Here's Your BEST Family Thanksgiving Activity… An Escape Room!

A roomful of smiles. Real, eyes-wide-open, mouth-going-a-million-miles-an-hour smiles.

Because it’s that feeling of connection which makes for a perfect Thanksgiving. There’s a reason why this is a family holiday, after all!

Unfortunately, I don’t need to tell you how impossible it can seem to make those connections. Between all that stressful prep-work, constant TV watching, and the inevitable food coma, you’re lucky to get past the small talk. Yikes! The struggle is real…

Don’t worry. This is where an escape room game comes in clutch. Sometimes, people just need a little kick of adventure to bring them together… and boy… are you in for an adventure!

You see, escape room games are more than a series of puzzles. They’re an epic quest just waiting to be conquered. Your family will be thrown into a butt-clenchingly dire situation and asked to think their way out. It’s the kind of engaging team challenge that gets everyone laughing, panicking, and working together within minutes!

The best part? The buzz carries on long after your game ends. Because now everyone has something in common, and a story to share. From there, the conversation just flows on...

Plus, by using a printable kit you can host the whole experience in your own living room, with less than 30min of setup and basically no cleanup necessary. Talk about stress-free!

In short, the best family thanksgiving activities kickstart conversations. And an at-home escape room game boosts you straight through the small talk into genuine connection!

Be prepared, your escape game will be the hit of the night… or at least a close runner-up to the turkey and pumpkin pie.

Depending on what you need this holiday, there are a couple of different ways that you can use the game kit. Read on for the Escape Wizards’ official Thanksgiving-specific recommendations, or check out these real-life examples of awesome escape room parties.

1. Kid Containment Protocol. 

If you need to keep a gaggle of kids occupied for the afternoon, set up the escape room game in a spare room. This will give you a moment to set things in order before the big rush… or maybe buy you some valuable alone-time! (Trust me, the escape goblins are exactly the same, I totally understand!).

If you’re not feeling in the mood to be supervising a game right now, then hand the task off to one of the older kids. Don’t worry, the setup and game guides are spoiler free so they won’t miss out. Plus, they’ll get that all-important feeling of being in charge

2. Pre-Feast Hype Quest. 

If you’ve got an hour spare before Thanksgiving dinner, this has to be the BEST way to use your escape room game. Just set up and run your game in the leadup to your feast. 

By kicking off the evening with an afternoon of adventure, everyone takes the buzz right on into dinner. This makes for a Thanksgiving feast with great energy, and even better conversation.

3. Post-Dinner Pick-Me-Up. 

Honestly… even the best family Thanksgiving activity on the planet won’t be enough to move most people after their epic feast. That’s just the way it is. 

However, you can run a post-dinner game for any of your high-energy relatives who are left standing. You can keep people involved by setting up the game where everyone can watch. Just make sure not to disturb any grouchy trolls once they’ve slipped into their food coma!

4. Weekend Adventure. 

If your family is staying for the weekend, don’t try and cram all your fun into Thanksgiving Day. Save your escape room adventure for some family fun over the weekend. 

This will give you something to do when nobody feels like going out, while still generating some favorite memories!

Getting started can feel like the hardest part, but let me help make it easy for you.

All you need to do is choose an adventure, download it, and then print it out either at home, or at your local office store. Each game has a step-by-step printing guide that makes it a breeze.

If you’re having trouble choosing an adventure that will thrill everyone, take a look through this page. It’s designed to help you find the best game for your family, fast. If you’re still having trouble, shoot us a message and we’ll walk you through it.

Don’t worry, you can always swap the game or get a refund if it’s not what you’re after.

Sure, you know who’s going to be there. But how many can you entice into playing?

The number of players is going to impact how you set up your game, so make sure you get a rough idea of how it’s going to break down. Don’t worry, if you print an extra copy or two, you’ll have the flexibility to expand for last-minute inclusions.

You’ll need to divide your group into teams of 2-4 players (4 is ideal, but 3 works very well too). Then, print out a copy of the game for each team.

After extensive testing on the escape goblins, I highly recommend pitting the teams against each other to see who can finish the escape room first. It creates a frantically fun atmosphere that really can’t be beat in terms of pure hype.

Of course, you know your family best. If you’re worried about triggering Uncle Joe’s nasty competitive streak, then you can leave this race element out of your game.

I know, you’ve got a lot on your plate. So each escape room kit has been designed to minimize setup and cleanup times. All our games take less than 30min to set up, and come with an in-depth, step-by-step setup guide. 

You can put as much, or as little, effort into this as you like. So, it’ll be the most stress-free activity of your Thanksgiving. Broadly speaking, you’ve got three setup options:

It’s simple – just give each team their pile of game sheets and shout “GO!”. That’s it. Literally!

How this looks, is that each team will rush to find their own space (be it a table, a corner, or a spooky attic), where they’ll start working on the puzzle sheets. If they get stuck, they can access the online hints guide (or, you can make them come to you for a hint, if you’re in the mood for a power trip!).

This is by far the easiest way to play, so it’s perfect for large groups and more laidback game nights. The best part? Even with minimal setup effort, the energy will be dialed up to 11!

You can emulate an ‘escape room’ feel by designating specific areas in your house as the ‘escape room’. You could even create a multi-stage game by splitting the puzzles between two rooms. 

Then, just hide the puzzle and clue sheets around the room. Your players will need to hunt down the information they need before they can solve their puzzles. (Just make sure to give them clues if they still can't find your deviously-hidden puzzles!) For larger groups with multiple teams, you’ll need to run multiple rooms simultaneously, or reset the room with fresh puzzle sheets after each group.

If you can pull it off, this is the best family Thanksgiving activity in the world. No contest!

Level-up your game with thematic posters (we’ve included printable ones in each kit), dollar store props, and DIY decorations. You could even supplement the game kit with physical locks and extra puzzles for a really satisfying, hands-on feel.

The goal is to create an atmospheric escape room that instantly immerses your family in the game world before it even starts. A tall task, but truly amazing when done properly! If you’re looking for inspiration, we’ve never seen anyone top this party.

I hear all you perfectionists out there, no pre-made kit will ever be good enough for your party. I get it. That’s why every game is 100% editable. You can jump in and tweak the puzzles to your liking using the super simple Builder’s Kit. It’s all built using Microsoft PowerPoint, so editing the game is a breeze.

With just a few tweaks, you can change the game to work with any combination locks you have on hand. Or, why not throw a few in-jokes in there? For the deviously crafty among you, you’ll have noticed you could even use the game assets to make a whole new escape room game! This means you have infinite replayability!

Check out these videos to see the Builder's Kit in action.

Remember what you set out to achieve? Connection.

So don’t spoil it by jumping straight into chores or a TV marathon. Make sure that your family has time to unwind from this experience together – they’ll come out of it buzzing on adrenaline! This is the perfect recipe for conversation to start flowing naturally. After all, everyone has a fun shared experience now. 

So, hand out a few drinks, some snacks, or a whole Thanksgiving feast, and let people finally connect beyond the small talk.

There’s no better family Thanksgiving activity than one which leaves you laughing together all the way through dinner. After all, once the food coma wears off, it’s these shared experiences that people remember for years to come.

So why not gift your loved ones with an unforgettable family adventure? Let’s make this one special!