Thanksgiving Left Right Game – Stories for the Table

Q: Can I print the story?

Yes. Pick it from the Story list, type the names and the dish it asks for and press Print. The sheet holds only the story, with the cue words in capitals.

Short: The Card Table

There are always more people than chairs at Thanksgiving. This year at Aunt Carol's house in Maple Grove it was three more, so the card table came up from the basement.

It has four legs. Three of them lock. The fourth, front LEFT, has ideas of its own.

Aunt Carol set it at the end of the big table and covered it with a cloth, so that nobody would know. Everybody knew. The cloth was a different white.

Theo sat down first and set a glass of water on it. The water leaned. The whole table was leaning, gently, to the RIGHT.

Aunt Carol folded a napkin and put it under the short leg. Now it leaned LEFT. Half a napkin. Now it wobbled, which is worse, because a lean is at least a plan. Theo moved the glass to the LEFT. It slid back to the RIGHT.

Then somebody passed the green bean casserole down from the big table, in the heaviest bowl in the house. The bowl landed on the card table, and everything went quiet.

The table held. In fact it stopped moving altogether. A bowl of green bean casserole was exactly what it had needed, RIGHT in the middle, like a paperweight.

So nobody is moving the green bean casserole. If you want some, come to the card table. There is one seat LEFT, and it is the steadiest in the house. Whatever you are holding now is yours to keep.

How it works

In a Thanksgiving left right game everyone at the table holds a small gift, or the table shares one prize, and passes it at each LEFT or RIGHT. Press Start: give me 4 words to set the first story at your table.

Read the full guide

How to play

Everyone at the table holds one small wrapped gift; three people is the fewest that works. The reader takes it slowly, and each LEFT or RIGHT in capitals sends every gift one place round the table that way. What you hold at the end is yours.

Pick a story

The Card Table is the short one, about 2 minutes between courses. The Dish Line runs about 3 minutes, for after dinner. Thanks All Round is 13 rhymed couplets. In The Wright Family Drives to Dinner the name WRIGHT is a pass, the same as RIGHT, and the story says so first.

Tips

The Last Roll is for one prize. Whoever holds it at the last line keeps it.
Type stuffing, not the stuffing: the stories add the.

Questions and answers

How long does the Thanksgiving left right game take?

About 2 to 3 minutes a story. The Card Table, the rhyme and The Last Roll run about 2 minutes with 7 to 9 passes. The Dish Line and the Wright story run about 3, with 8 and 13 passes.

Is this the Wright family Thanksgiving story?

Not the one that circulates: that text was not copied. The Wright Family Drives to Dinner is a new story on the same surname pun, with 6 passes on LEFT and 7 on the name WRIGHT.

What do you pass at the table?

One small wrapped gift each, or a single prize for the whole table. Every story ends one or two seats from where it started, so no gift comes back to the person who brought it.

Can I print the story?

Yes. Pick it from the Story list, type the names and the dish it asks for and press Print. The sheet holds only the story, with the cue words in capitals.

All 5 stories

Show the list

Short: The Card Table Short, for the table between courses, about 2 minutes. LEFT 4, RIGHT 3. The extra table and its fourth leg. Gifts end one seat left of where they started. Asks for 4 words: 2 × name, 1 × town, 1 × food.
Long: The Dish Line Long, for after dinner, about 3 minutes. LEFT 5, RIGHT 3. Doing the dishes, and where the gravy boat lives. Gifts end two seats left of where they started. Asks for 5 words: 3 × name, 1 × town, 1 × food.
The Wright Family Drives to Dinner Pun, about 3 minutes. LEFT 6, RIGHT 7 (the name WRIGHT counts as RIGHT). One car and Grandpa in the back. Gifts end one seat right of where they started. Asks for 3 words: 1 × name, 1 × town, 1 × food.
Rhymed: Thanks All Round Rhymed, 13 couplets, about 2 minutes. LEFT 5, RIGHT 4. What each side of the table is thankful for. Gifts end one seat left of where they started. Asks for 3 words: 1 × name, 1 × town, 1 × food.
One Prize: The Last Roll For one prize the whole table passes, about 2 minutes. LEFT 4, RIGHT 3. The prize ends one seat left of where it started. Asks for 5 words: 3 × name, 1 × town, 1 × food.

The kinds of words the game asks for

Name a first name; a made-up one is fine. More examples: Sir Reginald, Professor Plum, Doctor Noodle.
Food something to eat, like porridge. More examples: pickles, custard, cheese.

How these stories were written: All five stories were written for this site in October 2026. None is adapted from a circulating left right story: The Wright Family Drives to Dinner reuses only the old surname pun, in a new plot. The names are the ones you type, or samples; no real person appears. Pass counts are counted by script from the final text. Licence: own work