45 Turkey Day Fails That Left People Feeling Unthankful

Thanksgiving is one of the most memorable times of the year. Everyone gathered around the table, enjoying the feast of traditional food, and sharing the things they are thankful for; loved ones get closer, and everyone enjoys the festive spirit. Who could ask for more? Well, apparently, these people!

Not everything goes according to plan during Thanksgiving, and these pictures are a great example of this. They make us thankful that we’re able to laugh off mistakes. Hopefully, none of these mishaps ruined the mood of those involved and just helped people enjoy the good things they have. These Thanksgiving failures remind us of how things do not always go to plan — and sometimes, this can be the best thing about them.

Some like it hot

One thing that is present at almost every Thanksgiving get-together is a turkey. People have lots of different ideas on how to cook a turkey best. But, there’s one thing that we can definitely agree on. Don’t set it on fire!

It is not clear how a disaster like this happened, but it seems that the aluminum foil around the turkey ignited in the oven. Thankfully, this family was prepared as one of the guests had a fire extinguisher at the ready!

It’s well done!

This one is an epic failure. This user was cooking their turkey in the oven when, somehow, it exploded! The glass dish shattered everywhere, and the meal was destroyed. We honestly have no idea how something like this could happen!

However, it was not the end of the world. Instead of moping, this family decided to order some pizza to replace the missing turkey. Hopefully, they made it a turkey-flavored pizza to keep things in the theme for the holiday spirit.

Dastardly Dog

Sometimes, the issue is not even with the oven or the cooking skills. Instead, the fault lies with the houseguests, as you can see in this picture. The user cooked the turkey to perfection and placed it on the counter…

…but then the family dog tried to grab a piece by pulling its leg and making it smash straight to the floor! The glass dish and turkey were destroyed. It was almost a lot worse — the knife could’ve hit the dog.

Overpriced

This fail did not even happen at home – it was when the user went to the store to buy their turkey from the shop! Turkeys are usually a little pricey at this time of year since they are so in demand.

However, this price has got to be a mistake — there is no way that someone would pay almost $7000 for a turkey! Either this turkey is made of gold, or someone made a drastic error with the price per kilogram.

Nibble nibble

We have already seen a dog that managed to ruin Thanksgiving, but it seems that felines are just as bad as their canine counterparts. This user left their turkey in the sink to defrost because they thought that it was safe.

No such luck! The family cat could smell the delicious bird and decided to give it a try. They did not seem to get very far! Hopefully, this family could salvage the rest of the turkey and still eat it.

Blender explosion

Turkeys are usually the most challenging part of Thanksgiving cooking, but not always, as this picture proves. One of the staple parts of Thanksgiving meals is the pumpkin pie, which many people choose to prepare from scratch with fresh ingredients.

Looking at this picture, we think we will stick to buying ours from the store! It seems this user tried to blend some stuff in their blender to make the filling for the pie, but it ended up a disaster.

Gory Turkey

Everyone has their own style of seasoning for the turkey, as we all have different taste buds that enjoy different things. But we think that we can agree that this one looks like an absolute horror — just what is it?!

Judging by the caption, it seems that they decided to stuff their turkey — but with what exactly?! This looks more like a picture from a horror film than a home-cooked Thanksgiving meal. Hopefully, it tastes better than it looks.

Alternative turkey

Some people like to skip the turkey entirely and choose a different meal for their main course. We have no complaints, but we’re not too sure about this user’s decision, here. Instead of a turkey, they ordered a mixture of crab and octopus.

You might think that does not sound too bad, but it looks terrifying when presented like this! This meal looks like it could be from a creature movie. We are not sure what to call it — maybe it is an octocrab?

Overcooked

This failure is so big that it is almost impressive. This user’s little sister had the responsibility of cooking the turkey for their Thanksgiving dinner. It’s not a job to be taken lightly, especially as it was her first-ever turkey.

Unfortunately, she made an absolute mess of things. She completely burned it! Thankfully, there was no fire; just a very blackened turkey that nobody could eat. At least this little sister can say that the turkey was well done! (Sorry, we couldn’t help ourselves.)

Sea Turkey

Just what is it with people eating seafood for Thanksgiving?! Perhaps it is a new trend, as seafood tends to be a lot healthier than eating poultry. Even so, we do not think this meal would be delicious at all!

Instead of preparing a simple turkey for their Thanksgiving, this family chose to mix things up. They included some octopus legs, too! Honestly, it looks like a turkey with a parasite inside, and we certainly would not try eating it.

Smashed Oven

Sometimes, you can do absolutely everything right for your Thanksgiving meal, and it still ends up being a disaster. This user had their food cooking in the oven when they suddenly heard a crashing sound. They ran into the kitchen…

…to see that the oven door had shattered into tiny pieces! It is just terrible luck that this had to happen on Thanksgiving of all days. We hope that it wasn’t a complete disaster, and they were about to continue cooking!

Problematic Pie

Sometimes, there is no getting over a Thanksgiving failure. You can try your hardest to get the cooking right, make sure nothing explodes, and keep your pets away at the same time. But, what do we do about our trouble-making houseguests?!

It looks like this family or their house guests need to go back to school to learn how to cut things into equal sections. Just look at how they’ve absolutely destroyed this pumpkin pie! We would be very annoyed if this were us.

Taco-giving

As the years change, people gradually start to create new recipes and cooking styles for Thanksgiving. However, there are some new trends that we are not sure about, and we doubt that this one will catch on in the foreseeable future.

Such as Thanksgiving tacos! This one would not be so strange if it were not for the choice to include pickles on the side, as well as what looks like some watery sauce. We hope it tastes better than it seems to appear!

Meatloaf Turkey

Another thing that can sabotage your Thanksgiving plans is the weather, as this user’s family unfortunately learned. They were preparing to buy a turkey, as per usual, but Mother Nature had other plans. They were left snowed in, with no traditional foods!

Instead of allowing Mother Nature to ruin Thanksgiving completely, this user decided to do what they could with leftovers. They managed to craft a ‘turkey’ out of meatloaf, with carrots for the legs and other vegetables. It’s actually very clever!

It’s crying

We have to give this user points for at least trying to make a Thanksgiving dessert. Unfortunately, it did not turn out as well as they had imagined. This turkey dessert looks like it is crying out all of its sadness.

If only they hadn’t put the icing on the eyes, we imagine that this would look a whole lot better! At least it was not as bad as some of the other disasters on this list. It was probably quite yummy!

You just missed

This one is more heartbreaking than disastrous. This user had made a turkey in the oven and had tried tasting it — it was perfect! Unfortunately, they had an accident and ended up dropping the whole thing on the floor.

We would be so frustrated if that happened to us! Perhaps they can use the “five-second rule” to put the dish back on the table again to eat. Either way, it looks like Thanksgiving was ruined for this poor family.

Poopy cake

If there is one thing that we recommend doing for Thanksgiving, it is making sure that you try to stick to the usual designs for food. Otherwise, you might end up with a disaster like this! It is very unfortunate.

This user tried to make a cake in the shape of a turkey, but, as you can see, it did not go too well. Their turkey ended up looking more like a piece of poop than a real turkey! We applaud their attempt, though.

Marinating Mystery

We really hope that this one is just a joke. This user claims that a friend asked them how they marinate their turkey, which is a pretty standard question as turkeys are pretty big. The response was not so normal!

The user said that they use the vegetable drawer in their fridge as a “marinading drawer” — so gross! We cannot even imagine how disgusting this is. We really hope that they cleaned the drawer out before and after finishing!

Another drop

It appears that it’s common on Thanksgiving for people to drop their turkeys! Here is another picture of someone whose turkey suffered this fate. They even decided to pose for this terrible selfie! After all, what else can you do?

When a disaster like this happens, you are left with very little choice other than to just laugh it off like this guy. We are not sure that the five-second rule would even apply in this sad case of a Thanksgiving failure!

Burnt Bird

It seems that burning the turkey is also another common part of Thanksgiving, as these poor birds suffered the same fate! They have been so burned you cannot even claim that they are caramelized. Still, it is not all bad.

The user who posted this picture said that everyone still had a good time, with lots of laughter and great company. We are so glad to see that they had a fun time and enjoyed the true meaning of Thanksgiving.

Creepy Cake

This was meant to be a cute Thanksgiving cake — emphasis on the “meant to.” The final result is far from actually cute — it looks more like a monster! We reckon they were trying to make a rabbit of some sort.

Things clearly didn’t go as planned, seeing as the teeth on the front look more like human teeth than rabbit teeth. It ended up looking somewhat like a demonic animal, not a cute fluffy pet! We bet it was super delicious, though.

Fallen Fruit

It seems that it is not only the turkey that is in danger of falling to the ground — this dessert met the same fate! This user’s wife made this fruit tart entirely from scratch. We bet she was devastated.

All that hard work, and for nothing. It looks like nobody even managed to get a slice of the treat before it became bug food. At least it makes for some funny memories for the family, far into the future.

Overcooked Biscuits

There are many things that caused this epic failure. The user followed a recipe for “2-and-a-half-hour biscuits” and left them in the oven. They made the very unwise decision to leave the house while the biscuits were baking away in the oven.

When they came back, the house was full of smoke, and the biscuits had been burned to a crisp! It was pretty poor planning on their behalf, as you should never leave the house with food in the oven. We hope they learned their lesson.

Messy Roommate

We do not know what they are teaching some children at school these days, but apparently, quite a few people do not know any table manners. Just look at the way this user’s roommate devoured this Thanksgiving pie. It is horrific!

It seems that wild animals, instead of people, raised their savage roommates. In what universe would it be acceptable to eat like this?! We really hope that this is a joke, as it appears way too sad to be real.

Bubbling Over

We feel so sorry for this user! They followed the recipe for hot fudge pie to a tee and put it in the oven, ready to bake. Unfortunately, the recipe didn’t include information about how big the pan should be.

This lack of instruction resulted in the pie dripping over the pan while cooking in the oven! It is not the end of the world, as the pie was still edible — it just required using a nifty spoon to serve it instead.

Bubbling Over Part 2

Continuing on with this “bubbling over” theme, this user was preparing a huge pan of cranberry sauce when disaster struck. The cranberry sauce boiled over everywhere, even dripping onto the floor! It must have been a nightmare to clean up.

At least one positive thing is that we are sure the house smelled beautiful afterward since everyone loves the smell of cranberry sauce. It is not clear why they needed so much cranberry sauce, though — the amount is quite excessive.

Rice Crispy Turkey

At first glance, you might think that there is something seriously wrong with this turkey, but you would be wrong. It is not a real turkey — it is a turkey made out of rice crispy treats! It must be tasty.

This is perfect for anyone with a sweet tooth, or perhaps anyone who fancies trying something a little different this Thanksgiving. Just make sure you tell people before you serve it to them — they might think it has gone bad.

Xeno-turkey

If you are a fan of Ridley Scott’s Alien film franchise, then you will definitely love this Thanksgiving meal. Instead of making the traditional turkey, they made a face-hugger meal, using a combination of different sea creatures and turkeys. That requires some serious creativity.

Okay, so this one probably looks better than it tastes, but we have to admire their effort for creating a concoction so utterly disgusting. At least we hope it is just food — a face-hugger for Thanksgiving would be terrifying!

This is just petty

For once, we don’t feel sorry for the user but their brother instead. Unfortunately, the user’s brother had to work on Thanksgiving, so they asked the user to save them a “little piece of everything.” The user took it literally!

They took a “little piece” of each food and put it on the plate, complete with labels! This user gets 100 points for their presentation but 1000 for being so petty. We hope that the brother had some real food!

Dropped Pie

This user chose to make a slightly different pie from usual for their Thanksgiving meal — a custard pumpkin pie was on their menu. It seems that this was just as unlucky as the usual pumpkin option, as it landed on the floor!

The worst part of this situation is that the user was really looking forward to eating some of the custard pumpkin pie. Now they definitely will not get this chance! At least they can try cooking it again next year.

Broken plates

It’s not just the plates or ovens that you have to be careful of during Thanksgiving. Even the tables are out to get you, as this user found out. They put the food on a table for everyone to help themselves…

…but the table itself had other ideas — it collapsed under the weight, sending all the food on a one-way ticket to the floor! That is one lesson learned — do not buy a cheap folding table for the food.

So close

At least the food for the user above made it to the table. This user’s sister managed to drop the entire cheesecake as it was leaving the fridge! It left an absolute mess on the floor and many disappointed guests.

According to the user, this is not the first time that this has happened — apparently, their sister is known for dropping food during Thanksgiving. We guess that they should have expected a disaster like this to happen again! Who is really at fault here?

Angry Puppy

We have already seen some curious pets who have ended up ruining Thanksgiving with their eating habits. Thankfully, this little doggy did no such thing, but it certainly was not happy! The user gave it a small piece of turkey.

The doggy was pretty annoyed with this tiny share and decided to take its anger out on a box! We hope that the owner learned their lesson from this and gave them a real share of the food the next time.

Washing Up Horrors

By far, the worst part of Thanksgiving is having to deal with the washing up. It’s never a fun task, and the more guests you have, the worse it feels. We feel sorry for whoever has to deal with this!

Seriously, though, it seems pretty disrespectful to leave someone to deal with a mess like this. There are way too many plates and nowhere near enough sink space to wash them all! Everyone should chip in to clean it up.

Flat Pie

Most of the pies that we have seen so far have at least made it out of the oven before becoming an absolute disaster. This user was nowhere near as lucky when they tried to make their own Thanksgiving pie!

Instead of putting the pie in a cake pan, they put it on a normal baking tray. Because of this, the pie crust lost its shape, and the filling came spilling out, resulting in this mess. There is no rescuing this, unfortunately!

Spam-key

For most of us, Spam is a pretty disgusting food. It looks quite revolting, and its ingredients are even worse — but it does not actually taste that bad! That being said, we definitely would not try to make a “spam-key.”

In case you didn’t get it, a “spam-key” is a turkey that is made entirely out of Spam! Given how small a tin of Spam is, we cannot imagine getting a whole meal out of it to feed the family.

Spam-key carving

However, it appears that having a Spam turkey is quite popular with people since this user also tried doing the same thing! This family’s spam-key was a lot smaller, and they even pretended to carve it to serve other people.

This one is way too small to put stuff inside, though. Even so, this is quite an impressive achievement. We wonder how long it took this user to carve the Spam into this bird shape. One hundred points for the effort!

Sleeping Beauty

It’s not too clear what happened in this picture, but one thing is for sure — it was a disaster! This picture looks like it has been taken from some kind of artistic performance about Thanksgiving and the pressure of cooking.

In reality, it was really just a snap of the night before Thanksgiving. It seems that the woman in the picture opened the oven to check that the food was cooking and was met with a disaster. We would collapse, too!

Deep-fried?

There is absolutely no saving a turkey like this. This poor guy was well overdone by the looks of it. The owner left it in the oven to be blackened and burned. At least they decided to take a photo with it to lighten the mood!

In a situation like this, there’s only one thing that you can do — call for a pizza! It might not be as festive as a turkey, but it certainly beats going hungry — or worse, trying to eat the turkey.

I can fly!

It seems that this turkey wasn’t quite dead when this user picked it up, as it decided to jump out of his hands and land on the floor! Okay, so it is possible that the user just dropped it instead.

This one is actually not that bad, though. Removing the dirt on the chicken and then cooking it will kill off any germs that were still left. Thankfully, they dropped it before cooking and not after all their hard work!

Pre-sliced

It looks like someone skipped ahead with this turkey — they jumped straight to the leftovers when buying their turkey! Instead of getting the traditional one, this user’s wife chose a different kind of meat, one that tastes like hotdogs!

We can imagine that she was pretty embarrassed when she tried to serve this. There is no way you can prepare this for people to eat! At least they all would have something to eat for lunch the next day.

It’s ruined

We cannot help feeling very sorry for this user. They stayed up all the way until 4 AM to bake their apple pie, having made all the ingredients from scratch. Soon after, they dropped the whole thing and destroyed it!

They said that they ended up crying until 4:30 because of this mess. We don’t blame them. We would, too! They could try to salvage parts of it, though, by cutting up parts of the apple pie and serving it with whipped cream.

Uncuttable

This one is not a disaster, but it is still pretty funny. The user was trying to serve a slice of tasty pumpkin pie when the spatula broke clean into two pieces. That is definitely one tough crust, but it’s for sure delicious!

Nothing quite beats the taste of a homemade pumpkin pie with a nice crust and rich filling. A pie that is big as this one deserves all of the praise, as it must have taken a lot of effort to prepare.

Don’t stop!

This one is pure bad luck. Anytime a fridge breaks down, it spells disaster — especially the day before Thanksgiving! That is exactly what happened to this unfortunate user, as their fridge decided to stop working, ruining all of the food.

There is nothing that really can be done in this situation, as it is a terrible case of bad timing. On Thanksgiving Eve, it is probably also quite tricky — dare we say, impossible — to find anyone to fix the fridge. We feel terrible!

Safety Foil

These users tried to do everything they could to keep their food safe until dinner time. They put aluminum foil on the bottom of the oven to try and catch any drippings from the pie. Unfortunately, it ended up being a disaster!

The liquid from the pie ended up dripping everywhere but the foil sheet, meaning that this user has A LOT of cleaning up to do! The rest of the food appears to have trickled down the side, too. How messy!