Engage your high school business and marketing students with Thanksgiving-themed activities. Holiday activities are not just for elementary school! I’m a firm believer in tying in course concepts with every assignment, but it’s totally possible to do that, while bringing some holiday fun into the mix.
Holiday activities can be a great way to incorporate real-world application in your course. I’ve crafted a list of 10 Thanksgiving-themed activities for your business education classroom.
Unit Pricing
Unit pricing is a valuable consumer skill. Have your students select a Thanksgiving recipe and calculate the price to make the recipe.
I don’t know about you, but I’m an avid grocery pick-up shopper. I started when I was pregnant with my 2nd child, and I just can’t bring myself to go back to the store. Now, I do appreciate a good Target run, but the days of true grocery shopping ended for me in 2019. With that being said, it’s now easier than ever to find food prices readily available online.
I live in TN and Kroger is my top pick for online grocery shopping, but any store will work for this activity. Have students record the price of each item, then determine the unit price in the recipe, add it all together and BINGO. This can be eye-opening for students. You can also throw in a side discussion about the true cost of the recipe.
Create a spin-off activity with a Thanksgiving budget. Give students a total amount they can spend and have them plan a menu based on the budget.
Thank You Note
Employ those email writing, letter writing, or design skills for students to craft a thank note to express some gratitude to someone in their life. You can be as specific as the notes going to a teacher, janitor, or admin staff, or you can open it up to other influential people in your students’ lives.
Article Review
This one can be tied into numerous courses by selecting a topic that relates to your class. For example, topics could include the history of Black Friday, consumer spending for the Thanksgiving meal, or email marketing and advertising trends for Cyber Monday.
If you don’t already have an article review form you love, grab the FREE Business Current Events Article Review Graphic Organizer.
Seasonal Beverage Competition
Get your students into the holiday spirit with a coffee shop, beverage-themed contest and holiday display featuring student work. In this activity, students work in groups to recommend a coffee shop beverage featuring seasonal flavors.
Next, students plan an elevator pitch. At the conclusion of the activity, students vote for the best beverage suggestion. Tally votes and reward extra credit or a prize to the winner(s).
Radio Ad
Harness those marketing and advertising skills as students write a radio ad script for a Black Friday deal. Based on your content you could tie in the promotional mix, sales messages, the AIDA approach, feature-benefit selling, or the marketing mix.
After students have crafted their scripts, have them share for an interactive way to assess learning.
How-to Writing
This one is ideal for a Business English, Technical Writing, or Business Communications course. Have students write a how-to guide for enjoying Thanksgiving, cooking a meal, mastering Black Friday, etc.
POP Display
Your students can get the creative juices flowing with this fun project. Have students envision and create a POP display for a holiday product such as pumpkin puree.
You could go the digital route with a program like Canva™ or sometimes it’s hard to beat the old fashioned poster board project. Just be sure that students are required to do a little planning before they start.
If you need some extra inspiration or want to make this activity into a lesson, check out the Point-of-Purchase Display Project.
Trip Budget
Lots of people travel around the holidays to visit friends and family, or some even skip out all together and go on a vacay. Have your students plan a trip and the accompanying budget.
Doesn’t match your curriculum? Try having students craft a postcard or brochure (utilizing those design skills) from the location they wish they were traveling to.
Giving Back
Have students take a look at non-profits that help others during the holidays. This could include the non-profit’s mission, vision, scope, etc. Students can do a simple share-out from their research or craft an ad for the organization of their choice.
Pitch an Invention
Tie in the classic product invention concept of identifying a basic problem and solution. Have students describe a problem they have experienced on Thanksgiving and come up with a product that would solve the problem.
Next, get students to craft an elevator pitch, lean business plan, or other document that communicates their concept.
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