Pop quiz: Do turkeys like listening to music?

The answer might surprise you, but yes! Turkeys are smart social animals who are like us in all the ways that matter most. They love their families, and young ones usually stay with their moms for the first five months of their lives.

Thanksgiving is a sad time for turkeys, because millions of them are killed for people to eat. Luckily, kind kids everywhere are making the choice to celebrate “ThanksVegan”—a new twist on Thanksgiving—and PETA Kids is here to help!

What Is ThanksVegan?

ThanksVegan is a day when people eat yummy foods like meat-free roasts, mashed potatoes made with dairy-free milk and vegan butter, stuffing and green bean casserole made with vegan broth, and vegan pumpkin pie. It’s a day to enjoy all the Thanksgiving dishes we know and love—without using animals for food, which causes them to suffer.

Why Celebrating Compassionately Matters

When given a good life at a sanctuary, turkeys often follow humans around like puppies, looking for treats and affection. They’ve also been known to fall asleep in people’s laps while being petted. Turkeys are caring parents and spirited explorers who can live up to 10 years, but ones raised for food are normally killed when they’re only a few months old—and millions are eaten each year on Thanksgiving alone. ?

Celebrate With a ThanksVegan Feast!

For past Thanksgiving dinners, maybe you didn’t help your parents much with the shopping or cooking—instead, you might have just sat down at the table once the meal was ready and picked which foods to eat. But this year, animals need you to talk to your family about what will be on the menu. Turkeys don’t want to be killed so that we can eat them. And other animals—like cows and chickens—don’t want to suffer so that we can put butter on our rolls or use eggs in our pumpkin pie, especially when we can eat vegan versions of these foods instead.

So let your parents know that you don’t want to hurt any animals this year—and use our Vegan Holiday Guide to help shop for ThanksVegan dinner.

Our guide is super-helpful! It comes with yummy recipes, tips for using vegan ingredients instead of nonvegan ones, and even a question-and-answer section to help you explain to your family why you’ve decided not to eat turkeys, pigs, or any other animals.

Ready to have a delicious ThanksVegan? Just download the guide and print it or e-mail it to your grown-up. Maybe some of your family members who won’t be celebrating with you, neighbors, or friends would like to eat vegan holiday foods. Share the guide with them, too.

Let’s give animals something to be thankful for this holiday—by not eating them!