Know-It-Alls: Tuesday Thanksgiving Trivia

Question: How much did the world’s most expensive Thanksgiving dinner on record cost?

Answer: $181,000

Old Homestead Steakhouse in Manhattan served up the most expensive Thanksgiving dinner in 2019 which was a whopping $181,000. (2 free range, edible gold-flaked turkeys were the star of the meal.)

Question: How many women were at the very first Thanksgiving celebration?

Answer: Four

Although reports vary, it’s fairly certain that there were only four (maybe five) women at the first Thanksgiving celebration — all of which were married to men who were part of the first group of settlers.

Question: Which Native American acted as an interpreter?

Answer: Squanto

Question: Which city’s Thanksgiving Day Parade ends with Santa Claus getting a key to the city?

Answer: Detroit

Question: According to the Guinness Book of World Records, how much does the heaviest turkey on record weigh?

Answer: 86 pounds

Question: What town canceled Thanksgiving because they couldn’t make pumpkin pies?

Answer: Colchester, Connecticut

A frigid bout of cold weather in the middle of October led to the Connecticut River freezing, so settlers couldn’t get their usual liquid sugar shipped on time from across the pond.

Question: What professional football team has played almost every Thanksgiving since 1934?

Answer: The Detroit Lions

Question: What city is home to the oldest Thanksgiving parade?

Answer: Philadelphia

Question: What did President Calvin Coolidge famously receive as a Thanksgiving gift?

Answer: A live raccoon

Question: What’s the only area in Australia to celebrate Thanksgiving?

Answer: Norfolk Island

Question: How long was the first Thanksgiving?

Answer: Three days

Question: What food did the colonists and Native Americans not have at the first Thanksgiving?

Answer: Turkey

Question: What area of Massachusetts still looks just like it did in the 17th century?

Answer: Plymouth, Massachusetts

Question: What president refused to declare Thanksgiving a holiday?

Answer: Thomas Jefferson

Since Thanksgiving involved prayer and reflection, he thought designating it a national holiday would violate the First Amendment. He also thought it was better suited as a state holiday, not a federal one.

Question: What do Thanksgiving and the song “Mary Had A Little Lamb” have in common?

Answer: They were both created by the same woman — sort of.

Writer and editor Sarah Josepha Hale convinced President Abraham Lincoln to officially declare Thanksgiving a national holiday after three decades of persistent lobbying.

Question: What wasn’t part of the first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade?

Answer: Balloons

Question: What is Good Housekeeping‘s tie to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade?

Answer: We have a Good Housekeeping illustrator to thank for the parade’s first balloons.

German-American illustrator Tony Starg, whose illustrations were featured in Good Housekeeping, also had a passion for puppetry. He used that talent to make some amazing floats come to life in 1927.

Question: Has Thanksgiving always been celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November?

Answer: No. In 1939, Thanksgiving was celebrated on the third Thursday in November.

You might think President Roosevelt could predict the future, as he channeled a “Black Friday” mindset when he decided to move Thanksgiving during his presidency. Even though the holiday had been celebrated on the fourth Thursday since Lincoln officially recognized the federal holiday decades before, Roosevelt bumped it up a week effectively adding seven more shopping days to the holiday season to boost the economy.

Question: A Thanksgiving turkey mix-up inspired what popular meal trend?

Answer: Frozen TV dinners

In 1953, a Swanson employee accidentally ordered a colossal shipment of Thanksgiving turkeys (260 tons, to be exact). To deal with the excess, salesman Gerry Thomas took inspiration from the prepared foods served on airplanes. He came up with the idea of filling 5,000 aluminum trays with the turkey – along with cornbread dressing, gravy, peas and sweet potatoes to complete the offering. The 98-cent meals were a hit, especially with kids and increasingly busy households. Within a single year, over 10 million were sold and a whole industry was born.

Question: How many turkeys do Americans prepare each Thanksgiving?

Answer: 46 million

Question: What percentage of Americans actually eat turkey on Thanksgiving?

Answer: 88%

Question: How many grams of fat does the typical American eat on Thanksgiving?

Answer: 229 grams

Question: How many runners participated in America’s first turkey trot?

Answer: Six

The first race was hosted over a century ago by the local YMCA in Buffalo, NY and included just six runners — although only four of them made it to the finish line.

Question: What world record was set at a turkey trot in 2011?

Answer: Amount of people dressed up as turkeys

Not only are turkey trots one of the fun and unique Thanksgiving traditions, many of them also offer runners the unique opportunity to dress in fun costumes commemorating the day. On Thanksgiving Day in 2011, runners at the YMCA Turkey Trot in Dallas, Texas, dressed up in droves and set a Guinness World Record for the largest gathering of people dressed as turkeys. In total, 661 people came wearing their feathered finest. Consider this your inspiration to do the same.

Question: What happens to the turkeys that are pardoned by the president each year?

Answer: The turkeys pardoned by the president go on to live fulfilled lives.

Question: Do turkeys actually gobble?

Answer: Only male turkeys gobble.

Question: Where do turkeys get their name?

Answer: Turkeys are (kind of) named after the country.

No, the big turkey does not really hail from the country Turkey. During the reign of the Ottoman Empire, a bird called the guinea fowl — which bears a striking resemblance to the American turkey — was imported to Europe from its native North Africa. Because the birds came from Turkish lands, Europeans called them the turkey-cock and turkey-hen. When settlers in the Americas began sending similar-looking birds back to Europe, the name had already stuck!

Question: According to Americans, what’s the best part of Thanksgiving?

Answer: The leftovers.

Question: How many calls does the Butterball turkey talk line get each year?

Answer: 100,000

Question: Do other countries celebrate the holiday?

Answer: Yes! Canada also celebrates Thanksgiving — but on a different day.

Question: How many places in the U.S. bear the name turkey?

Answer: Four

Question: How much pumpkin pie do Americans eat every Thanksgiving?

Answer: An estimated 50 million pumpkin pies are devoured every November.