Ever since I was a kid, there’s been the yearly gripe of “It’s barely November and they got the Christmas stuff out already!” Sure the Christmas season keeps advancing earlier on the calendar, but it seems every holiday has tried to broaden it’s scope and reach through increased commercialization. For example, did you realize Party City has extensive line of 4th of July costumes? So while many of many of our holidays are “upping their game,” one holiday seems to be left behind—Thanksgiving. That’s right, the most American of holidays, the one founded right here on native soil, is “sitting at the kids table” when comes to big time holidays. With that in mind, here’s a handful of ideas to further promote my favorite holiday.
New Name – The first step is a simple change in rebranding. We simply change the name of the forth Thursday in November from Thanksgiving to “Pumpkin Spice Day.” Gratitude and giving thanks are clearly outdated concepts; nowadays it’s all about a tantalizing combination of nutmeg, ginger, and cinnamon. People and consumers can simply not get enough pumpkin spice.
“Yam on the Lam” – Nothing builds excitement around a holiday like children’s anticipation. Yam on the Lam is meant to capitalize on the Elf on a Shelf phenomena. The story goes a cartoon anthropomorphic yam is trying to escape being part of a Thanksgiving feast. Each morning in November, kids need to find the stuffed Yam and return it to the pot. I think we get Williams-Sonoma to sell an All-Clad version of this game including pot, stuffed animal my and storybook for $49.95. It will be huge.
More cards – I was saddened to find out that Thanksgiving is the 7th most popular greeting card holiday in America behind Christmas, Valentines Day, Mothers Day, Fathers Day, Easter, and Halloween. Halloween? Who is distributing greeting cards on October 31st and who are the disappointed kids receiving them? “Trick or treat!” “Look, this one has a foil seal!”
Pilgrim IPA – The Americanization and rise in popularity of Cinco De Mayo has definitely been driven by Corona and Margaritas. I say we make Thanksgiving the “Craft Beer” Holiday. German beers can have Octoberfest; every fall American craft brewers will a focus on producing their best Thanksgiving beer, a pumpkin spice beer perhaps.
Super Thursday – How is it that there are three NFL games televised on Thanksgiving and this holiday lags in popularity? Let’s move the Super Bowl to Thanksgiving and capitalize on the community gluttony already associated with the “big game.” NFL – you can shorten your season or start in it ten weeks earlier; either would be fine with me.
New Menu – I love turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes just as much as the next guy, but if we’re trying to revolutionize a holiday, bold sweeping changes must be made. Our nation clearly has love affair going with bacon, so I think that’s we’re the new menu should start. One of the side dishes should include a kale casserole topped Sriracha. Pies should also replaced with handcrafted cupcakes.
Black November 1st – It’s bad enough that Christmas shopping in the form of “Black Friday” as spilled over into the day of Thanksgiving. Malls and big box stores are inviting shoppers in Thanksgiving night and in some cases Thanksgiving day! It’s time for Thanksgiving to play tough and start infringing on Halloween. I propose a shopping frenzy starting the midnight on Halloween. What we will be shopping for? The Thanksgiving gifts from our Thanksgiving registries of course! That’s right we’re stealing some of Christmas’ thunder and making Thanksgiving a gift-giving holiday.
Of course, it’s highly unlikely that any of these things are going to happen and quite frankly I hope they never do. Thanksgiving is already a perfect holiday—a celebration of the good things in our lives surrounded by the people we care about most. From my family to yours—wishing you peace, happiness, and prosperity at this time of giving thanks.
