Thanksgiving wishes: 108 messages to send

Pressed for time on Thanksgiving morning? These ten lines need no personal detail, so they work for an aunt, the neighbors or the new hire.

1. Happy Thanksgiving! I'm glad our paths crossed, and grateful they keep crossing.
2. Wishing you a slow, happy day and the comfy chair after dinner.
3. Happy Thanksgiving! You're one of the good things in my year.
4. May your day be warm, your plate be heavy and your people be close.
5. Grateful for you, and for every year we get to say so. Happy Thanksgiving.
6. Sending thanks your way today. You make life kinder.
7. Happy Thanksgiving! I hope today gives you something good to remember.
8. Wishing you rest, good food and the people who feel like home.
9. Thankful for you this Thanksgiving, and hoping you know it.
10. Happy Thanksgiving to you and everyone at your table.

Want it to arrive as more than a text? Any line on this page fits inside an animated Thanksgiving card for $4.99, no subscription. The card link is at the end of this guide.

Thank the person for one specific thing, then wish them a good day. One real detail, like the pie they always bring, makes even a two-line wish feel personal.

1. Greet them by name: "Happy Thanksgiving, Iris!"
2. Name one thing you're grateful for: a favor, a habit or a moment from this year.
3. Wish them a good day, then sign off in a way that fits how close you are.

Three habits help when you send it:

• Send it early. A morning text gets read before the cooking starts.
• A text needs only one or two sentences. Leave longer notes for cards.
• Writing to a group? Use one line from this page, then add each person's name.

Pick the person, then the channel and tone. Each row has one line you can send as is.

Short wishes suit a text, a group chat or the front of a card. Each of these is ten words or fewer.

• Happy Thanksgiving! Hope your day is delicious.
• Grateful for you. Happy Thanksgiving!
• Eat well, rest well. Happy Thanksgiving.
• Thinking of you and giving thanks for you today.
• Pie's in the oven, and you're on my mind.
• Hope your table is loud and your heart is full.
• Lucky to call you a friend. Happy Thanksgiving!
• Wishing you a cozy, grateful day.
• Happy Turkey Day! Save room for dessert.
• You're easy to be thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving!
• Good luck with the wishbone! Happy Thanksgiving.
• Happy Thanksgiving! Call me after the dishes.

The best ones name a Thanksgiving you shared, like the year the dog ate the rolls or your first one in a new house.

• Mom and Dad, you set the table and the example. Happy Thanksgiving, with love.
• Every good thing I bring to the table, I learned at yours. Happy Thanksgiving, Mom.
• Dad, thanks for the carving, the corny jokes and the rides home. Happy Thanksgiving.
• Grandpa, yours are the stories we ask for every single year. Happy Thanksgiving.

• Happy Thanksgiving, sweetheart! You're the thing we're most thankful for.
• To our grandkids: you make our table louder and our hearts bigger. Happy Thanksgiving!

• Thank you for trusting me with the cranberry sauce this year. Happy Thanksgiving.
• Happy Thanksgiving! I'm so grateful for the family I married into.
• Now I know where [name] gets all that kindness. Happy Thanksgiving to you both.

• Happy Thanksgiving to the sibling who still steals food off my plate.
• No one else remembers our childhood the way you do. Happy Thanksgiving, brother.
• Kids' table forever. Happy Thanksgiving to my favorite cousins.

Match the wish to the friendship: a joke for the friend who sends you memes, a sincere thank-you for the one who got you through this year.

• To the friend who always shows up, with food or without: happy Thanksgiving.
• Thankful for the long talks and every "on my way" text. Happy Thanksgiving.
• If friends were side dishes, you'd be the one everyone fights over. Happy Thanksgiving!
• Thanks for being the person I call first. Happy Thanksgiving, friend.
• You're the warmest person at any table. Happy Thanksgiving!
• Happy Thanksgiving! Another year of laughing at things only we find funny.
• Grateful for your friendship, your advice and your truly bad puns. Happy Thanksgiving.
• You know my pie order by heart, and that's real friendship. Happy Thanksgiving!

• To my Friendsgiving crew: thank you for the food, the dish duty and the laughs.
• Same group, new side dishes, same gratitude. Happy Friendsgiving!

Hosting a Friendsgiving? The Friendsgiving ideas guide, linked at the end of this page, covers the menu, the potluck and the games.

• I'm saving you a seat at next year's table. Happy Thanksgiving from far away.
• Miles apart, still on my list of thanks. Happy Thanksgiving, friend.

A professional Thanksgiving message thanks clients, coworkers or employees for the year you shared, briefly and with nothing to sell. Send business messages on Tuesday or Wednesday, before people log off for the long weekend.

• Thanks for another year of good work together. Happy Thanksgiving from all of us.
• Everyone at [company] is grateful to work with you. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.
• Clients like you make our work worth doing. Thank you, and happy Thanksgiving.
• Happy Thanksgiving! May the rest of your year go as smoothly as our last project.

• Thank you, team, for the hard work and good humor this year. Enjoy the holiday.
• I'm grateful for each of you. Happy Thanksgiving, and please don't check email.
• Your effort made this year a good one. Rest up, and happy Thanksgiving.

• Happy Thanksgiving! Thank you for backing me up on the tough calls.
• Happy Thanksgiving! Every team needs someone with a spare charger and a kind word.
• Grateful for a teammate like you. Enjoy the food and the time off.

A Thanksgiving blessing thanks God for the person or asks a blessing on their day. Send these to people who pray too, or to anyone glad to know you're praying for them.

• May your table be blessed and your heart be thankful today. Happy Thanksgiving.
• Your friendship is one of God's kindest gifts to me. Happy Thanksgiving.
• May the Lord fill your home with peace and your plate with plenty.
• When we say grace today, you'll be in it.
• May God keep you and your family close today and through the year ahead.
• Of all the blessings I'm counting today, you're one I never forget.
• May gratitude be the first word at your table and the last thought of your day.
• A blessed Thanksgiving to you. May you feel how loved you are.

• "O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever." Psalm 107:1
• "Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name." Psalm 100:4
• "This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 118:24
• "In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." 1 Thessalonians 5:18
• "And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful." Colossians 3:15
• "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you," Philippians 1:3
• "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." James 1:17

Philippians 1:3 is short enough for a text to a friend. Pair it with one line of your own, such as "That's how I feel about you today."

Keep Thanksgiving jokes on the turkey, the leftovers or your own appetite. Tease only people who would tease you back, like a sibling or an old friend.

• Happy Thanksgiving! Remember, pie eaten standing up doesn't count.
• I'm thankful for many things, mostly gravy. Happy Thanksgiving!
• Pie first, politics never. Happy Thanksgiving!
• Happy Thanksgiving! I'll bring the appetite if you bring the leftover containers.
• Today's plan: eat, nap, repeat. Happy Thanksgiving!
• Thankful for you and for second helpings, in that order. Happy Thanksgiving!
• The turkey is having a rough day. I hope yours is better.
• My only goal today: try every side dish once. Or twice.

Not everyone has a full table on Thanksgiving. If someone is grieving, far from home, working a holiday shift or spending the day alone, a cheerful wish can feel out of place. A quiet "thinking of you" fits better, and these wishes for the hard parts of the day are short on purpose.

• I know today has an empty chair. [Name] is in our hearts at the table, and so are you.
• No reply needed. You're in my thoughts this Thanksgiving, today and in the weeks after.

• We'll miss you at the table today. Call when you can, and know you're with us.
• Happy Thanksgiving from all of us. We'll raise a glass to you before we eat.

• Thank you for working today so others can be safe and cared for. Happy Thanksgiving.
• Happy Thanksgiving to everyone on shift today. We're saving you a plate.

• Thinking of you today. If you'd like company or a plate of leftovers, my door is open.
• However you spend today, I'm grateful you're in my life. Happy Thanksgiving.

For longer messages for someone who is grieving, the condolence messages guide is linked at the end of this page.

Thank the host the morning after: name one dish or moment you loved, and offer to help next time. A text works for close family, and a card suits in-laws or a friend's parents.

• Thank you for a wonderful Thanksgiving! The stuffing was the star, and so were you.
• Still full and still smiling. Thanks for a wonderful day yesterday.
• Thank you for hosting. I know how much work that meal takes, and it showed.

• We loved every minute of Thanksgiving at your place, especially the long talk over pie. Thank you.
• Your table made the whole day feel like home. We loved being there.
• Thank you for a Thanksgiving to remember. Next year, the dishes are on us.

For thank-you notes beyond Thanksgiving, see the thank-you card messages guide, linked at the end of this page.

A Thanksgiving card holds the same wish as a text, plus one more sentence: the thing you'd tell them over pie.

• Happy Thanksgiving! This year showed me who my people are, and you're one of them.
• Wishing you a day of good food, easy laughter and nowhere you have to be.
• Thank you for the kindness you showed us this year. It meant more than you know.
• Thinking of all the meals we've shared, and hoping for many more.
• May this Thanksgiving give you a pause, a full plate and a reason to smile.
• After the year you've had, you've earned every bite today.

Good Thanksgiving sign-offs: Gratefully · With thanks · Love · Warmly · With a full heart · Blessings.

An InviteBird animated card is $4.99, no subscription. It arrives in an envelope that opens on their phone or computer, with your wish inside.

• Message: type your own wish or paste one from this page, choose a sign-off, then add your name.
• Sound: add background music, a voice note of up to 60 seconds that plays as the card opens, or both.
• Delivery: email, or a text message to numbers in the US, Canada, UK and Europe.
• Timing: send it now, or set a date and time so it lands on Thanksgiving morning.
• A whole group: up to 50 people each get a personal copy addressed to them. The first person is $4.99, and each extra person is $2.99.

1. Open a Thanksgiving card and type their name for the cover.
2. Write or paste your wish, then sign it.
3. Add one person or several, each with an email address or mobile number.
4. Choose "Right away" or "On a date," then pay and send.

For a line from history, Abraham Lincoln's 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation opens: "The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies."

That sentence suits a card to someone who loves history. For a caption or a toast, these short original sayings work well:

• A thank-you is the one dish everyone can bring.
• Thanksgiving: the one day the leftovers are part of the plan.
• Say thank you out loud today. Someone needs to hear it.
• The best seat at the table is the one next to someone you love.
• Gratitude tastes better shared.
• Count the people, not the plates.

Quick answers to common questions about Thanksgiving wishes and messages.