Fun, Free Stuff to Do After Dinner Today Besides Watch TV

You’ve watched the parade. You ate dinner. Everybody else is watching football… or basketball… or soccer… Or all three. You’ve eaten some leftovers. Now you’re officially B­-O-R-E-D.
 
The post-dinner Thanksgiving Day boredom is what drove us as kids to go exploring the far corners of grandpa’s property in search of buried treasure. Or rocks to skip on a puddle. Now that we’re grown, the boredom still hits but we’re just not as good at creating our own adventures. (Smart phones don’t count!)
 
So, if you’re with your extended family today, or otherwise away from your comfort zone, and finding yourself a little uninspired and overstimulated—but you don’t want to watch TV—what can you do to pass the time?
 
25 Boredom Buster Ideas for Thanksgiving Day

Be Helpful

1. Transfer leftovers into storage containers.
2. Clean off the dinner table.
3. Wash the dishes.
4. Get somebody else to wash the dishes so you can dry.
5. Take out the trash.

Be Entertaining

1. Walk the dog.
2. Teach the cat a new trick.
3. Take all the kids for a nature walk.
4. Teach the kids games like Tic-Tac-Toe, Hangman, or MASH.
5. Make a paper fortune teller with them.

Be Creative

1. Dig up an old cross stitch auntie never finished and make some progress.
2. Make Christmas tree ornaments from whatever you can find.
3. Draw stick portraits of everyone in the house.
4. Make a sculpture with leftover mashed potatoes.
5. If there’s snow, build tiny snowmen on every outside windowsill.

 Be Playful

1. Put together a puzzle.
2. Set up dominoes to topple.
3. Build a house of cards.
4. Play some Scrabble variants.
5. Build the Mouse Trap.

Be Inquisitive

1. Look through old photo albums.
2. Ask grandpa about a time he got in big trouble at school.
3. Get the kids to share their favorite jokes.
4. Read the oldest recipe book in the house.
5. Ask grandma about her first time wearing makeup.
   

It’s normal to take our relatives for granted at holiday gatherings, even if we don’t see them very often. You don’t have to be the life of the party to have a good time or be a gracious guest, but you may have to push yourself outside of your comfort zone. Helpfulness and asking others to join you in an activity is always a winning way to pass the time without wasting it!