Thanksgiving is a unique day of the year. It doesn't revolve around candy like Halloween or Easter and doesn't involve gift-giving like Christmas or birthdays.
Instead, it focuses largely on your skills in the kitchen and your ability to tolerate people. But while we expect the rich aroma of roasted turkey or the warmth of pumpkin pie, sometimes life brings us kitchen fires and slippery stairs.
So, in an attempt to remind you that our holidays don't have to (and probably will never) be perfect, we at Bored Panda put together a list of some of the most unfortunate Thanksgiving fails.
Oh, and while you're at it, don't miss the chat we had on surviving and even enjoying this hectic festivity with Dr. Jennifer Hardy, a psychologist from Maryville, Tennessee. You'll find it spread between the pictures.
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My Sister Was Supposed To Bring A Dessert For Thanksgiving
Nailed It
It's important not to allow setbacks such as the ones we see in the pictures to get the best of us, since the holidays can already be demanding due to the intensified focus on family, work, and money.
In fact, according to a study carried out by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner and featured by the American Psychological Association, more people are inclined to feel that their stress increases (38 percent), rather than decreases (8 percent) during these special occasions.
My Solid White Husky/Shepherd Decided Thanksgiving Lunch Was The Perfect Opportunity To Be A Bad Boy
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This added stress is felt more by women (44 percent) than men (31 percent), who are also less likely to take time to relax or manage that pressure in healthy ways, both of which are crucial to our well-being.
Stress and the harmful behaviors it causes contribute to some of our biggest health problems such as obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. So it’s imperative that people prepare not only the table but also themselves for Thanksgiving.
I Accidently Branded Rachael Ray's Name On Myself With One Of Her Roasting Trays
It Only Lasted 10 Minutes, But Come On
"There are so many reasons why the holidays are stressful," psychologist Dr. Jennifer Hardy, who also shares valuable tips on mental health on her Instagram, told Bored Panda, listing "changes to your typical rhythm and routines, the avalanche of work before and after any vacation, long-standing family conflicts that refuse to be ignored, and sensory overwhelm from dozens of family members packed into living rooms and around dining tables."
But she said we can't forget expectations too. "They are everywhere and are often impossible to live up to. Aunt Margie expects everyone to show their love by eating themselves into a stomach ache. Uncle Tommy needs people to be impressed by his kids' career accomplishments. Grandpa Joe assumes that he gets to set the itinerary and the schedule, unilaterally canceling the little kids' naps. Your sister still thinks she can boss you around. Maybe you need the holiday to go perfectly, to make memories worthy of a Hallmark movie."
"The trick is that expectations are often unspoken and may not even be conscious," Dr. Hardy highlighted. "When they aren't met, it's a recipe for anger, resentment, and disappointment."
Mom Was Making Thanksgiving Pie When Suddenly This Happened
My Wife Tried Cooking Thanksgiving Dinner For Us And Actually Burned The Cookbook
Happy Humpsgiving
"If you need a solid nine hours of sleep to feel human, then it's pretty unrealistic to assume you'll be your calmest, happiest self after a night in a sleeping bag on the living room floor," Dr. Hardy explained.
"As much as possible, identify your most important routines and rhythms. Protect them. Communicate your needs ahead of time with the people they may impact, and accept that you may need to advocate for yourself and your boundaries."
Our Family Will Come For Thanksgiving, And My Mom Set Her Oven, Not Remembering That She Had Silicone Rack Guards In There
Fun fact: If heated high enough silicone vaporizes and does this to the oven.
I Win Thanksgiving
Pie Update: "The Paw Print Is Now A Small Sinkhole. The Piece Lives On, For Posterity"
If you need a quiet thirty minutes to drink a cup of coffee in the morning and surf the internet, Dr. Hardy suggests informing your house guests about these things ahead of time. After all, cooperation is in everyone's best interest here.
"They will be much more likely to roll with your routines if they actually know what they are. People can't read your mind. In that vein, take the opportunity to ask them what they may need in return."
The Handle Of My Serving Spoon Snapped. Turns Out The Handle Was Full Of Sand, And It Ruined My Delicious Turkey Stuffing
My Brother's Face, From My Point Of View, The Entirety Of Our Thanksgiving Dinner. I Didn't Tell Him Until The End, When We Took The Picture
Every Year At Thanksgiving, I "Fix" My Aunt's Computer. I Have A Feeling She's Not Keeping Up With My Advice
I Turned The Wrong Stove Burner On, And My Pumpkin Pie Made From Scratch Exploded
No loss. At least you got a lame pic to post online.
Load More Replies...last year i dropped the pumpkin pie straight out of the oven when it was still all liquidy. smelled like pie for months after, so silver lining i guess.
One of the reasons I prefer a gas stove. You can see which burner turns on immediately.
It fills the air with pollutants that can harm the lungs. Perhaps there are better ways.
Load More Replies...One time I set my husband's freshly baked birthday bundt cake on the stove. You guessed it, somehow the burner turned on. My guess is a poltergeist. Anyway we were cleaning the house and kept smelling the cake. Finally it dawned on me to check. It was okay! Just a little toasty. But he still teases me about the time I baked his cake twice.
I had a Pyrex dish explode like this in my kitchen. Thank God I wasn't in there when it did.
This is why you never set anything on a burner on the stove. I remember hearing of a story about a aunt many many many years ago she went to turn the stove or went to turn a burner on instead she turned on a wrong burner on and set a ceramic bowl on the burner that was on and the dish end up exploding into like a thousand pieces.
I was not under the impression that pumpkin could be blown up from just heat. Every day is a blessing to be alive because of the fact you never stop learning.
This is why you don't set things on burners, weather they are on or not.
There's probably no point in obsessing about every little detail, too. So many of them are out of your control.
"Abandon the pressure to curate a perfect holiday experience," Dr. Hardy added. "You do not need to have Instagram-ready decorations, desserts, and crafts. Accept that the family dinner table may not be the best place or time to hash out unresolved family issues and political disagreements."
Instead, "plan ahead with phrases you can use to stop conversations that are only going to ruin the day. It may frustrate people, but it also saves you another unproductive, yet stressful argument."
And, of course, don't forget to follow the example set by the authors of these pictures and laugh at your missteps.
Many People Helped Out With The Dishes On Thanksgiving Dinner. However, Today I Found My Chef's Knife Like This
My Sister Made A Turkey Cake. I Can't Decide If It Looks Like A Log Of Poo Or A Dong, But It Ain't A Turkey For Sure
This Stack Of Plates We Bought For Thanksgiving Only Has The Top Plate Decorated, And The Rest Are Plain White
Maybe Enough Gravy Can Fix That?
An Extended Family Member Broke The Toilet Seat While At A Gathering And Left Without Mentioning It To Anyone
Happy Thanksgiving
I Stayed Up Until 4 AM Baking My First Fully From Scratch Apple Pie For Thanksgiving. Stayed Up Until 4:30 AM Having A Breakdown Over Dropping It
My Mom And Sister Are Gone For Thanksgiving, So We Had To Improvise
If you are men eating like this because the women are gone, it's what you deserve.
I Bit Down On My Crown While Eating An Appetizer Right Before Thanksgiving Dinner
Well Guess Who Forgot To Take The Thermometer Out When I Checked On The Turkey
My Mom's Thanksgiving Desert
Presentation Is A Key This Thanksgiving
It ain't thanksgiving if the cranberry sauce does not have the slice here can rings.
On Thanksgiving I Asked My Niece If She Farted. She Got Pretty Upset, And Then Her Mother Caught This Picture Of Our Reactions
Deep Frying A Turkey On A Windy Day
Happy Thanksgiving. This Brutality Is The Work Of My Mother. That Woman Can't Carve A Turkey To Save Her Life
Happy Thanksgiving
This Is How My Thanksgiving Is Going So Far
This morning, Whole Foods delivered the groceries that I ordered yesterday but forgot to remove the lock from the bottle of champagne.
My Friend's Thanksgiving Turkey
Happy Thanksgiving
My Late Mum Had This Served To Her On Thanksgiving During One Of Her Many Stays In The Hospital. They Called It A "Hot Turkey Sandwich"
Last Night, We Put Our Turkey Carcass In Water In Our Crockpot Slow Cooker To Make Stock. Later In The Evening, The Glass Lid Spontaneously Shattered
I Brought Cherry Pie For Our Station Thanksgiving, But I'm Clumsy And Dropped It In The Parking Lot. Thought That Counts?
Our Thanksgiving
Grandfather Tried To Cook A Turkey In A Pizza Oven Today
Today I Learned That Slow Cooking A Ham Overnight Will Still Burn The Hell Out Of It
In Case You All Are Wondering Why I Didn't Post My Finished Pie
My Friend Just Sent Me This Picture Of A Pumpkin Pie She Made For Thanksgiving That Her 3-Year-Old Snuck Into
We Had One Job. Who Likes Paprika?
Scoop the middles out into a bowl and stir. Refill the egg halves. Still strong but should be less so and more evenly distributed 👍
This Is The Turkey I Will Be Having At My In-Law's. It Is Stuffed With Prunes, Wildly Overcooked, And Will Be Accompanied By Frozen Mashed Potatoes. Happy Thanksgiving
Squadron Potluck Food Gets Better Every Year
Happy Thanksgiving To The Ground
My Thanksgiving Fail
Yesterday was my first time hosting Thanksgiving. I had planned to make cinnamon rolls from scratch for breakfast, which is a ton of work. Anyway, I was running late, and everybody was starving, so I put the pan in the oven when I thought the time was right and waited patiently. I noticed a stringy substance that had formed on top of the rolls. I thought it was the sugar getting gooey or a weird product of the yeast, sugar, and gluten free flour. I took the rolls out of the oven and began to ice them. I touched the side of the pan and felt hardened plastic wrap. It was plastic wrap.
My grandmother roasted more than 1 turkey with the giblet bag inside it still.
Imagine You're Expecting Guests To Arrive For Thanksgiving Dinner In 10 Minutes Or So, And This Happens. What Do You Do?
Our Oven Broke Just Before Thanksgiving. I Just Got The Replacement From Our Landlord Today, But Now The Dishwasher Won't Open All The Way
You will have to open the oven door to be able to wash dishes...ohh well!
Well, This Isn't How It Looked In The Magazine
My Wife Is Grocery Shopping For Thanksgiving. There Is Only One Cashier Open
"Don't Worry, I Got The Cranberries" She Said
Gluten Free Dressing May Be A Little Salty This Year
When You're Already Having A Challenging Thanksgiving Because Your Fridge Is Broken, But Then Your Husband Drops The Blackberry Pie That He Spent The Whole Morning Baking It
Mother-In-Law's Glass Baking Dish Exploded In The Oven, Getting All Glass In The Thanksgiving Food. Main Dish Was The Only Thing Spared
Thanksgiving Fail
I would absolutely use the whole side facing up! It’s the clean up that’s brutal.
My Grandma Thought She Bought Turkey, But It's A Chicken. Happy Thanksgiving
I Started Off My Thanksgiving By Having A 5-Pound Weight Fall On My Head. I Hope Yours Is Better Than Mine. But, Hey, I'm Thankful My Family's Always There To Bandage Me Up
It's a little disturbing to see one's neck larger than their head, especially when the head is swollen!
I Had It So Easy. All I Had To Do Was Let Them Rise And Bake. A Moment Of Silence For Those Beautiful Delicious Rolls
Pecan Pie Fail. That's What I Get For Multitasking
You’ve got to use timers people! Set them for 15 minutes before something is to be done, then reset in 5 minute intervals. I’ll have three or four timers going on Thanksgiving. It’s noisy, and I have to remember what they’re for, but it works.
My Mom Doesn't Understand The Concept Of Halving A Recipe, So She Makes Way Too Much Food For 3 People, And They End Up Getting Thrown Away
Thanksgiving Blooper. There Goes The Deviled Eggs
Happy Thanksgiving. There Was A Power Surge At 1:40 AM. It's Still Out, And I Was Supposed To Be Hosting The Lunch
My parents were hosting the family one Thanksgiving many years ago, and we ran out of propane well before everything was cooked (gas stove). Fortunately my father knew the man that owned the propane company, called him, and he brought some out to us. I guess that's one of the advantages of living in a small community.
Who Needs A Poundcake Anyway
On Tomorrow's Menu Is Pumpkin Failure A La Mode
When This Happens To Your Homemade Goat Cheese Cheesecake With Spiced Vanilla Wafer Crust
Upside-Down Mashed Potatoes
This Unfortunate Mac N' Turkey
This Thanksgiving Fail
It’s bad when you can’t even guess what it was supposed to be? A brisket? Sweet potatoes?
Pumpkin Pie Disaster
The Carving Knife I Ordered Weeks Ago To Use At Thanksgiving Arrived A Little Bit Too Late
Meh. You don't need some specialty knife and fork to carve a turkey. Any chef's knife and fork will do.
I'm Nailing Thanksgiving. Meringue Gets Me Every Year
I was going to host a huge Thanksgiving dinner for all my friends. At around 2:00 AM on Thanksgiving morning, a skunk got it through the cat door, and my insane cat chased it out of the kitchen and around the living room before it found the way again. I woke up thinking that there had been some kind of chemical warfare. The skunk had sprayed EVERYTHING, including my piano and the pots on the kitchen counter. It was horrible.
I've always wished I could have a cat door, but lived in apartments most of my life. Thanks for showing me the error of my ways. So sorry! Did you have to move? I have no idea how you even start cleaning that terrorist attack, let alone washing the cat.
Load More Replies...Well I don't have time to scroll all of them, but last Thanksgiving day I feel and broke my wrist / arm bad enough to need surgery, and broke pelvis in 2 places. That was a crappy Thanksgiving
Our worst Thanksgiving was when the hosts' sneaky little Scottie dog jumped up on the table and ate her weight in turkey. We had some high-maintenance guests who were horrified and left. The rest of us made sure the dog was okay (she was fine) and pigged out on side dishes.
When my now adult son was a toddler, he over indulged on the crackers, pepperoni and cheese my wife puts out every year. Just as we started to eat dinner, and with my plate looking picture perfect, he started saying he wasn't feeling well. I picked him up out of his highchair and put him on my lap. He immediately puked on my Thanksgiving dinner.
My worst Thanksgiving was the year my oven died...on Thanksgiving day. At first, I couldn't figure out why the turkey wasn't getting done. It was only after I grabbed an oven thermometer that I discovered the oven temperature was only about 100℉ and wouldn't get any hotter. That turkey went to the happy hunting ground, er...hunted ground?? Flew the coop??
A few years ago we burned something (can't remember what) in the oven the night before thanksgiving and had to clean it. Apparently the oven won't open until it is completely cool after you run the auto clean cycle on it. We didn't know that. After some panicking, we got the lock to open up eventually.
Two years ago on Thanksgiving, my uncle died of COVID, my dad had a heart attack and I found out my cat was diabetic.
This is why we order Chinese food for every holiday involving food. :p
For several years I had T-day dinner at the country club of which my grandmother was a member. Wonderful meals, those! I miss those days.
Load More Replies...I know the actual OPs will never see my comments but I love to bake and I couldn't help giving advice.
Even though I know our Thanksgiving host always makes an amazing meal; after looking at these pictures I have officially lost my Thanksgiving appetite.
I was going to host a huge Thanksgiving dinner for all my friends. At around 2:00 AM on Thanksgiving morning, a skunk got it through the cat door, and my insane cat chased it out of the kitchen and around the living room before it found the way again. I woke up thinking that there had been some kind of chemical warfare. The skunk had sprayed EVERYTHING, including my piano and the pots on the kitchen counter. It was horrible.
I've always wished I could have a cat door, but lived in apartments most of my life. Thanks for showing me the error of my ways. So sorry! Did you have to move? I have no idea how you even start cleaning that terrorist attack, let alone washing the cat.
Load More Replies...Well I don't have time to scroll all of them, but last Thanksgiving day I feel and broke my wrist / arm bad enough to need surgery, and broke pelvis in 2 places. That was a crappy Thanksgiving
Our worst Thanksgiving was when the hosts' sneaky little Scottie dog jumped up on the table and ate her weight in turkey. We had some high-maintenance guests who were horrified and left. The rest of us made sure the dog was okay (she was fine) and pigged out on side dishes.
When my now adult son was a toddler, he over indulged on the crackers, pepperoni and cheese my wife puts out every year. Just as we started to eat dinner, and with my plate looking picture perfect, he started saying he wasn't feeling well. I picked him up out of his highchair and put him on my lap. He immediately puked on my Thanksgiving dinner.
My worst Thanksgiving was the year my oven died...on Thanksgiving day. At first, I couldn't figure out why the turkey wasn't getting done. It was only after I grabbed an oven thermometer that I discovered the oven temperature was only about 100℉ and wouldn't get any hotter. That turkey went to the happy hunting ground, er...hunted ground?? Flew the coop??
A few years ago we burned something (can't remember what) in the oven the night before thanksgiving and had to clean it. Apparently the oven won't open until it is completely cool after you run the auto clean cycle on it. We didn't know that. After some panicking, we got the lock to open up eventually.
Two years ago on Thanksgiving, my uncle died of COVID, my dad had a heart attack and I found out my cat was diabetic.
This is why we order Chinese food for every holiday involving food. :p
For several years I had T-day dinner at the country club of which my grandmother was a member. Wonderful meals, those! I miss those days.
Load More Replies...I know the actual OPs will never see my comments but I love to bake and I couldn't help giving advice.
Even though I know our Thanksgiving host always makes an amazing meal; after looking at these pictures I have officially lost my Thanksgiving appetite.