Every ‘How I Met Your Mother’ Thanksgiving Episode, Ranked According to IMDb (2024)

There are Thanksgiving sitcom episodes, then there are How I Met Your Mother, Thanksgiving episodes, which should be in a class all on their own. Created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays, How I Met Your Mother tells a reverse story of how a father met the mother of his children. The series ran nine seasons between 2005 and 2014 with an amazingly talented ensemble cast, and among their 208 episodes, there were a myriad of fun holiday romps, the most fun being had on the biggest eating day of the year, Turkey Day.

Whether it be slaps, wild winter sports, an intense case of FOMO, or really weird board games, How I Met Your Mother was a sitcom that always found a way to make this holiday a hilarious, special one. In a sense, the IMDb ratings don't do these episodes' justice, as all the Thanksgiving episodes are strong and reallty bring the comedy. The ratings do, however, make it easy to determine the best among all five of the How I Met Your Mother Thanksgiving episodes ("Slapsgiving 3: Slappointment in Slapmarra" is not included, as it doesn't actually involve Thanksgiving).

How I Met Your Mother

Comedy

Drama

Where to Watch

• stream
• rent
• buy

Not available

*Availability in US

Release Date

September 19, 2005

Cast

Josh Radnor , Jason Segel , Cobie Smulders , Neil Patrick Harris , Alyson Hannigan , Bob Saget

Seasons

9

Story By

Carter Bays; Craig Thomas; Rob Greenberg

Writers

Carter Bays , Craig Thomas

Network

CBS

Streaming Service(s)

Amazon Prime Video

Directors

Carter Bays

Showrunner

Craig Thomas

5 "The Rebound Girl" (Season 7, Episode 11)

IMDb Rating: 7.8

'The Rebound GIrl" was the Thanksgiving episode of the series, and although it is, technically, the lowest rated on IMDb, it still had that How I Met Your Mother charm that made this sitcom such a joy to watch. In this episode, Marshall (Jason Segel) and Lily (Alyson Hannigan) decide to host their big dinner at the house that Lily's grandparents gave them while contemplating whether they want to move there or not. Meanwhile, Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) and Ted (Josh Radnor) are both in an emotional spiral and hastily decide they should adopt a baby together.

While it was a good episode overall, make no mistake that "The Rebound Girl" is definitely the weakest of all the Thanksgiving episodes, and is also the only one of the five that doesn't show the audience the actual meal. It's the least focused on the holiday, and instead zeros in on the characters' stories. Ted and Barney, thinking it's a good idea to adopt a baby, follows their pattern of coming up with wild ideas, like buying a bar or starting a band.

Ted eventually comes to his senses after Barney shows up with an actual baby, who we learn later belongs to his brother James (Wayne Brady). Then there's Lily and Marshall, who are ready to really start their lives, as Lily is pregnant and this amazing house in the suburbs has fallen into their laps. However, Robin (Cobie Smulders) doesn't want them to move, and we learn at the very end that the possible reason for her acting this way is that she believes she's pregnant. And based on events that took place in the preceding episodes, they want the audience to believe it may be Barney's.

4 "Slapsgiving 2: Revenge Of The Slap" (Season 5, Episode 9)

IMDb Rating: 7.8

Season 5 was a great season overall, but it was also the season that was beginning to show some slippage in terms of quality. Thankfully, it didn't extend to the season's Thanksgiving episode, "Slapsgiving 2: Revenge Of the Slap), which sees Slapsgiving return, and with it comes some family drama as Lily's deadbeat dad, Mickey, shows up for dinner without her knowing. Meanwhile, Marshall has decided to gift one of his slaps to either Ted or Robin, but they must decide who will be the one to slap Barney across his face this time.

The third Thanksgiving episode brings with it the fourth slap, as well as the introduction of Lily's father, Mickey, played by the always funny Chris Elliott. We learn that three years prior to this, Lily officially cut her father out of her life, dubbing him dead to her. Fans never got to see this, however, even though it would have happened sometime in 2006, when the show was already running.

Mickey is a failed board game designer, who's always trying to make it big with his next game, which is exactly what created the wedge between him and Lily. And then there's the slap. Ted and Robin do quite a bit of arguing about this, but in the end, just as Marshall had planned, the slap brings everyone together, and Marshall gets to dish out his fourth slap to Barney.

3 "Belly Full Of Turkey" (Season 1, Episode 9)

IMDb Rating: 7.9

"Belly Full Of Turkey" is special within the How I Met Your Mother universe as it's the first Thanksgiving episode of the series, and established the trend that would become a mainstay in the sitcom. Here, a recently engaged Marshall and Lily decide to spend the holiday in Minnesota with Marshall's family, and Ted & Robin seek out some charity work. Nothing turns out as planned for any of them, however, as Lily is freaking out about the possibility of being pregnant and moving to St. Cloud, and Ted & Robin discover Barney working at a local soup kitchen. This is a fantastic season one episode, full of memorable moments, particularly while at the Eriksen's house.

The image of the famous Eriksen family Seven-Layer Salad, complete with gummy bears, Funyuns, and sixteen cups of mayonnaise, is one that both intrigues and disgusts at the same time. We also get to see a softer, more innocent side to Barney, even if it's just a ruse. And at the end, fans get a little tease for the mother, as Ted meets a dancer named Tracy at a strip club, and jokingly claims she's the mother. However, for those that know the series, Tracy is the actual name of the mother of Ted's kids, making this the very first mother tease of the show.

2 "Slapsgiving" (Season 3, Episode 9)

IMDb Rating: 8.9

While being the second Thanksgiving episode of the series, "Slapsgiving" also plays a much more significant role within the overall story as it's the third in the "Slap Bet Saga." In this episode, Lily decides she wants to have a full Thanksgiving dinner with the entire gang for the very first time, however, Marshall has other plans as he has dubbed this year as Slapsgiving, and is intent on doling out his third slap to Barney on this very day. Also, Ted and Robin are still struggling to cope with their recent break-up, which is made even worse when she brings a guy over for dinner.

The lead-up to this episode really begins at the very end of the season three premiere, "Wait For It," where Marshall sends Barney a link to the website slapcountdown.com, which is counting down the time until the next slap. The countdown comes back in a major way and is used as a form of psychological torture on Barney. This episode also helps to repair the damage done by Ted and Robin's break-up by allowing them to finally move forward as friends. The episode ends with one of the best slaps in the entire series as Marshall hits Barney so hard he falls through a small end table, followed by Marshall sitting down at the piano to play him a song he wrote about slapping him. Only this show could do an entire episode about slaps, and make it hilarious from start-to-finish. It's beautiful, and why it's among the best Thanksgiving sitcom episodes not just from this show, but overall.

1 "Blitzgiving" (Season 6, Episode 10)

IMDb Rating: 9.0

We're going to make a bold claim right here, right now: Even with its high IMDb rating, this is, by far, the best How I Met Your Mother Thanksgiving episode, period. In this episode, after going home early one night, the "Curse of the Blitz" is passed on to Ted, turning him into the personification of FOMO (fear of missing out). Because of this, Ted misses out on an epic night with the gang, as well as the former Blitz (Jorge Garcia), and Ted's nemesis, Zoey (Jennifer Morrison). But then, after getting a bit too cocky for his own good, Barney inadvertently becomes the Blitz himself.

"Blitzgiving" is the best Thanksgiving episode of How I Met Your Mother for so many reasons. We finally get to see Ted and Zoey on good terms. Ted makes a turturkeykey (a small turkey shoved inside a larger turkey), there are some incredible one-liners ("The Gentleman!" & "Aw, Man!" to name a couple), and it's always nice to see Barney made the fool. This is one of those episodes where there's so much going on, it's almost dizzying, but it's the chaos that makes it so entertaining. And with the show Lost ending just six months prior to this episode, it was great seeing Jorge Garcia and hearing him make references to the show, like blurting out the infamous number sequence (4-8-15-16-23-42) and saying how he was stuck on that island for so long (in reference to being the Blitz for all those years). Superb writing all around.

Keep Reading: Every Season Of 'How I Met Your Mother' Ranked, According To Reddit

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