Thanksgiving Day Bargains - Thanksgiving Bingo Cards

Thanksgiving is a traditional holiday celebrated in North America (the United States of America and Canada), and roughly corresponding to the various Harvest Festivals celebrated in many European countries. There is also an unrelated national holiday, also known as "Thanksgiving", celebrated on October 25th in Grenada - this particular holiday marks the anniversary of the 1983 US led invasion of the island.

In the United States, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November, with most of the workers in the country (78% as of 2007) being given both Thanksgiving itself and the following days as a paid holidays (and hence getting in aggregate at least a four day weekend). The US version of Thanksgiving traces it roots to early English settlers in Virginia and Massachusetts, and is particularly known for the Thanksgiving dinner which traditionally is a feast including turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, corn, turnips, cranberry sauce, and rolls, as well as pecan and pumpkin pies.

In Canada, Thanksgiving itself falls on the second Monday of October, but many people take either a three day (Saturday to Monday) or four day (Friday to Monday) weekend for the holiday. Canadian Thanksgiving traces its origins in part to the English explorer, Martin Frobisher, who established a settlement in Canada in 1578, and in part to First Nations' traditions. Canadian Thanksgiving dinner is generally very similar to the US version, but many Canadians also celebrate the country's multicultural heritage and add many traditional ethnic foods to their meal.

As many family and community gatherings occur at Thanksgiving, it is an excellent opportunity to participate in group activities and play games which celebrate the occasion. Additionally, the run-up to Thanksgiving is marked in many schools, with many teachers using this time of year to expand students' knowledge of their history. For both situations, one particular activity that is worth considering is Thanksgiving bingo. This is exactly like normal bingo, but you play using bingo cards containing words and phrases related to Thanksgiving, rather than using traditional numbered bingo cards. Thanksgiving bingo can be educational but is easy to learn, and most importantly, a lot of fun.

If you are considering playing Thanksgiving bingo, the main thing that you are probably wondering about is where you can get the specially themed bingo cards. In the bad old days, you had to send off to a specialist publisher to get them - and they were often kind of expensive. Today however, you can simply print such bingo cards on your computer - either by downloading free Thanksgiving bingo printables from the Internet, or by getting some affordable but easy to use bingo card generator software - the latter option, will allow you to print as many bingo cards as you might want, on any topic at all.