Thanksgiving is a holiday that is often overlooked in a brand’s promotion calendar because of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. However, Thanksgiving has a certain charm that makes for excellent promotional opportunities. 

If you and your audience are tired of the annual Black Friday shenanigans, consider creating Thanksgiving campaigns to promote your brand and products. A Thanksgiving giveaway can be just what your brand needs during the November sales rush.

We researched some fantastic giveaways recently and compiled a list of 9 Thanksgiving giveaway ideas to inspire your next campaign. Read on to find your next giveaway idea.

1. “Thankful For You” Giveaway

Host a giveaway for your customers to show them how much you appreciate them. This can be a “Thankful for You” giveaway. A campaign that highlights what you are most thankful for, which is your customers.

People love being praised, so showing thanks to your audience will certainly elicit a positive response.

You can turn this campaign into a user-generated content (UGC) giveaway by asking entrants to share what they are most thankful for. This method will boost engagement in the comments and ensure a more vital and successful giveaway post.

You can then take your top five entries and create a social media post highlighting the entrants’ answers. These posts can be shared on socials later to boost engagement further, as users will be excited to see if their comments made it to the top 5.

It’s also an opportunity to encourage heartfelt interactions with your audience while promoting UGC.

“Thankful For You” Giveaway Prize Ideas:

• Limited edition product explicitly produced for this campaign (or Thanksgiving/November period).
• Gift Voucher for your store.
• A Weekend Getaway or a Spa Day.

“Thankful For You” Giveaway Entry Methods:

• Ask entrants to share what they are most thankful for.
• Tag someone to say thanks.

2. Thanksgiving Feast Kit Giveaway

Thanksgiving dinners are not essential, but they still play an important part in many households. Supplying families with the tools to create the perfect Thanksgiving dinner is an excellent idea for a Thanksgiving giveaway.

Your brand can partner with local farms, grocery stores, and food brands to create a Thanksgiving feast kit. This feast kit can include everything a family needs to host a proper Thanksgiving dinner.

An example of a Thanksgiving feast kit:

• A turkey breast roast (or full turkey)
• Turkey stuffing
• Mashed potatoes
• Turkey gravy
• Canned vegetables, sauce, and pumpkin
• Apple cider

If your brand does not specialize in food products, you could give away items that will complement a Thanksgiving dinner. This can be drinks, desserts, and even utensils.

Thanksgiving Feast Kit Giveaway Prize ideas:

• A Thanksgiving feast kit that includes everything from a Turkey to stuffings and sauces.
• A set of Thanksgiving drinks that include spritzers, wine, non-alcoholic beverages, or coffee.

Thanksgiving Feast Kit Giveaway Entry Methods:

• Submit your favorite Thanksgiving dinner recipe to enter.
• Take the people you wish to invite for your Thanksgiving dinner.

3. Friendsgiving Bundle Giveaway

Capitalise on the “Friendsgiving” trend by hosting a giveaway. The prize can be a Friendsgiving-themed bundle.

Friendsgiving is when a bunch of unrelated people host a Thanksgiving dinner for each other. People without family (or who live far from family) usually host Friendsgiving dinners. Some people may have a Friendsgiving meal before joining their family for Thanksgiving dinner.

A giveaway promoting Friendsgiving can attract an audience distant from their family. Ask users to tag friends they want to invite for a Friendsgiving dinner.

A referral giveaway in which entrants tag friends will exponentially grow when more entrants are referred. This type of giveaway can quickly go viral.

Friendsgiving Bundle Giveaway Prize ideas:

• A bundle of products meant for a group of friends to enjoy together.
• Board games, Jenga, video games, foosball, or hockey table
• Build something together with Lego or assemble miniature ships
• Tie Dye kits

Friendsgiving Bundle Giveaway Entry Methods:

• Tag your friends to enter.
• Comment with your plans for Friendsgiving.

4. Black Friday Sneak Peek Giveaway

A Thanksgiving giveaway in the weeks before Black Friday is an excellent idea for promoting a brand and its products during this crucial time of the year. By capitalizing on the Thanksgiving holiday, this giveaway can help promote Black Friday deals.

Brands can offer exclusive early access (or sneak peek) to people who enter the giveaway or to entrants who refer more users. The prize can be gift cards redeemable on Black Friday or a few popular products from Black Friday promos.

Your competition will focus heavily on promoting their Black Friday deals in November. A Black Friday giveaway can build anticipation for these deals while making your brand stand out.

A Black Friday giveaway early in November is also an effective strategy for building an email list before running your specials. Once you have built a list of emails/leads (from your giveaway), you can market your Black Friday deals to the people on your new email list.

Black Friday Sneak Peek Giveaway Prize ideas:

• Gift cards, vouchers, or discounts.
• Products from Black Friday promotions.
• Early Access to Black Friday deals.

Black Friday Sneak Peek Giveaway Entry Methods:

• Refer people to enter and earn exclusive early access to Black Friday deals.
• Subscribe to our newsletter to enter (and get notified of upcoming sales and promotions).

5. Thanksgiving Recipe Contest Giveaway

Encourage your audience to submit their favorite Thanksgiving recipe for a chance to win a prize. This campaign will certainly drive engagement due to entrants submitting their recipes.

A Thanksgiving recipe giveaway can certainly create tons of user-generated content (UGC) that can be repurposed for future marketing. For example, a holiday cookbook filled with recipes from your Thanksgiving recipe giveaway.  

If you want to turn this into a proper contest, ask users to supply the recipe and a picture of the meal. This makes for an excellent photo opportunity that can again produce UGC. If you are a cooking or food brand, ask entrants to include your products in their pictures.

Thanksgiving Recipe Contest Giveaway Prize ideas:

• Kitchen appliance.
• Cooking classes.
• Grocery voucher.

Thanksgiving Recipe Contest Giveaway Entry Methods:

• Submit your recipe to enter.
• Submit a picture of the meal you prepared.

6. Thanksgiving Decor Giveaway

People love decorating their homes for their guests on Thanksgiving. A Thanksgiving decor giveaway will certainly resonate with these people.

Users can share Thanksgiving decor tips or pictures of their Thanksgiving-themed decorated homes. Images of well-decorated homes are visually appealing, which makes for excellent UGC.

The prize can be a Thanksgiving decor bundle comprised of scented candles, napkins, and flowers. A larger prize bundle made up of smaller items will attract a larger audience.

Thanksgiving Decor Giveaway Prize ideas:

• A decor prize bundle made up of candles, napkins, etc.
• Festive home accents.
• Thanksgiving table setting.

Thanksgiving Decor Giveaway Entry Methods:

• Share your Thanksgiving decor ideas.
• Submit pictures of your Thanksgiving decor.

7. “Guess the Turkey Weight” Contest

Online contests are fun and highly engaging. Some contests spawn plenty of user-generated content. Contests that require users to answer a question in the comments (of a giveaway post) will instantly boost engagement. 

Ask your audience to answer a simple question this Thanksgiving, “guess the weight of the turkey, and you can win big!”

A fun and lighthearted Thanksgiving campaign can be just what your brand needs this year. The prize can be an actual turkey meal. Users who guess the turkey’s correct (or closest) weight will win that turkey meal.

Guess the Turkey Weight Prize ideas:

• Full Turkey
• Turkey Dinner
• Gift Card for Thanksgiving meal 

Guess the Turkey Weight Entry Methods:

• Enter the weight in the comments
• Enter weight and tag people to enter

8. Thanksgiving Photo Contest

A photo contest is the perfect excuse to get your audience to create content for you (UGC). Ask them to take pics of your store, your products, or themselves (selfie contest). 

A picture taken by a customer with your product can be a valuable testimonial for your brand. This makes photo contests (including your products) a powerful marketing tool. 

For Thanksgiving, a photo contest can certainly create brand and product exposure. Ask your audience to submit pictures of their Thanksgiving decorations, meals, dinner table layout, or family picture. If relevant, let them include your products in the images. 

A Thanksgiving photo contest can run in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving. Then end a few days (or a week later). This way, people can properly prepare their homes for a photo shoot over Thanksgiving and submit their images the next day.

Thanksgiving Photo Contest Prize ideas:

• Photography kit that includes a camera and accessories
• Pro photographer bundle that includes a camera bag and tripod
• Christmas vouchers (if the contest ends a week after Thanksgiving)

Thanksgiving Photo Contest Entry Methods:

• Upload your picture to Instagram with our hashtag
• Upload your picture to our website

9. Gift Basket Giveaway

Gift baskets are a wonderful gesture and make exceptional gifts for Thanksgiving. Giving away a fully stocked gift basket is an excellent idea. 

Put together a bunch of small items to create a large prize bundle. We always encourage this here at VYPER. Especially if your product is relatively inexpensive, include it among other complimentary products to build a larger prize bundle and attract a larger audience. 

Creating a prize bundle also opens up the opportunity to collaborate with other brands. Ask other brands to sponsor their products in your prize bundle (or gift basket) and ask them to promote the giveaway on their channels in exchange for leads generated from the campaign. 

A gift basket is similar to a large prize bundle. It can include small items like biscuits, chocolates, fruit, and wine.

Pro Tip:

Try something different with this gift basket giveaway by giving users who enter the option to donate their prize to a friend. You can deliver the prize to the winner’s friend along with a message thanking that person. 

Gift Basket Giveaway Prize ideas:

• A Thanksgiving-themed gift basket with treats that can be served after dinner
• An Italian gift basket that includes pasta and other Italian food and treats

Gift Basket Giveaway Entry Methods:

• Tag a friend that you would want to gift your prize to
• Comment on why you deserve the gift basket

TL;DR: Thanksgiving Giveaway Ideas

• A Thanksgiving-themed giveaway is an excellent way to build an email list before the Christmas rush and to build hype around Black Friday and Cyber Monday. 
• A feast kit giveaway hosted at the start of November can be useful for people who love to cook and host Thanksgiving dinners, especially if the winner can receive their prize in time for Thanksgiving. 
• A full turkey giveaway is attention-grabbing. However, some people prefer cut-up turkey meals. Give your audience the option to choose the type of meal they prefer.
• Gift cards make great Thanksgiving prizes. Winners can redeem their gift cards before Christmas and get presents for their families, making them very useful prizes. 
• A photo contest is ideal for brands looking for user-generated content. Get your audience to pose with your product or take pictures of their Thanksgiving decorations. 
• Prize bundles or gift baskets allow brands to combine small items to form one large prize. Collaborate with other brands by asking them to donate their own prizes and help you promote the Thanksgiving giveaway.