Get Your Fill of Turkey Day Cards
Topps owned the Thanksgiving cards market for two years as part of its early iteration of the “Holiday” line. Specifically, those of “Turkey.”
In 2018, a militant-looking galliform was designated as a catcher and was given the “Prospect” designation.
In 2019, “Turkey” was back, without a position designation and no longer a prospect, but now unofficially “in action” with an open mouth and healthier tailfeathers.
The 2019 version also noted that Turkey is “aggressive if harassed,” along with some other fun facts, while the 2018 card just had a sincere thank you to collectors on the back.
Thanksgiving doesn’t exactly lend itself to collecting. Yes, it’s a fun family affair where you can set a box of Allen & Ginter on the table and everyone can open packs, have some drinks, and marvel at the inserts. But there are greasy fingers. And drinks get elbowed. And don’t get us started on the gravy.
Still, despite all its condition-ruining hurdles, there have been some fun cards highlighting the holiday — beyond “Turkey” — over the years. We’re stopping short of calling them iconic (because they’re not), but a few do help evoke the spirit and nostalgia of our country’s most underrated holiday.
Interestingly, the bigger (only?) Thanksgiving cards are modern. One would think there would be a whimsical 1962 set—somewhere—called “Hee-Haw Holidays” or something, where black and white photos of families around the table would have superimposed conversation bubbles featuring snarky dialogue. “Geez turn down the heat!” a basted and almost-ready turkey would say as a housewife in an apron smiles and opens the oven door to check on it.
In fact, before we go any further with our modern Thanksgiving card must-haves, here are our…
Top 5 Fake Cards That Sound Real
- 1962 Hee-Haw Holidays, card No. 26: “Geez Turn Down the Heat!” (see above)
- 2015 Allen & Ginter, card THG-SO: In this line of “what I’m thankful for” inserts, Shohei Ohtani says he’s grateful to “pitch and hit in the majors” as he holds a giant turkey leg.
- 2022 Allen & Ginter, card TWM-MP: Another Allen & Ginter subset called “Things We Mash” featuring a bowl of mashed potatoes on a table with all the Thanksgiving dishes in the background.
- 2016 Topps Now, card 11: President Obama pardons the turkeys “Tater” and “Tot.”
- 2023 Topps Chrome Update, card RMD-1: Ronald McDonald Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon Patch card /99
Back to the real cards…
Try as we did to scour the archives for anything Thanksgiving, most of the good stuff was popping up in the last 10-15 years.
And a lot of it came courtesy of Garbage Pail Kids.
In 2016, there was a special 11-card GPK Thanksgiving set—“American as Apple Pie in Your Face”—released on-demand. It included the HOF puns “Trypto Fran”…
…and “Sal Monella”…
…as well as foreshadowing the pandemic “card rush” with a couple of GPKs fighting over one final box of cards.
We should warn everyone—love him or not—that there’s a Donald Trump-themed card in this set (and it sells for a lot of money on the secondary market)… but let’s move on!
GPK followed up in 2017 with another 11-card set, co-branded as a “Wacky Packages” release — half GPK, half-Wacky Packages. And, as is tradition, they ended the run after two years. But both sets were so limited in release that individual cards can easily go for more than $50.
There is a stunning lack of Thanksgiving Day Parade cards out there. The parade is Thanksgiving, people!! GPK once again comes to the rescue—and they did it early, in 1986’s Series 5. Meet Gassy Gus:
As for the non-GPK world of Thanksgiving cards?
In 2012, the Topps Magic line featured a “Historical Coins” subset commemorating Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade with a Buffalo nickel from 1924. It even has some nice burnt orange to fit the holiday’s color scheme!
And what’s Thanksgiving without apple pie? While this isn’t a blatant Thanksgiving tie-in (several holidays can also claim apple pie, as can an entire season), it still merits inclusion on our low-bar list:
2023 Allen & Ginter “Save Room For Dessert” Apple Pie
There are more cards you can stretch to fit here—those early Topps Holiday lines that featured “Turkey” have limited /35 versions with a foil turkey stamp on the bottom, and “holiday plaid” border variations. There are some more applicable desserts sprinkled throughout Allen & Ginter. Technically Santa’s appearance in the Macy’s parade could bring in all of his cards over the years. And we will continue to lobby for Parade balloon patch cards, too. But until that day comes, these are your Thanksgiving must-haves to add to your collection. Enjoy! And have a safe and happy holiday!
