Keep thanks in your Thanksgiving season this year! Try one of these seven fresh ideas for your small group, women’s ministry, youth ministry, or church. Some could be adapted for your family Thanksgiving, too.

– Alarm Clock Challenge. Print this verse for each group member:

“It is good to say thank you to the Lord, to sing praises to the God who is above all gods. Every morning tell him, ’Thank you for your kindness,’ and every evening rejoice in all his faithfulness … You have done so much for me, O Lord…” (Psalm 92:1,2,4).

Challenge them to say thank you to God every morning and evening from today to Thanksgiving Day. Ask them to set a morning and evening reminder alarm. Alternate: If yours is a late-night-type group, make it a midnight challenge with Psalm 119:62, “At midnight, I rise to give You thanks ….”

– Twittering Thanks. Challenge group members to use social media—Twitter Facebook, Instagram, etc.—to publicly thank God for His blessings. Each day, post a sincere “Thank You, God” comment, blessing or Scripture.

– Thankful Minute. During your next meeting, ask members to volunteer to give one-minute “GivingThanks” testimonies. Use your phone’s timer, set to a minute. The alarm will make it fun, and keep stories concise. Recruit a couple of volunteers beforehand to get things started.

– Seeking Thanksgiving. Make signs with large print—”Thanking God for” (arrow here). Give one to each person in your group. Ask them to take three digital photos of the sign pointing to something they’re thankful for, and post photos online. Use a hashtag. Be creative—imagine photos of a smile, sunset, baby bump, hearing aid. Even better, create a looped slideshow of the photos for your group website or to play in next week’s small group.

– Turkey-Smoking Pie Party. Plan a fun fellowship, with an “expert” teaching a cooking skill. The church’s “pie pro” might use a large kitchen to give pie lessons. Each person makes a Thanksgiving pie. One church set up cookers and invite friends to bring a turkey to smoke them together. People would come and go for 12 hours, hang out and prepare Thanksgiving meats.

– Thanksgiving Bush. Spray paint a tree limb in an attractive container, and provide lots of colorful, leaf-shaped cutouts or ornaments to write blessings. Keep adding thanksgivings to create a blessing tree.

– Say “I’m thankful for you” to church leaders. Make a list of church leaders with their email addresses. Ask group members to send a personal note or a Thanksgiving-morning email to some leaders, expressing thanks to God for their ministry.

It’s not truly Thanksgiving unless we give God our thanks. How will you express humble appreciate to your God this season? Happy GivingThanks!