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32 People Who Had A Worse Thanksgiving Day Than You
This year, like every year, there are so many things to be thankful for — family, friends, loaded stomachs, and, of course, painfully funny Thanksgiving fails people have shared online that make you immensely grateful aren’t yours. Because let’s face it, as much as this holiday is supposed to be a time of gratitude and enjoyment, it can swiftly turn into a wild cooking show where at least six things are bound to go terribly wrong.
Whether we like it or not, the pressure to whip up Michelin-worthy meals is high. But there’s no amount of preparation, education, or meditation that can ensure the feast goes off without a hitch. From doomed turkeys to scorched casseroles and completely sabotaged ovens, many households across the country recently found out just how quickly things can go south.
So in honor of Turkey Day, we at Bored Panda have compiled some of the most unfortunate, embarrassing, and downright tragic fails from this Thanksgiving people have shared online to get some sympathy. And let me tell you, after seeing this list, you'll definitely want to say thanks that your own celebration was, in fact, not that bad. So continue scrolling and upvote the most painfully funny mishaps. Then don’t miss the chat we had about planning elaborate dinners with food blogger and journalist Ellen Manning, and let us know how your Thanksgiving went in the comments!
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Y’all Gon Be Battling Food Poisoning Up To New Years
RELATED:
#2
My Lonely Thanksgiving Dinner At Work. At Least I Got Turkey And Potatoes…
#3
Cats Decided My Pumpkin Pies Were Too Blasé
karl briggs 3 years ago
After the cat finished lending a helping paw, it sits back and quietly says to itself "Purrrrfect".
#4
My Oven Decided Thanksgiving Had Gone Too Smoothly. So It Spontaneously Did This While We Ate
#5
Happy Thanksgiving
#6
Friends Ordered A Precooked Turkey From A Local Restaurant
#7
My Wife's Cousin's Thanksgiving Turkey Stuffed With A Loose Handful Of Plain Celery
She has high-functioning autism and is discovering her love of cooking. She has her own unique sense of aesthetics. If you guys like this one I have several more that are great.
#8
Anddd Just Like That Thanksgiving Is Cancelled… Hand Foot Mouth Disease
#9
This Is What I Always Look Forward Too For Thanksgiving
#10
He Had To Prepare A Thanksgiving Gift
#11
Ordered Chinese Food For My Family For Thanksgiving, To Be Untraditional
I showed up when they told me to, and they were closed. I'm sure I'll get the money back... but now I'm driving around town. I've gotta figure out something for thanksgiving dinner... And literally nothing is open.
#12
Fil Thought Temp Gauge Was A Timer
#13
I Picked Up Some Last Minute Thanksgiving Items On Lunch Break And Left Them Tied Up In A Bag In The Break Room Fridge. This Is How I Found My Pie
Andrea Pereira 3 years ago
I would go to security and see if there's camera footage. Also make a complaint with HR. Who does this thing!!? Psychos!!!
#14
Happy Thanksgiving Y’all
#15
This Salad A Family Member Brought For Thanksgiving
#16
My Brother Made The Most Upsetting Pie I’ve Ever Had In My Life
#17
Thanksgiving, A Tragic Story
#18
Deliciously S***ty Thanksgiving Cake
#19
Day Before Thanksgiving And My Oven Element Burned And Snapped In Half. Yay
Mad Dragon 3 years ago
I had that happen the year I invited my parents and in-laws to our house for Thanksgiving. My mom moved the entire event to her house and my dad installed a new element the day after Thanksgiving. It’s now a favorite memory of “The time I hosted Thanksgiving...in Mom’s kitchen.”
#20
Moms Turkey Exploded, Christmas Vacation Style
#21
My Mom Is Staying With Us This Week For Thanksgiving
She wanted to make tea but instead of asking for help with the electric kettle she microwaved my chargeable self heating mug and caught it on fire.
The Goo King 3 years ago
What kind of monster uses a microwave to make tea in the first place?
#22
Someone New Recipe For Thanksgiving?
#23
Someone From My Snapchat At Thanksgiving
#24
Turkey Crafted From Spam, Merry Thanksgiving
#25
A Perfect Addition To Thanksgiving Dinner
#26
I'm Such An Amazing Chef Man
#27
Thanksgiving Turkey Was Rubbed With Brown Sugar And Seasonings Before Being Deep Fried. Got Carmelized
#28
Facebook Found Deviled Eggs. Happy Thanksgiving!
#29
X90j I Orders For Thanksgiving. UPS Was Not Kind
#30
My Mom’s Thanksgiving Turkey
MarcyParlomerNerdGirlsRock 3 years ago
I’m not sure that’s the correct description term anymore
#31
I Guess We Don't Have Thanksgiving Dessert
#32
Just Got Home From Thanksgiving Dinner At Mom’s
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Aisling Raye 3 years ago
I spent my thanksgiving alone so even the mistakes look like a blessing. Be thankful for your friends and family.
No. 3 years ago
Here's mine! Me and both my brothers have been sick so, we didn't go to ours. They sent our cousin over to give us a ton of leftovers since they made so much. Glad we got the food atleast.
Dizavid 3 years ago (edited)
Mine that went from bad to awesome discovery: one year the oven died on Thanksgiving morning. I can say with certainty that's exactly when, bc it had been working at 1am when we were doing some early prep and cooking. So we had to run to Walmart and get us ANYTHING to cook the dressing in. We ended up, funny enough, getting a turkey cooker....to cook dressing. I absolutely hate eating it from the oven now. The cooker keeps it SO amazing moist inside. We also discovered a turkey cooker is great for BBQ (just wrap in tinfoil, occasionally opening it to reapply sauce).
Load More Replies...
Jus Frpn 3 years ago
I had to have emergency surgery this week and missed Thanksgiving. I don't really mind as it's also the anniversary of my mom's death.
Ches Yamada 3 years ago (edited)
When I was prepping my turkey this year, I pulled the neck out and THE BEAK was ATTACHED! Like, full on trachea and face parts! I've never seen anything like it before. First time we bought a "big brand" turkey, too.
Dre Mosley 3 years ago
This post makes me appreciate how damn awesome our family's Thanksgiving food turned out. Good grief.
BeepBeepBoopBoop 3 years ago
well I have a good Thanksgiving story- Me and my best friend baked an apple pie for my family, and we put the second star design on the top of the pie (it's from peter pan), so we had a lot of dough left and some extra filling so we made a little mini pie for us to split. My family loved the pie! They all agreed it was the best apple pie lol. I hope this story makes this list sounds worse 😈😂
Weirdest Bi You’ll Ever Meet 3 years ago
Here’s mine! We have tradition in my house for when we are done eating our meal/feast, we have apples and caramel. I have chopping up apples and we have the glass jars of caramel. I heated that caramel in the microwave and I think I heated it up to long and when I went to open the caramel, it exploded over my hand and gave me a second degree burn. My mom had to go to the store to go get burn cream and so more caramel. I had no caramel this year. My hands fine, but I do have some small blisters and the hand is aggravated. Fun! (Sarcasm)
Ingrid Karena Santana-Ramirez 3 years ago
Thanksgiving 2022, I spent as a mediator been my son and his new in laws. Let’s just say by 8pm there was 1 arrest, assault of DIL, I resolved kidnapping their 4 month old, a Pastor who is the grandfather to my DIL who showed he doesn’t know how to handle a family issue, so idk how he has his own congregation, several trips to the police and sheriff, and the in laws realizing they were in the wrong decided to “get even” but mounting a false domestic violence issue and abuse and neglect charges toward my grand baby- NONE WAS TRUE. All because my son married his wife. They haven’t even been married 1 month. Now the MIL is refusing to return their property unless they pay her $1K in “damages and back rent”, plus a daily $10 fee for storing their property in their home. Back story after much emotional, mental, and financial abuse my son and his now bride moved out of the home after they were told they needed to leave- so they did and now the MIL is furious & seeking vengeance.
BeepBeepBoopBoop 3 years ago
that's... That's a lot. Jeez. This also sounds like something BP would post from a stolen reddit story. Would love more details 10/10
Load More Replies...
TheHalloweenTeen 3 years ago
Due to my mum being ill she couldn't drive us to my dad's work where we were going to celebrate. I spent the day making my brothers food, cleaning, and arguing with my little brother who chose this week to be a bray over video games. I've been hit twice by him so far. Dad's coming home tomorrow at least and mum's feeling somewhat better.
Shyla Bouche 3 years ago
I sat at home in the dark alone. I'll be doing the same at Christmas.
lapis lazuli 3 years ago
I was super sick but tried to fight through it. Right before we were gonna eat I went to the bathroom and threw up. Right. Before.
Metalhead Turtle 🇺🇦 3 years ago
For those just now seeing the article, I posted an update that took 3 comments for the second post, which has the caption: Y’all Gon Be Battling Food Poisoning Up To New Years. Someone asked for an update, so I was able to follow the link and find it on Twitter.
Delight Disaster 3 years ago
I can't even look at these food woes - we manage to do "thanks giving food" most Sundays lol without issue
Anna Te 3 years ago
I feel sorry for all the turkeys who got butchered for this day and then burned or otherwise cooked inedible. What a waste!
Okatango 3 years ago (edited)
At least they are out of the misery of when they were alive. But I fully agree, I wish that at least on Thanksgiving someone would thank the creatures who gave up their lives.
Load More Replies...
The Starsong Princess 3 years ago
I watched some turkey deep frying videos. Americans are insane!
Ruth Hempsey 3 years ago
And I thought deep fried chocolate bars were weird, until I heard of these turkeys in hot fat.
Load More Replies... Dancing Armadillo 3 years ago (edited)
My aunts got drunk the night before making the mashed potatoes.. they called at 1am and said they ran out of potatoes.. so one of my aunts said she would just add instant .. we told her don’t do that. I don’t know what happened but they had to go buy mashed potatoes Thanksgiving morning from a local barbecue restaurant before they closed.Then my other aunt said that the top layer of the stuffing was burned but don’t worry she had her ‘special knife’ to cut off the burnt layer.. apparently she cooks everything at 450 because she thinks it cooks faster… when she said that my husband, cousins, and I looked at each other and thought that explains a lot (she’s a notoriously bad cook) Lol!!
Terra Raizor 3 years ago
My family is sick, his family went out of state. We made bratwurst on the grill.
Your Local Slytherin 3 years ago
I didn't eat on thanksgiving because I slept through the whole thing
Becky Mancik 3 years ago
My kid got strep , my nephew now has a rampant stomach bug and my other nephew has hand foot and mouth I’m just waiting to see what I end up with
Heather Talma 3 years ago
I found out that my grandma sometimes washes dishes with bleach, so there's that.
Hey! 3 years ago
If you don't know how to cook a turkey properly (or ham), just do something else; there's no Thanksgiving police you know. I'm in Canada and our tradition (just us parents and children) is that we all cook something together during the day and then we eat. We do a schedule of who's going to use the oven, fridge, counters, etc. We usually start with some kind of appetizer, then the soup, a salad, root vegetable, veggies, fish, poultry, red meat, 2 different desserts (like a mousse and a pie or cookies and fondue), a special beverage (hot or cold), then regular beverages like wine, coffee, tea. Thanksgiving is the only holiday we celebrate so it's big. Everyone leaves with leftovers if they want.
Aisling Raye 3 years ago
I spent my thanksgiving alone so even the mistakes look like a blessing. Be thankful for your friends and family.
No. 3 years ago
Here's mine! Me and both my brothers have been sick so, we didn't go to ours. They sent our cousin over to give us a ton of leftovers since they made so much. Glad we got the food atleast.
Dizavid 3 years ago (edited)
Mine that went from bad to awesome discovery: one year the oven died on Thanksgiving morning. I can say with certainty that's exactly when, bc it had been working at 1am when we were doing some early prep and cooking. So we had to run to Walmart and get us ANYTHING to cook the dressing in. We ended up, funny enough, getting a turkey cooker....to cook dressing. I absolutely hate eating it from the oven now. The cooker keeps it SO amazing moist inside. We also discovered a turkey cooker is great for BBQ (just wrap in tinfoil, occasionally opening it to reapply sauce).
Load More Replies... Jus Frpn 3 years ago
I had to have emergency surgery this week and missed Thanksgiving. I don't really mind as it's also the anniversary of my mom's death.
Ches Yamada 3 years ago (edited)
When I was prepping my turkey this year, I pulled the neck out and THE BEAK was ATTACHED! Like, full on trachea and face parts! I've never seen anything like it before. First time we bought a "big brand" turkey, too.
Dre Mosley 3 years ago
This post makes me appreciate how damn awesome our family's Thanksgiving food turned out. Good grief.
BeepBeepBoopBoop 3 years ago
well I have a good Thanksgiving story- Me and my best friend baked an apple pie for my family, and we put the second star design on the top of the pie (it's from peter pan), so we had a lot of dough left and some extra filling so we made a little mini pie for us to split. My family loved the pie! They all agreed it was the best apple pie lol. I hope this story makes this list sounds worse 😈😂
Weirdest Bi You’ll Ever Meet 3 years ago
Here’s mine! We have tradition in my house for when we are done eating our meal/feast, we have apples and caramel. I have chopping up apples and we have the glass jars of caramel. I heated that caramel in the microwave and I think I heated it up to long and when I went to open the caramel, it exploded over my hand and gave me a second degree burn. My mom had to go to the store to go get burn cream and so more caramel. I had no caramel this year. My hands fine, but I do have some small blisters and the hand is aggravated. Fun! (Sarcasm)
Ingrid Karena Santana-Ramirez 3 years ago
Thanksgiving 2022, I spent as a mediator been my son and his new in laws. Let’s just say by 8pm there was 1 arrest, assault of DIL, I resolved kidnapping their 4 month old, a Pastor who is the grandfather to my DIL who showed he doesn’t know how to handle a family issue, so idk how he has his own congregation, several trips to the police and sheriff, and the in laws realizing they were in the wrong decided to “get even” but mounting a false domestic violence issue and abuse and neglect charges toward my grand baby- NONE WAS TRUE. All because my son married his wife. They haven’t even been married 1 month. Now the MIL is refusing to return their property unless they pay her $1K in “damages and back rent”, plus a daily $10 fee for storing their property in their home. Back story after much emotional, mental, and financial abuse my son and his now bride moved out of the home after they were told they needed to leave- so they did and now the MIL is furious & seeking vengeance.
BeepBeepBoopBoop 3 years ago
that's... That's a lot. Jeez. This also sounds like something BP would post from a stolen reddit story. Would love more details 10/10
Load More Replies... TheHalloweenTeen 3 years ago
Due to my mum being ill she couldn't drive us to my dad's work where we were going to celebrate. I spent the day making my brothers food, cleaning, and arguing with my little brother who chose this week to be a bray over video games. I've been hit twice by him so far. Dad's coming home tomorrow at least and mum's feeling somewhat better.
Shyla Bouche 3 years ago
I sat at home in the dark alone. I'll be doing the same at Christmas.
lapis lazuli 3 years ago
I was super sick but tried to fight through it. Right before we were gonna eat I went to the bathroom and threw up. Right. Before.
Metalhead Turtle 🇺🇦 3 years ago
For those just now seeing the article, I posted an update that took 3 comments for the second post, which has the caption: Y’all Gon Be Battling Food Poisoning Up To New Years. Someone asked for an update, so I was able to follow the link and find it on Twitter.
Delight Disaster 3 years ago
I can't even look at these food woes - we manage to do "thanks giving food" most Sundays lol without issue
Anna Te 3 years ago
I feel sorry for all the turkeys who got butchered for this day and then burned or otherwise cooked inedible. What a waste!
Okatango 3 years ago (edited)
At least they are out of the misery of when they were alive. But I fully agree, I wish that at least on Thanksgiving someone would thank the creatures who gave up their lives.
Load More Replies... The Starsong Princess 3 years ago
I watched some turkey deep frying videos. Americans are insane!
Ruth Hempsey 3 years ago
And I thought deep fried chocolate bars were weird, until I heard of these turkeys in hot fat.
Load More Replies... Dancing Armadillo 3 years ago (edited)
My aunts got drunk the night before making the mashed potatoes.. they called at 1am and said they ran out of potatoes.. so one of my aunts said she would just add instant .. we told her don’t do that. I don’t know what happened but they had to go buy mashed potatoes Thanksgiving morning from a local barbecue restaurant before they closed.Then my other aunt said that the top layer of the stuffing was burned but don’t worry she had her ‘special knife’ to cut off the burnt layer.. apparently she cooks everything at 450 because she thinks it cooks faster… when she said that my husband, cousins, and I looked at each other and thought that explains a lot (she’s a notoriously bad cook) Lol!!
Terra Raizor 3 years ago
My family is sick, his family went out of state. We made bratwurst on the grill.
Your Local Slytherin 3 years ago
I didn't eat on thanksgiving because I slept through the whole thing
Becky Mancik 3 years ago
My kid got strep , my nephew now has a rampant stomach bug and my other nephew has hand foot and mouth I’m just waiting to see what I end up with
Heather Talma 3 years ago
I found out that my grandma sometimes washes dishes with bleach, so there's that.
Hey! 3 years ago
If you don't know how to cook a turkey properly (or ham), just do something else; there's no Thanksgiving police you know. I'm in Canada and our tradition (just us parents and children) is that we all cook something together during the day and then we eat. We do a schedule of who's going to use the oven, fridge, counters, etc. We usually start with some kind of appetizer, then the soup, a salad, root vegetable, veggies, fish, poultry, red meat, 2 different desserts (like a mousse and a pie or cookies and fondue), a special beverage (hot or cold), then regular beverages like wine, coffee, tea. Thanksgiving is the only holiday we celebrate so it's big. Everyone leaves with leftovers if they want.
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