

Gratitude questions

Sixteen specific questions that anyone at the table, or in a class circle, can answer in a sentence.

• What made you laugh this year?
• Who helped you out lately?
• Which small thing are you thankful for today?
• Name something new you learned lately.
• What's your favorite fall food?
• Where's a place near here you love to go?
• Which book, show or song did you love this year?
• What used to be hard for you that's easy now?
• Tell us something kind someone did for you.
• Which tradition would you like to keep?
• How do you want to spend this winter?
• What do you love most about fall?
• Tell us one thing you're proud of.
• Which everyday thing would you miss most?
• Pick an animal you're thankful for, and say why.
• What game are you glad someone taught you?

After-dinner games

Sixteen games for the long afternoon, most of them needing nothing more than paper and a pen.

• Charades
• Hand turkeys
• Who said it?
• Draw and guess
• Hot potato
• Pinecone hunt
• 10 fall foods
• Categories
• Hum the tune
• Who am I?
• Story circle
• Gratitude A–Z
• Paper planes
• Silent line-up
• Jigsaw puzzle
• Walk the block

A potluck that plans itself

The fairest way to hand out the dishes is to put the people on the wheel, not the food: every household gets one dish before anyone gets a second, and nobody can say the host chose.

1. Spin a week or two ahead, so every cook has time to shop.
2. Press Clear under the list and type the guests' names, one per line. For couples and families, one name per household is enough.
3. Before the first spin, press Send this wheel and post the link in the family group chat, so everyone can open the same names on their phone and see who is in the draw. They can spin it too, but the draw you post is the one that counts.
4. Turn on Remove the winner after each spin, so nobody gets a second dish before everyone has one.
5. Read out a dish from the Who brings what list under "The lists on this wheel" further down this page (its button in What's on the wheel would replace the names), spin for who brings it, and write the dish next to the name.
6. When one name is left, that guest takes the next dish: the wheel needs two names to spin. Press Reset to put everyone back and go around again for the rest of the dishes. Reset brings back the names from your first spin, as long as you have not edited the list since.
7. Post the finished list in the group chat: "Pie: Aunt Sue. Rolls: Tom. Green beans: the Garcias." If you lose track, the Results panel lists every name in the order it came up.

Prefer it the other way around? Keep the dish list on the wheel, delete whatever the host is making, then read out each guest's name and spin for their dish, with Remove the winner after each spin on so no dish is assigned twice.

Before anyone shops, ask the group about allergies and diets, and ask each cook to bring a note of what is in their dish. The list has a vegetarian main for guests who skip the turkey.

A fair split of the kitchen jobs

Thanksgiving has dozens of small jobs and a habit of handing all of them to the same two people. Spin them out before the meal instead.

• One job each. Read out each person's name and spin the Who does what list with Remove the winner after each spin on, so every job goes to someone different.
• Rotate the dishes. Doing the dishes is the job nobody wants, so take "Wash dishes" and "Dry dishes" off the job list and give them a spin of their own: put the names on the wheel and leave off whoever washed last year. If you would rather keep every name on, turn on Weighted choices and give last year's washer *1 while everyone else gets *2.
• Wash and dry go together. Spin once for who washes, then again for who dries, with Remove the winner after each spin on, so two different people share the sink.
• The toast is optional. Anyone who draws "Make a toast" and would rather not can swap it for any other job, no questions asked.

A kid-friendly version: delete the jobs with a blade, a hot pan or hot food (carving, peeling, mashing, the gravy, serving the pie) and add small ones such as "Fold the napkins", "Draw the place cards" or "Count the chairs". Then let the youngest person at the table press Spin.

A gratitude circle at the table or in class

"What are you thankful for?" is hard to answer on the spot, which is why the same three answers go around the table every year. A specific question is easier: "Who helped you out lately?" has an answer almost anyone can give in a sentence. The slices show the start of each question, and the whole question appears on the card when the wheel stops.

• At the table, pass a phone around while the pie is being cut: each person spins and answers. With Remove the winner after each spin on, nobody gets a question someone has already answered.
• In class, put the wheel on the board with Fullscreen, spin one question for the whole circle, and use the random student picker to choose who answers first.
• Answer the first one yourself, and keep it short: everyone copies the length of the first answer.
• "Pass" is always an answer. Nobody should have to explain why.

None of the sixteen asks about money, health, family arguments or faith, so they suit a mixed table and a classroom alike.

Games for the long afternoon

Between the meal and the pie there is usually an hour when nobody wants to move. The After-dinner games list is made for it: every game works with the people already in the room, and most need nothing but paper and a pen.

• Spin once and play it. Nobody has to argue for their favorite.
• Mixed ages: charades, hot potato and story circle (each person adds one sentence to a story) work across generations. Delete anything your youngest guests cannot play yet.
• Teams: split the room with the random team generator for charades or draw and guess, and spin the who goes first wheel to start.
• For a quiet room, start a jigsaw puzzle, or play gratitude A to Z: everyone in turn names something they are glad of, starting with the next letter of the alphabet.

How to play the less familiar ones:

• Hand turkeys: everyone traces a hand on paper, turns it into a turkey, and the table votes for the silliest one.
• Who said it? One person reads out something kind or funny that someone in the room often says, and the others guess who.
• Hot potato: pass a raw potato (or a rolled-up napkin) around the circle while a song plays on a phone. Whoever holds it when the music stops sits out the next round.
• Pinecone hunt: one person hides a pinecone while everyone else waits outside the room, and whoever finds it hides it next.
• 10 fall foods: each player gets one minute to name ten fall foods without repeating one already said.
• Categories: pick a letter and set a timer for a minute; everyone writes a food, a place and an animal starting with it, and only answers nobody else wrote score.
• Who am I? Each player wears a sticky note with a famous name they cannot see and asks yes-or-no questions until they guess it.
• Silent line-up: everyone lines up by birthday, January to December, without saying a word.

If your family or class does not celebrate Thanksgiving

Not every family celebrates Thanksgiving, and some schools mark the season with a fall harvest lunch instead. All four lists work for any shared meal in the fall, from a harvest potluck to a dinner with friends: take "Carve turkey" off the jobs list, type your own title in the Question or title box when you send the wheel, and the rest needs no change. The random activity picker has lists that work in any season.