45 Thanksgiving Images and Ideas for Social Media [+Free Templates]

When we say to you “Thanksgiving Images”, what does it conjure up? I bet you’re thinking of gobbling up a feast of turkey, mashed potatoes covered in lashings of gravy, and plenty of sides… You may even be thinking of finishing off the meal with pumpkin pie!  In this post, you’ll discover bucketloads of Thanksgiving Images (and ideas) you can create for your social media marketing.

Thanksgiving is a time for family, food and gratitude. It’s also the time for shopping. Whether you live in the USA or not, Thanksgiving is an important date to circle on your social media calendar.

This post is all about celebrating Thanksgiving and giving you some seasonal content ideas that you can use in your marketing on any social platform. 45 Thanksgiving pictures images, examples and ideas says you’ll find something useful to spark your creative content juices in this list!

A word about Seasonal Content

This is the first in a series of Seasonal Marketing articles that highlight the many and varied ways you can create content around an annual event or celebration… like Thanksgiving, Christmas or Valentines Day.

These are the events that come around year after year … so it’s good to have content (and visuals) at the ready to use or even re-use.

Why Thanksgiving Images should be on your Seasonal Marketing Calendar

Thanksgiving is a great day to mark, in order to give thanks to all your fans and customers for the year and to celebrate family and traditions.

It also marks the unofficial start of the Christmas Shopping Season with the biggest shopping weekend of the year – Thanksgiving Thursday, Black Friday and Cyber Monday.  Fun Fact: In 2017, American Shoppers spent a record $5 billion in 24 hours over Black Friday. 

When should you start your Holiday Seasonal Marketing?

Have you wondered when the best time to start your holiday marketing season is on social media?

Union Metrics noticed that the conversation about the holidays always tends to spike around the same time of the year. Jenn Deering-Davis, co-founder of Union metrics, suggests starting your holiday social media marketing about three weeks before Thanksgiving.

During the festive season, people turn to their NewsFeeds for gift ideas. 49% of global surveyed shoppers say that Facebook is influential in their festive season shopping, and 47% of consumers start thinking about festive season gifts before November.  Social media usage will increase from early October to New Year’s, when it will finally peak.

JLL Holiday Report for 2017 showed that in America 29.9% of shoppers planned to start their holiday shopping between Halloween and Thanksgiving and by Cyber Monday, 54.5% will have started shopping.

And speaking of Halloween. When Halloween rolls around each year, check out this post, 22 Halloween Quotes for Spooky Social Media Posts – for inspiration. 

45 Thanksgiving Images for Social Media

We came up with so many Thanksgiving-themed ideas, quotes and jokes to use for your seasonal marketing on Social Media that we had to split them up into topics: 

• Thanksgiving Images and Ideas – Gratitude Ideas 
• Thanksgiving Images and Ideas  – Family and Traditions
• Thanksgiving Images and Ideas  – Food Feasts
• Thanksgiving Images and Ideas – Shopping Sprees
• Thanksgiving Images and Ideas  – Other Fun Ideas 

Thanksgiving  Images and Ideas – Gratitude Ideas

Thanksgivings is a time for Gratitude and there are wonderful quotes to add to images that capture the spirit of Thanksgiving perfectly. Easil has great templates that you can use to add a text overlay on a seasonal image to create visual marketing for social media.

Here are quotes as Thanksgiving images that capture the spirit of Thanksgiving:

7 Gratitude Quotes that are Great for Thanksgiving Images

1. I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual. – Henry David Thoreau.
2. Thanksgiving day is a jewel, to set in the hearts of honest men; but be careful that you do not take the day, and leave out the gratitude. – E.P. Powell
3. Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our Thanksgiving. – W.T. Purkiser
4. As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. – John F. Kennedy
5. To give thanks in solitude is enough. Thanksgiving has wings and goes where it must go. Your prayer knows much more about it than you do. – Victor Hugo
6. Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. – Oprah Winfrey
7. Be present in all things and thankful for all things. – Maya Angelou

Thanksgiving Images and Ideas – Family and Traditions

Love them or hate them, Thanksgiving is a time for getting together with close family and relatives. Almost everyone has their own Thanksgiving traditions in North America, whether it’s visiting a Thanksgiving Parade, watching football or a lazy afternoon watching movies with the family.

4 Funny Thanksgiving Meal Quotes to use for Social Media Images

Here’s some quotes that you can convert into a Thanksgiving image for social media posts:

1. After a good dinner, one can forgive anybody, even one’s own relations. – Oscar Wilde
2. I come from a family where gravy is considered a beverage. – Erma Bombeck
3. My cooking is so bad my kids thought Thanksgiving was to commemorate Pearl Harbor.  – Phyllis Diller
4. Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare. They are consumed in twelve minutes. Half-times take twelve minutes. This is not coincidence. – Erma Bombeck

Thanksgiving Dinner Disasters

Almost everyone will have a memory of a Thanksgiving meal that didn’t go to plan. Generally, stories of Thanksgiving mistakes are funnier than nostalgic stories. It’s a great topic to build engagement. Here’s a quote to open the topic on Thanksgiving disasters:

• A lot of Thanksgiving days have been ruined by not carving the turkey in the kitchen – Kin Hubbard

Turkey Trots

No, it’s not the after-effects of eating too much turkey. A Turkey Trot is a fun race for fitness fanatics held on or around Thanksgiving to burn off calories in anticipation of a calorific feast. A few days before Thanksgiving, plan to share a turkey inspired image with the details of local races,

Or give some tips for high-energy activities to try before sitting down for a heavy Thanksgiving meal.

Food coma afternoons

Thanksgiving is notorious for overeating. There is a strong chance that people will sink into the couch and watching a movie or two. Think about posting a late-in-the-day post. Ask your audience what their top movies are to watch post-Thanksgiving dinner. Or ask them about their favorite side dish:

Thanksgiving Images – Food Feasts

Thanksgiving seems to be about food. Food gets people talking, whether it is about:

• Cooking turkey,
• The best brand of cranberry sauce,
• How you like your potatoes,
• Whether it’s right to have marshmallows with yams
• Whether macaroni & cheese is an acceptable side.

You can’t go wrong with social media posts about food. “It’s all gravy”.

Let’s Talk Turkey

It’s almost impossible to think of Thanksgiving without thinking about Turkeys. Wild Turkeys used to be hunted by the pilgrims, so the big bird is strongly tied to Thanksgiving traditions.

Of course, you can discuss turkey recipes on social media, or create an infographic about fun facts about turkeys, but why not why not use corny turkey jokes to make your audience laugh.

5 Punny Turkey Jokes to use for Thanksgiving Social Images

1. What did the mama turkey say to her naughty son? If your papa could see you now, he’d turn over in his gravy!
2. Why did the police arrest the turkey? They suspected fowl play.
3. My family told me to stop telling Thanksgiving jokes, but I told them I couldn’t stop “cold turkey”.
4. Who’s not hungry at Thanksgiving? The turkey because it’s already stuffed.
5. What does Miley Cyrus eat for Thanksgiving? Twerk-ey!

Just to make you laugh, we wanted to share this funny video of twerking turkey with you. You may never be able to look at a Thanksgiving turkey again without smiling after watching this.

The World’s 1st Twurkey by Joel Erkkinen.

Thanksgiving Stuffing

The traditional American Thanksgiving meal is 3000 calories! So, the turkey is not the only thing getting stuffed on Thanksgiving. People will be talking about food for days before, during and after Thanksgiving.

5 Engaging Questions to ask about Thanksgiving Food

In the lead up to Thanksgiving, create engagement by posting an an image showing a traditional spread and ask questions like:

• What’s your must-have Thanksgiving side dish?
• Who cooks your Thanksgiving Dinner?
• Where are you having Thanksgiving Dinner this year?
• Which Thanksgiving dish takes you back to your childhood?
• How long before Thanksgiving do you start stockpiling food?

Over-indulgence (and the after-effects)

Most people overindulge over the season, which may mean a few extra pounds. Some people even wear comfy pants to allow for their expanding waist on Thanksgiving. Start a discussion or post Thanksgiving images about how to counteract the effects of turkey banquets during the holiday season.

2 Thanksgiving “Over-indulgence” Quotes to use for social media images

Here’s two quotes that could get the discussion started. It’s inevitable that people will enjoy their meals at Thanksgiving, so make light of it: 

1. An optimist is a person who starts a new diet on Thanksgiving Day – Irv Kupcinet
2. It is now common knowledge that the average American gains 7 pounds between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day – Marilu Henner

Pumpkin Pie

Fun Thanksgiving Fact: Did you know that pumpkin pies made by the pilgrims were more likely to be a soup made from and served in pumpkin than a sweet custard in a crust?

It was not until the early nineteenth century that pumpkin pie recipes appeared in American cookbooks and became a common Thanksgiving dessert. 

3 Pumpkin Pie Jokes to use for Thanksgiving Images

1. This pumpkin pied to be here tonight.— Alani Vargas
2. Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread and pumpkin pie. – Jim Davis (Cartoonist who created Garfield)
3. What’s the ratio of a pumpkin’s circumference to its diameter? Pumpkin pi! – Source Unknown
4. At this point, my blood type is pumpkin spice.

Thanksgiving Images – Shopping Sprees

For some people, getting the deals in the Thanksgiving weekend sales needs to be planned with military precision.

Online sales increased by 16.8% year on year over Black Friday last year, but people still turned out to the shops in large numbers. 

Plan for Black Friday and Cyber Monday Shopping Madness

If you have a product or service that you sell, it’s worth thinking about how to promote a sale or special offer while people are in a spending spree.

You will need to plan this well in advance because you want to make sure that you let your customers know about your promotion while they are planning for the Black Friday Sales. Let them know that you are offering a Black Friday or Cyber Monday deal about two weeks before.

Create your visual marketing and social media adverts well in advance and schedule them. Remind customers about your promotion in the Thanksgiving week and schedule eye-catching images, videos or gifs to promote your sales on the day.

Easil has great templates to use for sales promotions and it’s very easy to create thumb-stopping GIFs in Easil’s gif-maker. 

You might also want to check out this post about how to create animated GIFs for your newsletters and emails.

Thanksgiving Ideas and Images – Other Fun Ideas

Thanksgiving Fun Facts

Everyone likes a seasonal quiz and fun facts. Here are two ideas:

1. Create a shareable visual image with Thanksgiving fun facts by using one of Easil’s Long Pinterest Templates to great a beautifully designed branded infographic easily. Infographics are very shareable.
2. Use Easil’s Instagram Story Template to share fun facts on Thanksgiving Day.

Thanksgiving Themed GIFs

Easil’s GIF maker makes it easy to create moving seasonal marketing images for your brand. Eye-catching GIFs get attention in the news feed. You can use the GIFs to:

• Wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving
• Reveal the answer to Thanksgiving riddles or questions.
• Show that you are grateful by thanking your supporters
• Promote your Black Friday Sale

Find out more about creating Gifs with Easil here.

Thanksgiving Parody Song Lyrics

People always remember the way you make them feel, and putting a smile on customers faces is a great way to start Thanksgiving.

And who doesn’t like parody lyrics? Why not create an image with a Thanksgiving slant to a popular song? Encourage everyone to add their favorite lines.

3 Thanksgiving Parody Lyrics and Ideas

Here’s three to get you started:

1. Hey I just met you, and this is crazy. But here’s some turkey, now pass the gravy – @ZDensford on Twitter (Parody on Carly Rae Jepsen – Call Me Maybe) 
2. Anticipating……stuffiiiiiiing! – (Parody on Depeche Mode – by you? Get your video camera out!)
3. It’s all about the Baste (Parody on Meghan Trainor – All About That Bass) – We couldn’t resist sharing this video just to get you in the Thanksgiving mood while you’re creating your social media images.

Phew!  Are you filled to the Brim with ideas for Thanksgiving Images and visual content this year?

Get it on Your Calendar

Thanksgiving in the U.S.A is always the fourth Thursday of November, followed by Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Make sure it’s on your calendar.

Over to You

Thanksgiving can be about gratitude, family, food, fun or a sales opportunity. It’s up to you what you do with it.

We hope these Thanksgiving Image Ideas for Social Media will help give you plenty of seasonal marketing ideas. Which ones will you use?

And remember you can create your own unique images for free, here in Easil.