Thanksgiving Messages: 65+ Things to Write This Year

Thanksgiving is the one card where the content is built into the occasion: you are supposed to say what you are grateful for. Most people write “Happy Thanksgiving!” and stop. Here are 65+ original messages that actually do the job.

Send yours in a free holiday ecard if you cannot make it to the table.

Quick Thanksgiving messages

1. Happy Thanksgiving! Wishing you a wonderful day.
2. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.
3. Wishing you a warm and happy Thanksgiving.
4. Happy Thanksgiving! Hope the table is full and the day is easy.
5. Grateful for you this Thanksgiving.
6. Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy every bit of it.
7. Wishing your family a very happy Thanksgiving.
8. Happy Thanksgiving! Eat well and rest afterwards.
9. Thinking of you this Thanksgiving. Have a lovely one.
10. Happy Thanksgiving! So much to be grateful for this year.
11. Wishing you a peaceful and happy Thanksgiving.
12. Happy Thanksgiving! Save me a plate.

Messages about gratitude

1. This year I am grateful for the people who showed up without being asked. You were one of them.
2. Thanksgiving is a good moment to say what I do not say often enough: I am glad you are in my life.
3. Counting the year up, you come out near the top of the list. Happy Thanksgiving.
4. Grateful this year for ordinary days, good health, and people like you.
5. It has been a complicated year. You made it considerably easier. Thank you.
6. Happy Thanksgiving. Genuinely grateful for your friendship this year.
7. This year taught me to be grateful for smaller things. You are not one of the small ones.
8. Thankful for the family I have and the friends I chose. Happy Thanksgiving.
9. Grateful for everything you did this year that you probably think went unnoticed.
10. Happy Thanksgiving. Thank you for a year of being reliably good to me.

For family

1. Happy Thanksgiving! Nothing beats having everyone round one table.
2. Grateful for this family, chaos included. Happy Thanksgiving.
3. Happy Thanksgiving to the people who made me. Love you all.
4. Wishing you all a wonderful Thanksgiving. Cannot wait to see you.
5. Happy Thanksgiving! Thank you for a lifetime of these.
6. Grateful for every one of you this year. Happy Thanksgiving.
7. Happy Thanksgiving! The table will be noisy and I would not change it.
8. Love to the whole family this Thanksgiving.

For friends

1. Happy Thanksgiving! Chosen family counts too, and you are it.
2. Grateful for you this year and most years. Happy Thanksgiving.
3. Happy Thanksgiving! Thanks for being the friend who actually turns up.
4. Wishing you a brilliant Thanksgiving. Grateful for your friendship.
5. Happy Thanksgiving! Here is to another year of you putting up with me.
6. Thankful for good friends this year. You are top of that list.
7. Happy Thanksgiving! Miss you at the table this year.
8. Grateful for the friendship. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Funny Thanksgiving messages

1. Happy Thanksgiving! Pace yourself. You have several courses and one relative to survive.
2. Happy Thanksgiving! Grateful for stretchy waistbands and low expectations.
3. Happy Thanksgiving! May your turkey be moist and your political discussions brief.
4. Happy Thanksgiving! Remember: the sofa is the real destination.
5. Happy Thanksgiving! I am thankful I am not cooking.
6. Happy Thanksgiving! Leftovers are the actual holiday. Everyone knows this.
7. Happy Thanksgiving! Wishing you an early exit and a full container.
8. Happy Thanksgiving! Eat first, argue later.

For colleagues and clients

1. Wishing you and your family a very happy Thanksgiving.
2. Happy Thanksgiving from all of us. Thank you for a great year of working together.
3. Grateful for your partnership this year. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
4. Wishing you a restful Thanksgiving break. Thank you for everything this year.
5. Happy Thanksgiving! It has been a pleasure working with you.
6. Thank you for your support this year. Wishing you a happy Thanksgiving.
7. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your team.
8. Enjoy the holiday — thank you for a very good year.

When you cannot be there

1. Happy Thanksgiving! Sorry to miss it — save me the good bits.
2. Thinking of you all round that table today. Missing it badly.
3. Happy Thanksgiving from far away. Ring me when the plates are cleared.
4. Not there in person, very much there in spirit. Happy Thanksgiving.
5. Happy Thanksgiving! First one I have missed. Do not enjoy it too much.
6. Wish I were there. Have a wonderful day, all of you.

Short Thanksgiving messages

1. Happy Thanksgiving!
2. Grateful for you.
3. Happy Thanksgiving to you all.
4. Have a wonderful day.
5. Thankful for you this year.
6. Enjoy the holiday!
7. Warmest Thanksgiving wishes.
8. Save me a plate.

How to write it

1. Name what you are grateful for. The occasion asks for it directly — a generic greeting wastes the one card that has a built-in prompt.
2. Be specific about the person. “You showed up without being asked” beats “grateful for family and friends”.
3. Keep work cards to gratitude and warmth. No business talk in a Thanksgiving note.
4. Acknowledge a hard year if there was one. Gratitude reads as hollow when it ignores what actually happened.

Send it — and pair it with a gift

A free holiday ecard reaches people you cannot see on the day. See also Christmas card messages and thank-you messages:

FAQ

What do you write in a Thanksgiving card?

Say specifically what you are grateful for about that person. It is the one holiday card with a built-in subject — use it rather than writing a generic greeting.

What do you write to a colleague or client?

Warm thanks for the year’s work and a good wish for the holiday. Keep business out of it entirely.

What if it has been a difficult year?

Acknowledge it briefly and be grateful for something real and small. Forced positivity reads worse than honesty.

What is a good short message?

“Happy Thanksgiving! Grateful for you this year.”

What do you write if you cannot attend?

Say you will miss it, name the people rather than the meal, and set a time to speak.

When should Thanksgiving cards arrive?

In the few days before the holiday. An ecard on Thanksgiving morning is perfectly acceptable.

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