Thanksgiving Creative Contest Ideas

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, it's the perfect time to engage your audience and share the warmth and gratitude of the season through creative Thanksgiving giveaways. While grand promotions have their place, sometimes it's the simplicity and authenticity of ideas that resonate most with your audience.

If you're unsure how to conduct such contests, fear not - Socialman, a specialist in social media giveaways, can help make your Thanksgiving-themed contests a breeze. In this article, we'll explore eight uncomplicated yet successful ideas for Thanksgiving giveaways on social media. Let's dive in and make this Thanksgiving season a memorable one for your audience.

1. Gratitude Photo Showcase

The Idea: Encourage participants to share photos that capture what they are thankful for this Thanksgiving. Make them use a special hashtag and make sure they tag you under the post.

Description: Invite participants to post photos on social media, expressing the reasons they feel gratitude.

Necessary Items: Socialman platform for contest management, a unique hashtag, and judging criteria.

How to Conduct: Create the contest on Socialman, encourage participants to post gratitude-filled photos with a specific hashtag, and select winners based on the most heartfelt and creative expressions of thanks.

Choosing a Winner: Use one of the three options: choose the winner yourself and announce it on your social media, create a special committee in your company who will decide who wins and broadcast the whole process. Or make your followers choose: create a poll and let them decide – it’s a great way to boost your engagement.

Suggested Reward for Winners: Feature the winning photos on your social media accounts, or offer a personalized photo book filled with the winning entries.

2. Thanksgiving Recipe Exchange

The Idea: Organize a virtual Thanksgiving recipe exchange, where participants can share their favorite holiday recipes. The idea is to create a short video (Instagram reels, a Tiktok or Youtube shorts) and share it on a platform with your special hashtag and tag to your profile.

Description: Invite participants to exchange their beloved Thanksgiving recipes with others by creating short instruction videos and posting them on social media.

Necessary Items: Socialman platform for contest management, recipe exchange guidelines, and judging criteria.

How to Conduct: Create the contest on Socialman, provide guidelines for recipe submissions, and encourage participants to exchange recipes. Choose winners based on popular recipes or creative adaptations.

Choosing a Winner: Use one of the three options: choose the winner yourself and announce it on your social media, create a special committee in your company who will decide who wins and broadcast the whole process. Or make your followers choose: create a poll and let them decide – it’s a great way to boost your engagement.

Suggested Reward for Winners: Feature the winning recipes on your website or social media, or offer a personalized cookbook filled with holiday recipes.

3. The Funniest Family Thanksgiving Story Contest

The Idea: This contest revolves around collecting and sharing funny Thanksgiving stories that have happened within participants' families. The goal is to bring some laughter and lightheartedness to the Thanksgiving season.

Description: Invite participants to post on social media their funny family stories from Thanksgiving. Remind everyone to add your special hashtag to be found during contest.

Necessary Items: Socialman platform for contest management, guidelines, and judging criteria.

How to Conduct: Use Socialman to set up the contest, provide guidelines for submissions, and encourage participants to share their stories. Select winners based on the funniest and most genuine stories.

Choosing a Winner: Use one of the three options: choose the winner yourself and announce it on your social media, create a special committee in your company who will decide who wins and broadcast the whole process. Or make your followers choose: create a poll and let them decide – it’s a great way to boost your engagement.

Suggested Reward for Winners: Feature the winning story on your social media and send one of your most popular products.

4. Thanksgiving Table Decoration Contest

The Idea: The contest centers around the decoration of Thanksgiving dinner tables. Participants are tasked with creating visually appealing and unique table settings, in line with the Thanksgiving theme.

Description: Participants share on their social media their creative table decorations (preferable handmade) and post it with your special hashtag

Necessary Items: Socialman platform for contest management, submission guidelines, and judging criteria.

How to Conduct: Create the contest on Socialman, share selected Thanksgiving decoration pictures, and ask participants to post photos on their social media. Select winners based on presentation and creativity.

Choosing a Winner: Use one of the three options: choose the winner yourself and announce it on your social media, create a special committee in your company who will decide who wins and broadcast the whole process. Or make your followers choose: create a poll and let them decide – it’s a great way to boost your engagement.

Suggested Reward for Winners: Post the winner on your social media, offer one of your products for free or a gift card to a well-known place.

5. Thanksgiving Memory Sharing

The Idea: Encourage participants to share their favorite Thanksgiving memories, traditions, or moments.

Description: Ask participants to post their heartfelt stories about Thanksgiving on social media.

Necessary Items: Socialman platform for contest management, submission guidelines, and judging criteria.

How to Conduct: Create the contest using Socialman, provide guidelines for story submissions, and encourage participants to share their stories. Select winners based on the most touching and captivating tales.

Choosing a Winner: Use one of the three options: choose the winner yourself and announce it on your social media, create a special committee in your company who will decide who wins and broadcast the whole process. Or make your followers choose: create a poll and let them decide – it’s a great way to boost your engagement.

Suggested Reward for Winners: Collaborate with a local author to turn the winning story into a short e-book.

6. Turkey Day Trivia Quiz

The Idea: This contest revolves around testing participants' knowledge of Thanksgiving history, traditions, and related facts through a trivia quiz.

Description: Prepare a list of 30 questions on general knowledge and post one per day on your social media platforms. People will have to give their correct answers in the comments.

Necessary Items: Socialman platform for contest management, 30 open questions on general knowledge, rules of participation

How to Conduct: Use Socialman to set up the contest, post one question per day on your social media platforms (remember about the consistency)

Choosing a Winner: Use one of the three options: choose the winner yourself and announce it on your social media, create a special committee in your company who will decide who wins and broadcast the whole process. Or make your followers choose: create a poll and let them decide – it’s a great way to boost your engagement.

Suggested Reward for Winners: Propose a triumph name for the winner (ex. The Thanksgiving Quiz Master) and make a huge celebration on your social media. Offer one of your most popular products.

7. Thanksgiving Craft Creation Contest

The Idea: Challenge participants to craft Thanksgiving-themed decorations.

Description: Invite participants to create their own holiday crafts and share photos of their designs.

Necessary Items: Socialman platform for contest management, craft submission guidelines, and judging criteria.

How to Conduct: Create the contest on Socialman, outline the craft submission guidelines, and encourage participants to share photos of their creations. Choose winners based on creativity and craftsmanship.

Choosing a Winner: Use one of the three options: choose the winner yourself and announce it on your social media, create a special committee in your company who will decide who wins and broadcast the whole process. Or make your followers choose: create a poll and let them decide – it’s a great way to boost your engagement.

Suggested Reward for Winners: Feature the winning crafts on your social media accounts, partner with decorative stores and prepare a special gift card.

8. Thanksgiving Scavenger Hunt

The Idea: Create a series of Thanksgiving-themed riddles or clues for participants to solve.

Description: Organize a virtual scavenger hunt where participants crack the clues to discover hidden Thanksgiving symbols or items.

Necessary Items: Socialman platform for contest management, riddles or clues, and instructions for participation.

How to Conduct: Set up the contest using Socialman, share the first clue, and guide participants through the hunt. The first to solve all the riddles wins.

Choosing a Winner: Use one of the three options: choose the winner yourself and announce it on your social media, create a special committee in your company who will decide who wins and broadcast the whole process. Or make your followers choose: create a poll and let them decide – it’s a great way to boost your engagement.

Suggested Reward for Winners: Offer exclusive access to a virtual escape room experience or a personalized scavenger hunt adventure.

Conclusion

This Thanksgiving, consider hosting creative giveaways to share the holiday spirit and make the season extra special for your audience. These Thanksgiving giveaway ideas, made possible with the help of Socialman's social media contest management expertise, offer non-financial rewards that are sure to engage and delight your audience. The key to success is authenticity, and by working with Socialman, you can easily execute these contests on social media and provide participants with unique opportunities.

Embrace the spirit of Thanksgiving, let your creativity shine, and watch as your brand engages and connects with your audience during this season of gratitude. With Socialman, discover the joy from creating giveaways, interact with your followers, and witness your brand's presence shine brightly throughout this heartwarming holiday.