Thanksgiving Traditions Old and New

The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

The Macy's parade in New York City is the first thing many families switch on Thanksgiving morning. The first one was held in 1924, organized by Macy's employees, many of them immigrants who wanted to celebrate the holiday with the kind of festive parade they remembered from Europe. That first parade included live animals borrowed from the Central Park Zoo.

Giant character balloons replaced the animals in 1927, starting with Felix the Cat. The parade was suspended from 1942 to 1944 during World War II, when rubber and helium were needed for the war effort. Because of that gap, the 2026 parade on Thursday, November 26 is the 100th edition, a major milestone. Expect the usual mix of giant balloons, floats, marching bands, Broadway performances and, at the very end, Santa Claus to officially kick off the holiday season.

Thanksgiving football

Football on Thanksgiving is older than the NFL. College and high school teams played on the holiday in the late 1800s. The professional tradition belongs to the Detroit Lions, who have hosted a Thanksgiving game almost every year since 1934, pausing only during World War II. The Dallas Cowboys added their own home game in 1966, and the NFL added a third prime-time game in 2006.

For many households the game is background noise to cooking, a reason to gather on the couch after dinner, or a full-blown rivalry between family members. Local high school rivalry games on Thanksgiving morning are still a big deal in parts of New England and elsewhere.

The presidential turkey pardon

Every year, the president "pardons" a turkey at the White House, sparing it from the dinner table. The National Turkey Federation has presented a turkey to the president since 1947, during the Truman years. For decades those birds were usually eaten. A few presidents informally spared theirs, but George H. W. Bush made the pardon an official annual event in 1989.

These days, two turkeys usually make the trip, the National Thanksgiving Turkey and an alternate, and the public is often invited to vote on their names. After the ceremony they're sent to live out their days at a farm or university facility. It's lighthearted, it's televised, and kids love it.

Friendsgiving

Friendsgiving is a Thanksgiving-style meal shared with friends instead of, or as well as, family. The word started appearing online in the late 2000s and spread quickly through social media and TV. It suits people who can't travel home, live far from relatives, or simply want a second feast with their chosen family.

Most Friendsgivings are potlucks held on the weekend before or after Thanksgiving. The host usually handles the turkey or main dish, and guests bring sides, drinks and desserts. The vibe tends to be more relaxed than a family dinner: paper plates are fine, and nobody minds if the stuffing comes from a box. If you're organizing one, our free potluck planner helps you track who is bringing what so you don't end up with four bowls of mac and cheese.

Black Friday and the shopping weekend

The day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday, is the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season. In 2026, Black Friday falls on Friday, November 27. The term was popularized by police in Philadelphia in the 1950s and 1960s, who used it to describe the traffic jams and crowds that hit the city the day after Thanksgiving. Retailers later recast the name around the idea of stores moving "into the black," meaning profit.

The shopping weekend now has several named days: Small Business Saturday, encouraging people to shop locally, and Cyber Monday, focused on online deals, which in 2026 is November 30. Giving Tuesday, a day for charitable donations, follows on December 1, 2026.

Traditions around the table

Beyond the big public events, the traditions most people treasure happen at home:

• Going around the table: Each person shares one thing they're thankful for before or during the meal.
• Saying grace: Many families begin with a prayer or a moment of quiet thanks.
• The wishbone: Two people pull the dried turkey wishbone, and whoever gets the bigger piece makes a wish.
• The kids' table: A rite of passage, and graduating from it is a big moment.
• Turkey trots: Thousands of towns hold fun runs on Thanksgiving morning. The Buffalo Turkey Trot, first run in 1896, is often cited as the oldest continuously held footrace in North America.
• Volunteering: Serving meals at shelters or donating to food banks is a tradition for many families.

New traditions to start this year

If your family wants something fresh, try one of these. Keep a "thankful tablecloth" where everyone writes a line in fabric marker each year, so it becomes a record of your Thanksgivings. Set out a gratitude jar for guests to fill with notes and read them aloud over pie. Play a few rounds of family games after dinner (we have a whole list of offline Thanksgiving games). Or make a point of learning something about the Wampanoag or the Native nation whose land you live on, and share it at the table. Traditions don't have to be old to matter. They just have to be repeated.