Thanksgiving speech template (United States)
Published 10 October 2026 · Date checked on 5 October 2026 · Written by the Cue Card Converter team at EventProgrammer, event production professionals
Thanksgiving is a national holiday held on the fourth Thursday in November, centered on gratitude, family and community. Many Americans trace it to a harvest meal shared at Plymouth in 1621, and President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving in 1863. Today it is marked with family dinners, often featuring turkey, as well as parades, football games, food drives and volunteering. Many workplaces and community groups hold gatherings in the days before the holiday.
- Date
- Fourth Thursday in November
- Next dates
- Thursday, November 26, 2026
Thursday, November 25, 2027
Thursday, November 23, 2028 - Country
- United States
- Tone
- Celebratory
- Typical events
- Company lunches before the holiday, community dinners, school assemblies, food bank volunteer events, faith and civic group gatherings, and family or friends' Thanksgiving tables.
- Length
- 188 spoken words · about 1.5 min at 130 words a minute · 4 cue cards
The Thanksgiving speech, ready as cue cards
A complete host script in 4 cards, about 1.5 minutes of speaking. Open it in the editor to add your names, change the card size or highlights, and print.
- WELCOME TO THE TABLE1 / 4
Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome. I'm {Your name}, and on behalf of {Organization}, thank you for taking time out of a busy week to share this meal. Thanksgiving is about gratitude, and there is a lot in this room to be grateful for. - A YEAR OF THANKS2 / 4
This year brought {Highlight of the year}, and none of it happened by accident. It happened because people here showed up, helped one another and kept going when things got hard. So before we eat, I want to say a simple thank you to every one of you. - THANKING OUR VOLUNTEERS3 / 4
A special thank you goes to the volunteers who cooked, set the tables and will be serving today. Please join me in showing them some appreciation.
[APPLAUSE]
Thank you, too, to everyone who brought food or a donation for {Local food bank}. Your generosity will reach families across our community this season. - A TOAST4 / 4
Now, please raise your glass, whatever is in it. To the people who make this place what it is, to the family and friends waiting at home, and to the neighbors who could use a helping hand this season. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Please enjoy the meal.
Red is used only for names, titles, organisations, dates, times and section headings. Replace the words in {curly brackets} with your own details; lines in [SQUARE BRACKETS] are stage directions and are not read aloud.
How to adapt it
- Thanksgiving week is busy with travel, so workplace and community events usually work best a few days before the holiday. Keep the speaking short so the food is still warm.
- Replace the placeholder in the second card with one or two concrete moments from your year. Specific thanks, naming teams or projects, mean more than general praise.
- Some Native American communities view the traditional story of the 1621 Plymouth harvest meal differently. If you mention it, be brief and accurate, and keep the focus on gratitude and community.
- If someone will say grace before the meal, keep it short and optional, and invite anyone who prefers to simply share a quiet moment of thanks.
Print and rehearse
“Edit and print these cards” opens the script in the free cue card maker, where you can choose A5, 4 × 6 or 3 × 5 inch cards, print several per sheet with cut lines or export PDF, PowerPoint and Word, and rehearse full screen in practice mode. To write your own programme around it, see how to write an MC script and the run of show template.
Sources
Date and background checked on 5 October 2026 against: American holidays | USAGov. Customs vary between organisations and regions; always follow the official programme of your event.
More United States speech templates
- Martin Luther King Jr. Day · Third Monday in January
- Memorial Day · Last Monday in May
- Juneteenth · June 19
- Independence Day · July 4
- Veterans Day · November 11