weekend event planner

Here are the top 14 things to do in Houston this Thanksgiving weekend

H-E-B's Thanksgiving Day Parade features two rap superstars.

Photo courtesy of H-E-B

This week, millions across America will gather with friends and family to feast and give thanks. Here in Houston, that means starting the day with the popular annual H-E-B Thanksgiving Parade downtown, which stars 50 Cent, Bun B, and the esteemed Dr. Peter Hotez.

After Turkey Day, your weekend includes World Cup watch parties, art shows, plays ad performances, an appearance by Baby Shark (really), a cruelly intentioned '90s musical, and a visit by an internationally renowned food writer, journalist, and TV cook.

Enjoy, stay safe, and have a Happy Thanksgiving: Here are your best bets for the long weekend.

Thursday, November 24

73rd Annual H-E-B Thanksgiving Day Parade

Photo courtesy of H-E-B

H-E-B's Thanksgiving Day Parade features two rap superstars.

It looks like this year’s annual Thanksgiving Day Parade will be hip-hoppy as heck. The parade’s 2022 Grand Marshal is Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, and Mayor Turner, 2021 Grand Marshal Dr. Peter Hotez and H-E-B will lead the parade on the iconic Tom Turkey float. The parade will include a special performance by Houston rap icon Bun B, who made history at the 2021 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo with his H-Town Takeover.There will also be high-stepping marching bands, drill teams, musical performances, and more. 9 am.

The 2022 Blinksgiving Turkey Trot 5K
Before you get your turkey & stuffing on, you might want to head over to your nearby Blink Fitness for a morning run/jog/walk 5k with the Blink fam. This event is free and open to the public. Members can bring a friend for free, and non-members are welcome to join in on the fun too—no fee or membership required. For anyone who prefers to run on a treadmill, this event will be taking place indoors at all Blink locations. It is first come, first serve until the treadmills are at full capacity. 9 am.

Thanksgiving at the Post Oak Hotel

Kick off the holiday season with a Thanksgiving feast at Bloom & Bee. The three-course meal ($75 per person) includes traditional offerings with a five-star twist. Turkey Roulade with dried figs and cranberry sauté in calvados are the stars of the menu and paired with traditional cornbread stuffing and buttermilk mashed potatoes. Top it off with black truffle gravy and cranberry relish. Thanksgiving is never complete without desserts, and their award-winning pastry chef has included pies to cap off the meal. Noon.

Friday, November 25

Arabia Shriners presents Feztival of Trees

Arabia Shriners will present a new holiday tradition, featuring a forest of beautifully decorated Christmas trees sponsored by different Houston-area businesses or organizations. Each artificial will be raffled off to the public. Each tree winner will receive not only their own uniquely decorated tree, but also all the gifts contained on or under the tree. Children will have the opportunity to sit on Santa’s knee and have their photo taken with him. In addition, there will be a holiday market, Christmas cookies, and other Christmas-themed activities. 10 am.

2022 World Cup Watch Party at Drift

Drift, one of Houston’s biggest sports bars, is teaming up with Apollo Media for a special watch party for the USA vs. England 2022 World Cup match. Specials will include a red, white & blue cocktail, along with $15 Bud and Bud Light buckets, $18 Stella and Estrella Jalisco buckets and $4 Karbach drafts until 4 pm., plus Happy Hour until 8 pm. Apollo Media – the upstart content creators behind the popular “H-Town vs. Everyone” shirts and other merch, blogs and podcasts – is designating Drift as its official World Cup headquarters for the game. 1 pm.

Stages presents Panto Snow White and the Seven Dorks

The classic Brothers Grimm tale gets a Panto twist, as Snow White finds herself banished by the Evil Queen and her high-tech, virtual assistant mirror. As she fumbles through Silicon Valley in search of help, she finds a team of dorky hackers. Together, they overthrow and out-code the forces of tech tyranny using brains, algorithms, and some Panto magic. And did we mention Buttons gets a reboot as he is reinvented as head of tech support for the Evil Queen? Perhaps he’ll find redemption in the end … Through Saturday, December 24. 7 pm (2 pm Sunday).

Houston Symphony presents Disney’s Fantasia

This Thanksgiving weekend, the Houston Symphony will treat families to the classic that’s captivated generations - Walt Disney’s Fantasia (aka the 1940 classic that combined old-school animation with classical music). Stunning animation fills the giant screen while the Symphony brings the soundtrack to life, including favorites like Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, Pomp and Circumstance, Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite, and, of course, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. 8 pm (2:30 pm Sunday).

Saturday, November 26

BARC’s “Home for the Holidays” Campaign

BARC, the city’s animal shelter and adoption center is once again offering Houstonians a chance to help our furry friends find a home with the annual, holiday-themed adoption and wellness campaign. Special adoption pricing will be available on select days in November and December, thanks to the sponsorship of Proler Industries and the Bissell Pet Foundation. On Saturday and Sunday, over at 3300 Carr, there will be reduced adoption fees for all pets five months or older. There will also be an offsite adoption event at the Saint Arnold beer garden at noon. 11 am.

War’Hous “We So Houston” Art Show

War’Hous, Super Happy Incredible Toys, and White Cup Entertainment are giving thanks this year with a Houston-focused art show and vendor market. At this free, two-day, family-friendly event (held in Saint Arnold’s beer hall), Houstonians will have a chance to learn about the city’s rich history and culture through art, eat award-winning food and enjoy local craft beer. If you would like to exhibit your Houston-themed work, or sell your locally made wares, you can find more information here. 11 am.

Baby Shark Live!: The Christmas Show

Here’s something for the parents who want their kids to leave ‘em alone for a couple hours. This one-of-a-kind immersive experience will have fans of all ages dancing in the aisles as they join Baby Shark and friends for adventures into the jungle and under the sea to explore shapes, colors, numbers, and more. Songs in this kids spectacular include “Baby Shark” (of course!). “Five Little Monkeys,” “Wheels On The Bus,” and “Monkey Banana Dance,” as well as such holiday classics as “Jingle Bells” and more. 2 pm.

The Garden Theatre presents Cruel Intentions: The '90s Musical

The Garden Theatre will present the Houston premiere of this musical, based on the 1999 film starring Reese Witherspoon, Ryan Phillippe, and Sarah Michelle Gellar. The show pulls audiences into the manipulative world of Manhattan’s most dangerous liaisons: Sebastian Valmont and Kathryn Merteuil. Fueled by revenge and passion, the diabolically charming step-siblings place a bet on whether or not Sebastian can deflower their incoming headmaster’s daughter, Annette Hargrove. 2 and 8 pm (2 pm Sunday).

Sunday, November 27

Discovery Green presents Tejas Got Soul

Discovery Green will present the final night of this concert series, made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance.

From the 1960s, when Houston’s Chicano musicians, inspired by the soul, blues, and zydeco traditions of Bayou City, crafted a “brown-eyed soul” sound that influenced the Conjunto and Tejano groups that followed, Houston’s Chicano music legacy is distinctive. AVIZO will be the band for this show. 5 pm.

Performing Arts Houston presents An Evening with Nigella Lawson

Internationally renowned food writer, journalist, and TV cook Nigella Lawson is the bestselling author of 12 books, which have sold over 12 million copies worldwide. Her latest book, Cook, Eat, Repeat: Ingredients, Recipes, and Stories, is a gratifying addition to her beloved collection. Performing Arts Houston presents this evening, as she shares the rhythms and rituals of life spent in the kitchen and reflects on how the process of cooking, eating, and repeating embodies the story of her life. 6:30 pm.

Raheem DeVaughn, Eric Roberson and Rahsaan Patterson in concert

Let’s end this Thanksgiving weekend on a sexy, soulful note. Three of the finest. sultriest male troubadours in contemporary R & B will be together for one night only, ready to make ladies swoon all over the place. First, we got Raheem DeVaughn, the love king himself. Then, we have Eric Roberson, who’s been dropping album after album independently for the past 20 years. Veteran crooner Rahsaan Patterson will be the special guest opener. 7 pm.

Movie Review

Star TV producer James L. Brooks stumbles with meandering movie Ella McCay

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios

Emma Mackey in Ella McCay.

The impact that writer/director/producer James L. Brooks has made on Hollywood cannot be understated. The 85-year-old created The Mary Tyler Moore Show, personally won three Oscars for Terms of Endearment, and was one of the driving forces behind The Simpsons, among many other credits. Now, 15 years after his last movie, he’s back in the directing chair with Ella McCay.

The similarly-named Emma Mackey plays Ella, a 34-year-old lieutenant governor of an unnamed state in 2008 who’s on the verge of becoming governor when Governor Bill (Albert Brooks) gets picked to be a member of the president’s Cabinet. What should be a happy time is sullied by her needy husband, Ryan (Jack Lowden), her agoraphobic brother, Casey (Spike Fearn), and her perpetually-cheating father, Eddie (Woody Harrelson).

Despite the trio of men competing to bring her down, Ella remains an unapologetic optimist, an attitude bolstered by her aunt Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis), her assistant Estelle (Julie Kavner), and her police escort, Trooper Nash (Kumail Nanjiani). The film follows her over a few days as she navigates the perils of governing, the distractions her family brings, and the expectations being thrust upon her by many different people.

Brooks, who wrote and directed the film, is all over the place with his storytelling. What at first seems to be a straightforward story about Ella and her various issues soon starts meandering into areas that, while related to Ella, don’t make the film better. Prime among them are her brother and father, who are given a relatively small amount of screentime in comparison to the importance they have in her life. This is compounded by a confounding subplot in which Casey tries to win back his girlfriend, Susan (Ayo Edebiri).

Then there’s the whole political side of the story, which never finds its focus and is stuck in the past. Though it’s never stated explicitly, Ella and Governor Bill appear to be Democrats, especially given a signature program Ella pushes to help mothers in need. But if Brooks was trying to provide an antidote to the current real world politics, he doesn’t succeed, as Ella’s full goals are never clear. He also inexplicably shows her boring her fellow lawmakers to tears, a strange trait to give the person for whom the audience is supposed to be rooting.

What saves the movie from being an all-out train wreck is the performances of Mackey and Curtis. Mackey, best known for the Netflix show Sex Education, has an assured confidence to her that keeps the character interesting and likable even when the story goes downhill. Curtis, who has tended to go over-the-top with her roles in recent years, tones it down, offering a warm place of comfort for Ella to turn to when she needs it. The two complement each other very well and are the best parts of the movie by far.

Brooks puts much more effort into his female actors, including Kavner, who, even though she serves as an unnecessary narrator, gets most of the best laugh lines in the film. Harrelson is capable of playing a great cad, but his character here isn’t fleshed out enough. Fearn is super annoying in his role, and Lowden isn’t much better, although that could be mostly due to what his character is called to do. Were it not for the always-great Brooks and Nanjiani, the movie might be devoid of good male performances.

Brooks has made many great TV shows and movies in his 60+ year career, but Ella McCay is a far cry from his best. The only positive that comes out of it is the boosting of Mackey, who proves herself capable of not only leading a film, but also elevating one that would otherwise be a slog to get through.

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Ella McCay opens in theaters on December 12.

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