20 Conversation Starters for Thanksgiving

Need conversation starters for Thanksgiving? We got you!

Thanksgiving can bring on a whole range of emotions: excitement to get everyone together, dread of pending political conversations, anxiety as to what to talk about with family you only see every five years, or boredom hearing the same old stories over and over from Grandpa.

Here’s 20 questions to spark fun and new conversations with your family and friends during your Thanksgiving get togethers and on your fall adventures.

We’ve used these with our families and it’s amazing the new stories you hear, the new things you learn about your family, and new perspectives that come through new conversation. Enjoy!

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Continue the fun with our game 501 Questions: A Travel Game! Get 750 entertaining questions and trivia for fun, laughter, and good conversation whether you’re on zoom or in person!

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20 Questions & Trivia for Thanksgiving

Would You Rather:

1. Meet one of your ancestors from the past or a descendant in the future?

2. Have your Thanksgiving meal on the beach hearing the waves lapping or cozy inside while it’s snowing outside?

3. Have turkey or ham for Thanksgiving and why?

4. Have canned or fresh cranberry sauce and why?

5. Be a Balloon Pilot for the Macy’s Day Parade (they walk backward the whole parade and guide the balloon handlers) or be a Float Builder for the Rose Bowl Parade?

If You Could:

6. Only have two side dishes for Thanksgiving, which ones would you choose?

7. Invite three people to your party and know they would come, who would you invite?

8. Create a new Thanksgiving tradition, what would it be?

9. Relive a season of your life, what season would it be?

10. Accomplish one thing before New Year’s Day what would it be?

Tell Me About:

11. Your favorite Thanksgiving tradition and why it’s so special to you.

12. Your favorite Thanksgiving memory.

13. Two things you’re thankful for this year.

14. Your favorite way to eat Thanksgiving leftovers.

15. How you would spend each day of your “perfect” Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

Travel Trivia:

16. What is the dangly piece of flesh called hanging over a turkey’s beak? Dangles, snoods, or gobblers?

Answer: Snoods. All turkeys have snoods, however, males have longer snoods (around five inches long) and it’s used to attract mates. When a male turkey wants to attract a female, the snood turns bright red and gets even longer. It’s believed longer snoods show females which male has more superior genes.

17. How long in days was the first Thanksgiving celebration?

Answer: The first Thanksgiving celebration lasted three days. It was to celebrate the Pilgrims’ first successful corn harvest.

18. True or False: Only female turkeys go “gobble, gobble.”

Answer: False. Only male turkeys gobble and females cackle. The male turkey is called a tom or gobbler. The female is called a hen and…

19. What are baby turkeys called?

Answer: A poult or chick. A young male is called a jake and a young female is called a jenny. Now we have the whole family: tom, hen, jake, and jenny:)

20. Why do we celebrate Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November?

Answer: On December 26, 1941 Congress passed a law making the fourth Thursday of November the official Thanksgiving holiday. How the holiday’s date got to Congress is a long story: The tradition started in 1789 when President George Washington planned Thursday, November 26 as the "Day of Publick Thanksgivin." Every year after that, the holiday was decided by the president and it was on different days and months. Then, after Lincoln gave his national address in 1863 the last week of November became the practiced holiday. Then, in the 1930’s there was a big debate of when to celebrate Thanksgiving. In 1933, there was a November with five weeks and retailers asked President Roosevelt if the holiday could be moved up a week so there was more time to shop for Christmas. There was a public outrage and the President said no. Then, there was another five week November in 1939. Retailers asked the President again to move the holiday and this time he did. Many states followed the President’s change of holiday to the fourth Thursday, but other states kept the holiday to the last Thursday. This happened two years in a row. To unite the country, on December 26, 1941 Congress passed a law making Thanksgiving the last Thursday of November. Crazy! You can read the story here.

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Continue the Fun!

Continue the fun with our game 501 Questions: A Travel Game! Get 750 entertaining questions and trivia for fun, laughter, and good conversation whether you’re on zoom or in person!

“…highly recommend for your next trip (and all trips!). It’s a fantastic way to start conversations while you’re driving, out on a hike, or hanging around the campground!” -CAMPING WORLD

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Make It Easy to Find These Later!

1. Pin this post to use later here.

2. And, download these conversation starters so you can easily pull them up later!

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Continue the Fun!

Continue the fun with our game 501 Questions: A Travel Game! Get 750 entertaining questions and trivia for fun, laughter, and good conversation whether you’re on zoom or in person!

“…highly recommend for your next trip (and all trips!). It’s a fantastic way to start conversations while you’re driving, out on a hike, or hanging around the campground!” -CAMPING WORLD

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6 Must Have Items for Better Sleep in Your RV

How to get good sleep in your RV? We want it, too! As full-time RVer’s we’ve had our fair share of no sleep nights. Either, we find an awesome, secluded spot and in the middle of the night someone pulls up next to us with their lights on, music up, and generator running. Come on, y’all! Or, one of us is ready to sleep and the other’s not and wants lights on, so we’re both frustrated.

We’ve been there, too! Here’s a list of 6 must have things to get good sleep. And, through researching, here are 7 tips we’ve found to get better sleep in your RV.

6 Must Have’s for Better Sleep in Your RV

1. Ear Plugs

Adam’s a super sensitive sleeper, so if he gets woken up, it’s a good chance he’s up the rest of the night tossing and turning. So he keeps a tiny bag of ear plugs under his pillow to keep any noises (my turning of a book page or noisy neighbors) out of ear shot.

He has the bright orange neon ones just like these I found on Amazon.

Foam Ear Plugs

Buy on Amazon

2. Eye Mask

If you want to take a nap in the camper mid-day or your partner wants to read with the lights still on, snag one of these. We got ours from an international flight we took and still use it. Or, grab one on Amazon. Ooooo! Silky, silky!

Silk Eye Mask

Buy on Amazon

3. Head Lamp

For us, we rarely doze off at the same time. A lot of nights one of us is still reading while the other wants to pass out. Instead of keeping overhead lights on to light our book, we’ve found that using our head lamps is better for the other person sleeping. The headlamp keeps the light more directed into the book instead having an overhead light on making it hard for the other person to fall asleep.

Here’s the headlamp I use and it has three settings of light.

Head Lamp

Buy on Amazon

4. Awesome Mattress

One of the best things you can do for yourself is invest in a good mattress! We LOVE our mattress and it’s not expensive- less than $250!

The best sleep we get is on this mattress in our camper! We’re not exaggerating. We’d rather sleep in our camper at family and friend’s houses when we’re visiting. Shhh… don’t tell them:)

We bought our camper from another couple and they included this mattress in the sale. However, we love it so much, when we recently moved back into our house in Colorado, I bought these same mattresses for in our home while we’re base camping there part time of the year. We totally recommend this mattress with five stars!

Spa Sensations Memory Foam Mattress, 8 inch, Full Size

Buy on Amazon

5. Cool Sheets for Summer

We’ve found that our sheet choice really affects our sleep in the different seasons. We have cool sheets for hot, muggy summer nights and flannel for cold, winter nights.

I’ve been hearing a lot about these bamboo sheets that stay cool all night. Right now we have cotton, but we may try these for next summer! Wanted to share this with you:)

Cool Sheets for Summer

Buy on Amazon

6. Flannel Sheets for Winter

We love our flannel sheets! They make a huge difference in the winter months keeping us warmer all night. Here’s a list of must have winter items I keep on hand too to make sure I keep myself warm. If not, I’m a cold grouch!

Just seeing these flannel sheets makes me want to crawl into bed for a nap:)

Deliciously cozy Eddie Bauer flannel sheets… time for a nap!

Buy on Amazon

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Make Shopping Later Easier! 

1. Pin this post to use later here.

2. And, download this packing list so you can easily pull up the list when you’re out shopping next!

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7 Tips for Better Sleep in Your RV

We’ve been getting terrible sleep lately. We’re tossing and turning all night, dreaming way more than usual, and waking with cricks in our necks. If you’re out traveling and exploring like us, we have full days of fun and adventure or hard work pushing ourselves on projects. We ain’t got no time for no sleep! We have to get good rest or we’ll be exhausted and grouchy in a fun new place! No bueno.

I’ve been researching how to sleep better and here are some tips I found to set yourself up for better sleep in your RV. I also made a list of sleeping gear to have to get better sleep, too.

7 Tips for Getting Better Sleep in Your RV

1. Find a Secluded Site/Spot

First, find a secluded spot to camp tucked away from traffic and neighbors.

Depending on the circumstances that can be hard. If you’re planning to stay at a crowded campsite, ask the campsite host for the quietest spot available. Hosts know their sites well and can put you in the best spot. Also, double check that you’re away from a bathroom. Waking up hearing the bathroom door slam over and over in the middle of the night is terrible.

To take it a step further, phone ahead and reserve your campsite in advance asking for the quietest spot available.

2. Cut Out Incoming Light at Night

I’ve learned light has a big role in our sleep/wake cycle, so if you’re a light sleeper it’s going to be a much better night’s sleep if you cut out incoming light. In our RVs, we have the sun streaming in, headlights from cars coming into camp late at night, or Walmart’s parking lot lights streaming in all night. Installing blackout curtains can cut out the light from interrupting our sleep.

We haven’t done this yet, because we like waking up with the sun. But, when we make quick trips cross country, we stay in lots of Walmart and Cracker Barrel parking lots at night. I’m realizing the parking lot lights coming through the cracks of our blinds aren’t helping our sleep:(. It’s now on my to-do list.

3. Put Away Screens Before Bed

We’re learning this is a big deal to getting good sleep and this is a tip for day-to-day life, too.

When we’re in our RVs, it can be tempting to kick back and start scrolling social media or watching Netflix to unwind at the end of the day. However, to get restful sleep, we should put away our phones and screens at least 2 hours before we want to fall asleep.

I found this article about the light from our phones actually confuses our bodies into thinking it’s daytime. The light makes our minds want to wake up and turn on. This explains why we have a harder time falling asleep or not getting restful sleep because we’re waking ourselves back up with our screen lights. You can check out the article here:

Business Insider: How Smartphone Light Affects Your Brain and Body

To get better at this, I set up a daily alarm on my phone at 8 pm to remind me to put away my phone and computer and open a book before bed. So far it’s been a good nudge to start wrapping up my day.

4. Stick to a Regular Sleep Schedule

Adam and I’ve learned we thrive when we follow routines. Go figure. We started this lifestyle to have freedom, but we’ve figured out we’re better off with routines and it seems like the same is true with getting better sleep.

If you have a nightly routine at home or before you were RVing, then stick with it! Do what you can to transfer your routine over to RV life while you’re traveling. You might not always be able to follow your routine when you’re doing things and having adventures, but be as close to it as you can to get better sleep.

I’ve learned a consistent sleep schedule tunes your body’s internal clock for a regular sleep and wake cycle. When I look back at the seasons of life where I was on a strict schedule, I remember feeling more fresh, energized, and calmer. I'm excited to try this again.

5. Get a Good Mattress

Some of the mattresses that come standard in RVs can be stiff, thin, and uncomfortable. Our “mattress” that came with the Casita was four bench cushions squeezed together. For one night, that’s doable, but for a full-time lifestyle like ours or going out for weeks or months at a time, that’s not a long term solution to good sleep.

Sleepadvisor’s 48 Sleep Hacks say a better mattress is important to help prevent issues with cricks in your neck and back pain, especially if you’re being physically active during the day. That’s all of us in our RVs.

Thankfully, we inherited a Spa Sensations Memory Foam mattress when we bought our Casita, and WE LOVE IT! We think it’s more comfortable than sleeping at our family and friends when we’re visiting. We love it so much, we got this mattress for our bed when we moved back into our home in Colorado. It’s less than $250. To get better sleep it’s well worth investing in an upgrade!

6. Get the Right Pillows & Sheets for the Season

We’ve learned this one over the years. Pillows and sheets are super important for your comfort in your RV. Whatever pillow you like, make sure you get a good one. Adam likes lumpy and thin, I like medium. We know when we’re accidentally using the other pillow, because it just doesn’t feel right. So, make sure you have good pillows to sleep with instead of the leftover ones from home.

Also, having the right sheets is so important for us! When it’s summer, use light and cool sheets. When it’s winter, definitely use flannel.

We’ve learned our sheets definitely determine how well we sleep. If we don’t have the right sheets in summer, we’re hot and sweaty all night. If we aren’t using flannel sheets on cold nights, the chill keeps us tossing and turning.

7. Only Drink Caffeine in the Morning

This is gonna be a hard one for me!

One thing I read is to keep caffeine only in the morning and not drink any in the after noon. This is tough because when we’re out traveling or working, we tend to get tired around 3-4 pm and we want a caffeine pick-me-up mid afternoon.

I’ve been trying to not drink coffee after 12 pm and so far it seems to help me get better sleep.

Conclusion

Some of these tips are combatting uncontrollable things, like noise and light from outside the RV. Others are things we can control and new habits to form like putting screens away, sticking to a routine, and not having afternoon coffee. We’re working on improving this, too.

We hope these tips help you get better sleep in your RV. Wishing you restful sleep tonight!

-Lindsey

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Save these Tips to Remember Later!

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10 Fun & Free Travel Games

Let's be real, long journeys can get a bit dull, like five hours in on your cross country road trip. Instead of scrolling our phones for the millionth time, let's make fun new memories together with some good ol' games! Here's a few we like to play on our trips!

10 Fun & Free Travel Game Ideas for Your Next Trip!

1. Hot Seat

This is my all time favorite game- well, right after our game 501 Questions: A Travel Game!

Hot Seat is asking one person in a group, rapid-fire questions for a specific duration of time. So, to play, choose one person to be in the hot seat. Then, choose how much time someone's in the hot seat.  It can be one, two, or three minutes. Then, set a timer for that amount of time. Once the timer starts, everyone asks the person in the hot seat questions until the timer buzzes. You can ask any question that comes to mind. Once the first person’s turn is over, then you pick the next person to be in the hot seat, set the timer, and everyone asks the next person questions until the timer buzzes. You repeat this until everyone in your group has had their turn in the hot seat. Then, you can start the next round by upping the time that each person is in the hot seat to five, ten, or even fifteen minutes. Longer times are fun for storytelling!

In college, a group of friends and I played this for hours on a road trip to Florida til we were at 20 minutes per person! This game tightened our friendships immensely!

2. Two Truths and a Lie

Ooo! I love this game, too! So, to play Two Truths and a Lie, one person shares three things about themselves; two things being true and one being a lie. Everyone has to guess which statement is the lie. If you guess the lie right, you get a point. The person with the most points at the end of the game wins. I love this game, because you learn surprising new things about everyone!

For example: Mine could be 1. I've scuba dived. 2. I've been to New Zealand. 3. I've eaten a cockroach. Which one's my lie?

3. 20 Questions 

20 Questions is tons of fun! So, one player picks a person, place, or thing and keeps it a secret. Then, everyone takes turns asking yes or no questions to try to guess what they're thinking of. The goal is to figure out what it is in 20 questions. 

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Have Fun, Laughter, and Good Conversation on Your Next Trip!

Unplug and get to know your travel pals better with our new game 501 Questions: A Travel Game! It’s perfect for long road trips and around the campfire with 750 entertaining questions and trivia for fun, laughter, and good conversation on your next trip! The game’s available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle versions here.

“…highly recommend for your next trip (and all trips!). It’s a fantastic way to start conversations while you’re driving, out on a hike, or hanging around the campground!”

-CAMPING WORLD

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4. Group Storytelling

This is a fun one and you never know which way the story will turn! The way it starts is one person in the group starts out with the first line of the story. Then, each person takes turns sharing the next sentence of the story. If you want to make it more interesting, you can create a rule that each sentence has to rhyme with the one said before it. Bring on the drama and mystery!

5. The Grocery Store Game or National Park Game

This one’s tradition!  My parents and I played this on our long trips for the holidays. The game is a memory game working with the alphabet. So, someone starts out, "I went to the grocery story and bought Apples. Then the next person repeats, “I went to the grocery store and bought Apples,” then adds, “and Bananas.” Then the next person repeats, “I went to the grocery story and bought Apples, Bananas…” then adds, “and Celery.” Each person keeps adding an item at the grocery store that starts with the next letter of the alphabet til you end at Z. It’s fun when everyone gets creative with the items and it’s hard to remember!

You can also do other fun concepts, “I went to the National Park and saw a …” or “I went on a picnic and brought a…”

6. The License Plate Competition

This is a fun game for some good competition in the car. See who can find license plates from the most states from cars driving by. Each state is one point. If you see plates from other countries, they count for two points! The person who gets the most points wins and gets to pick the dinner spot or pays for ice cream or any other creative ideas you have.

7. Rapid Fire Word Association

This one is easy to keep progressing, is hilarious, and can get competitive! So, someone says a word, and then the next person says a word associated to it, and so on until someone is stumped or takes too long to think of a word. The person who ended the round is out, and everyone competes until there's a winner. I just played this on a girl's road trip and this game had us rolling! It's fun to see where everyone's minds go associating words! For example: National Park, Arches, Desert, Cactus, Green, Grass, Spring, Easter Bunny, Marshmallows, Chubby Bunny

 8. Rumor Has It

This one can get funny! Everyone in your car chooses another car. Then everyone in your car looks at everyone in the other car closely. Now, don't get too creepy! Then, your car all comes up with a background story of the people, their lives, and relationships. Bring on the drama!

9. License Plate Funny Phrases

This one stretches your mind and takes some creativity! Someone picks out a license plate they see and creates a funny phrase with the letters in the order they see them. For example, if you see AJK 295, you could say Apple Jack’s King!

 

10. Fortunately/Unfortunately

This game goes back and forth between people sharing a “fortunate” statement, then an “unfortunate” statement. And, it can get pretty funny! For example:

• “Fortunately, we’re going to get to our hotel early!”

• “Unfortunately, our room isn’t clean.”

• “Fortunately, then we can go to the beach right away.”

• “Unfortunately, we don’t have a room to change into our bathing suits.”

• “Fortunately, we don’t need bathing suits for the beach!”:)

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BONUS: 3 MORE FUN GAMES!

Here’s three of our favorite travel games (that aren’t free), but are a blast and fun to play on the road!

11. 501 Questions: A Travel Game

Buy on Amazon

If you haven’t gotten it yet, this is our absolute favorite game to play on our travels (and we created it)! We created it to stop scrolling, and connect with each other. It's loaded with 501 awesome conversation starters for ages 4-104!

Ask questions like:

• Would You Rather: Find yourself standing in a flock of butterflies or swimming in a bioluminescent bay?

• If You Could: Take a round-the-world trip, what would be the first country you'd visit on each continent?

• Tell Me About: One thing you're itching to do, you haven't done yet?

• Travel Trivia: What country is The Land of Smiles?

When conversation dwindles and you have the urge to pick up your phone, grab this book instead. Turn the dull moments of your travels into fun new memories! 

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12. Punderdome: A Card Game for Pun Lovers

Buy on Amazon

If you love puns, this is your game! You pick two cards from the deck that have different statements and you have to make a pun merging the two ideas.

For example, one time we pulled the cards “Seeing Your Ex” and “Wild Animals.” Adam’s brother is brilliant at puns and said, “She’s always been straight lion.” He’s so good!

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13. Convers_(ate)

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If you love intentional conversations Convers_(ate) is your game! Our friends Mollie and Taylor created this game to take a group through an intentional conversation with open ended questions. The topics are awesome like Community, Wealth, Food, Holidays, Generosity, etc.

Each topic card has an ice breaker question so on some trips, my family’s just played with the ice breaker questions. You go deep and learn a lot about family and friends with these!

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MAKE REMEMBERING THESE GAMES EASIER!

1. Pin this for later here.

2. And, download this game list to pull up on your trip.

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Have Fun, Laughter, and Good Conversation for Your Next Trip!

Buy on Amazon

Unplug and connect on long road trips and around the campfire with fun conversation starters! With our new game 501 Questions: A Travel Game you get 750 entertaining questions and trivia to have fun, laughter, good conversation, and make the time fly!

“…highly recommend for your next trip (and all trips!). It’s a fantastic way to start conversations while you’re driving, out on a hike, or hanging around the campground!” -CAMPING WORLD

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