The Thanksgiving Challenge in 99 Nights in the Forest turns your usual survival horror run into a chaotic culinary adventure. Instead of just fending off monsters or gathering resources, you are now hosting the forest’s biggest dinner party, and every guest has very particular tastes. This event is not just about cooking. It also requires mastering time management, hunting, and strategic resource gathering across multiple biomes.
Here is everything you need to know to dominate the Thanksgiving Challenge.
Understanding the Thanksgiving Challenge
The Thanksgiving Challenge is not just a regular survival event. You are essentially hosting the largest dinner party in the forest, and each guest has specific tastes. You need to prepare ten unique dishes while keeping an eye on guest patience. If you take too long to serve a dish, guests will leave, reducing your reward potential.
The challenge introduces a cooking milestone system. Each completed dish unlocks the next recipe, meaning you cannot progress by repeatedly cooking the same dish. You need to gather ingredients across different biomes and strategically plan your cooking order.
The most essential crafting tool for this event is the Crock Pot. Without it, you cannot start the challenge. Crafting the Crock Pot requires upgrading your Crafting Bench to Level 3, which costs 15 Logs and 10 Bolts. Many new players get caught off guard because they do not have the resources or the upgraded bench ready when the event begins.
Tip
Start gathering logs immediately when you spawn. The Crock Pot requirement catches many players off-guard, especially newer survivors who haven't upgraded their crafting bench yet.
Crock Pot crafting requirements
Thanksgiving Recipes and Ingredients
The challenge begins with simple dishes but gradually introduces complex recipes that require rare ingredients. Understanding the recipe progression is crucial for planning your farming and hunting sessions.
Advanced Recipes
The final dishes require rare ingredients that push your survival skills:
Important
Mammoth hunting in the Snow Biome is extremely difficult and requires endgame weapons, armor, and careful strategy.
Turkey Hunting: How to Gather Key Ingredients
Wild turkeys are a critical ingredient for several dishes and are found exclusively in Autumn Zones, which are recognizable by their orange-leafed trees. Turkeys are highly alert and will flee if they detect movement. This makes hunting more challenging than regular hunting for forest creatures.
How to Hunt a Turkey
Stealth Approach:
- Crouch when entering Autumn Zones
- Move slowly behind trees and obstacles
- Watch for the turkey's head movements
- Strike when it's looking away
Group Hunting:
- One player distracts from the front
- Second player flanks from behind
- Coordinate strikes through voice chat
- Share turkey drops between team members
Warning
Turkeys drop both Turkey Leg (common) and Stuffing (rare). You'll need multiple hunts to gather enough stuffing for later recipes.Managing Your Thanksgiving Guests
Guest management is as important as cooking. Each guest has unique preferences and patience levels. Understanding their behavior is key to successfully serving dishes and earning rewards.
Confirmed Guest List
- The Fairy - Prefers berry-based dishes
- Furniture Trader - Enjoys hearty meat recipes
- Cultists - Accept most offerings
- Aliens - Unpredictable preferences
- Vampire - Special dietary requirements
The game displays each guest’s order above their head. You have a limited window to prepare and serve the dish. Serving dishes quickly keeps guests happy and ensures you earn maximum rewards. The dinner table interface shows guest patience meters, current orders, and cooking progress, which helps with time management.
Farming Ingredients Efficiently
Efficient resource gathering across multiple biomes is necessary for completing the challenge.
Primary Ingredients
Berries: Forest Biome bushes, infinite respawns.
Sweet Potato: Found in Autumn Zones, limited spawns.
Turkey Legs: Obtained from wild turkey hunts.
Secondary Ingredients
Corn: Must be grown on Farm Plots.
Cake: Low chance from Farm Plots.
Pumpkin: Very low chance from Farm Plots.
Advanced Ingredients
Swordfish: Obtained from pond fishing.
Chili: Only from rare Chili Seed Packs.
Ribs: Dropped by mammoths in the Snow Biome.
Tip
Stockpile berries before starting cooking sessions. Build multiple Farm Plots for corn production. Hunt turkeys in groups to increase rare ingredient drops. Use downtime for fishing to optimize your resource gathering.
Rewards and Event Badges
The challenge offers four event-limited badges: Thanksgiving I, II, III, and IV. Each milestone unlocks exclusive rewards that won't be available after the event ends.
Rewards Include:
- Armor Trim Kit - Cosmetic enhancement
- Infernal Helmet - Protective gear
- Brutal Battleaxe - High-damage melee weapon
- Hearty Thanksgiving Meal - Consumable buff
The Brutal Battleaxe deserves special mention - this weapon delivers massive damage but swings slowly, making it perfect for calculated strikes against tough enemies.
Pro Tips for Completing the Challenge
Time Management
Begin ingredient gathering immediately after spawning.
Prioritize crafting the Crock Pot in your first session.
Start with simpler recipes to build momentum.
Save complex dishes with rare ingredients for later in the event week.
Team Coordination
Assign roles: hunter, farmer, cook, and server.
Share ingredients via team storage.
Manage guests together during busy periods.
Communicate with voice chat for real-time adjustments.
Resource Optimization
Build multiple Farm Plots early for steady corn production.
Stockpile berries for faster cooking sessions.
Hunt turkeys in groups to increase rare ingredient drops.
Fish during downtime to avoid wasting time.
Important
The event runs for one full week, giving you multiple attempts to complete all 10 dishes. Don't rush - steady progress beats frantic attempts.
For players looking to expand their survival skills beyond cooking, our How to Tame All Animals guide provides excellent complementary strategies for managing forest wildlife.
The Thanksgiving Challenge represents a unique departure from standard survival gameplay, blending resource management with social interaction mechanics. Master these strategies, and you'll not only complete the challenge but earn exclusive rewards that showcase your culinary prowess in the dangerous forest.