These youth group activities provide ideas for service during the Thanksgiving season and a fun way for your group to gather the food for a Thanksgiving meal.
Youth Group Activities: Serving and Thanksgiving
In Matthew 10:8 Jesus said, “Freely you have received; freely give.” Our lives may not always be everything we hope them to be, but the vast majority of Americans are richly blessed. One way we can show our thanks to God is to help others. The Thanksgiving season is a great time for your group or their families to meet the needs of others in your community—to show them Christ’s love.
9 Ways to Serve While Giving Thanks!
1. Help out at a food kitchen or a food bank.
2. Take the group to visit someone who lives at a nursing home or who is confined at home because of poor health.
3. Buy some (or all) of the holiday dinner groceries for a needy family in your community.
4. Have your group go through their winter clothes and coats, and pick out those that are no longer wanted or needed but are still in good condition. Then give them to homeless people in your area or donate them to a local shelter.
5. Make some bag lunches and distribute them to homeless people in your area.
6. Meet together to make extra desserts for Thanksgiving. Give the desserts to neighbors or to a needy family in your area.
7. Find an elderly person in your area that could use some help at the grocery store. Better yet, ask a family to invite them to their home for a special holiday meal.
8. Look for a family in your church or in the neighborhood that could use some help to take care of fall yard clean-up, offer help with basic repairs or weatherization projects around a needy person’s home. Buy the needed materials and take the group to work on the project(s)!
9. Invite families to join your group for a simple, fun family game night.
Thanksgiving Meal Scavenger Hunt
Split your group into equal teams. Make sure each team has at least one adult supervisor. Provide each team with a list of Thanksgiving meal items to collect. For example, the list could ask for cranberry sauce, potatoes, dressing, pumpkin pie, and even a turkey. Give the teams one hour to collect everything on the list. When they return, the team with the most items on the list “wins.” Donate the items to a local food pantry, or work with your church’s outreach team to donate to needy families in your community.
Finish your time with a simple meal together, giving thanks to God for all he has provided.