Prayers
Thanksgiving Prayers for Your Table
A Thanksgiving prayer thanks God for the meal, the people around the table and the blessings of the year, and here you'll find original prayers plus well-known traditional graces with their sources.
There are short graces before meals, longer prayers for family, simple rhyming prayers kids can lead, and traditional table blessings from different Christian traditions. Pick one that suits your family and feel free to adapt the words.
Short grace before the Thanksgiving meal
- Lord, thank you for this food, for the hands that prepared it and for the people gathered here. Bless us as we share it. Amen.
- Gracious God, we are grateful for this table, this day and this family. May we never take your goodness for granted. Amen.
- Father, for food in a hungry world, for love in a lonely world and for faith in a doubting world, we give you thanks. Amen.
- Thank you, Lord, for a year of blessings and a table full of them. Help us remember those who have less and share what we have. Amen.
- God of the harvest, thank you for the farmers who grew this food, the cooks who made it and the company that makes it a feast. Amen.
- Lord, we pause before we eat to say the simplest prayer we know: thank you. Amen.
Prayers for family
- Heavenly Father, thank you for this family, with all our quirks and differences. Bind us together in love, help us forgive easily and laugh often, and keep us close to you in the year ahead. Amen.
- Lord, we remember the loved ones who are not at this table today, those far away and those who have gone before us. Hold them in your care and comfort every heart that misses them. Amen.
- God, thank you for carrying our family through the hard days of this year and for every good day you gave us too. Teach us to notice your hand in both. Amen.
- Lord, bless the youngest and the oldest at this table, and everyone in between. Give us patience with one another and joy in simply being together. Amen.
- Father, may our home be a place where anyone who walks in feels welcome. Thank you for the gift of family, by birth and by choice. Amen.
- Lord, as we pass these dishes to each other, help us pass along kindness, grace and gratitude too. Amen.
Simple prayers for kids
- God is great, God is good, let us thank Him for our food. Amen. (Traditional children's grace)
- Thank you, God, for turkey and pie, for family and friends and the big blue sky. Amen.
- Dear God, thank you for my mom and dad, for all the happy days I've had, for food to eat and friends to love. Amen.
- Thank you for the world so sweet, thank you for the food we eat, thank you for the birds that sing, thank you, God, for everything. Amen. (Traditional, Edith Rutter Leatham, early 1900s)
- Dear Jesus, thank you for this yummy food and for everyone at the table. Help me share and be kind today. Amen.
- God, thank you for my family, my pets, my toys and my home. Thank you for loving me. Amen.
Traditional table graces (public domain)
- Bless us, O Lord, and these thy gifts, which we are about to receive from thy bounty, through Christ our Lord. Amen. (Traditional Catholic grace before meals)
- Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest, and let these gifts to us be blessed. Amen. (Common Table Prayer, Lutheran tradition)
- Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; praise Him, all creatures here below; praise Him above, ye heavenly host; praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen. (The Doxology, Thomas Ken, 1674)
- Some hae meat and canna eat, and some wad eat that want it; but we hae meat, and we can eat, sae let the Lord be thankit. (The Selkirk Grace, traditionally attributed to Robert Burns)
- We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing; He chastens and hastens His will to make known. (Opening of the hymn "We Gather Together," Dutch, 1597, English translation by Theodore Baker, 1894)
- O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. (Psalm 107:1, King James Version)
Ask a different person to lead grace each year, or let a child choose one of the rhyming prayers. If your gathering includes people of different faiths or none, a moment of silent gratitude before eating lets everyone take part in their own way.
Frequently asked questions
What is a short Thanksgiving prayer before a meal?
"Lord, thank you for this food, for the hands that prepared it and for the people gathered here. Bless us as we share it. Amen." It takes about 15 seconds to say.
What is the traditional Catholic grace before meals?
"Bless us, O Lord, and these thy gifts, which we are about to receive from thy bounty, through Christ our Lord. Amen." Many families add the Sign of the Cross before and after.
What is a simple Thanksgiving prayer for kids?
"God is great, God is good, let us thank Him for our food. Amen." Its rhythm makes it easy for young children to remember and lead.
Who should say grace at Thanksgiving dinner?
Traditionally the host or the eldest family member leads grace, but many families invite a child or a guest to say it. Asking ahead gives them time to prepare.
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