How NFL WAGs Spend Thanksgiving on Game Day, from Turkey Tailgates to Suite Specials (Exclusive)

These ladies are feasting their eyes on football!

Gathering around the TV to watch NFL games on Thanksgiving has become an American tradition — and no one knows that better than the players and their partners, who make the stadium their living room.

Ahead of Turkey Day on Nov. 28, PEOPLE caught up with several WAGs across the six teams playing on Thanksgiving this year for an inside look at the unique ways they celebrate the holiday around the gridiron with their teammates and friends-turned family.

The three Thanksgiving match-ups include Chicago Bears versus the Detroit Lions, New York Giants versus the Dallas Cowboys and Miami Dolphins versus the Green Bay Packers. While Turkey Day game days are considered a rarity for some teams, the Lions and Giants will hit the holiday field for the 59th year in a row.

Dolphins safety Jordan Poyer’s wife, Rachel Bush, tells PEOPLE that she’ll make a “last minute” decision to go to the stadium. If she celebrates at home, she says “everyone turns on the TV and they watch football.” She adds, “It’s so fun, but at the same time, it’s complete chaos. Fun chaos!”

Alix Earle, who’s the girlfriend of Poyer’s fellow Fins teammate Braxton Berrios, previously joked with PEOPLE on the carpet of the 2024 CFDA Awards that game day will be “a little controversial” because her family is a mix of Packers and Dolphins fans.

Sarah Jane Ramos, who’s engaged to Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, shares that her “tradition is to go to the game” with her family. Despite his season-ending injury from Week 9, their plan remains the same. “The following day is when we actually celebrate Thanksgiving,” she says.

If there’s one NFL family that has Thanksgiving game day down, it’s Christen Harper Goff, wife of Lions QB Jared Goff, who’s had a game on Turkey Day every year. “It was definitely a big shift… but I just love it so much — so we’ll go and we’ll watch the game,” she tells PEOPLE exclusively.

In addition to the WAGs whose partners are playing on Thanksgiving, Olivia Culpo — wife of San Fransisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey — also gave PEOPLE an exclusive look into the process of planning holidays around a “wild” NFL schedule.

“Having a husband in the NFL, you do have to base your holidays around their schedule,” Culpo tells PEOPLE. “Every year is very different and exciting. There’s not really one way to plan for consistency, which makes it interesting.”

Here’s how the NFL WAGs make time for turkey and touchdowns on Thanksgiving game day!

Rachel Bush

Rachel Bush is the girlfriend of Miami Dolphins safety Jordan Poyer, who she’s been with for nearly 10 years since they started dating in 2015. Although this is Poyer’s first season on the Dolphins, the pair have had four Thanksgiving Day games together to date.

You’d think Bush has her schedule down pat, but since this is her first year with the Miami-based team — which will also be an away game in Green Bay, Wis., against the Packers — she says the holiday will look “a little different” for them. Going in person will be a “last-minute” decision.

“A lot of us are moms too,” Bush — who welcomed her first child, daughter Aliyah, with Poyer in 2016 — explains. “So it’s like, ‘Alright, we’re just going to do it,’ so we’d organize a jet real quick and all the girls would go.”

If that’s the case, Bush says she’ll prepare her holiday feast in advance. “What I think I’m going to do for this year is plan like I’m making a Thanksgiving dinner,” she explains, noting that all of her family is coming to Miami to celebrate. “I love holidays! I bought everything Thanksgiving theme,” she shares.

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While Bush doesn’t yet know how her first year with the Dolphins playing on Thanksgiving will unfold, she does have wild memories of Poyer playing on Turkey Day from previous seasons. One memorable game, in particular, was when he played for the Buffalo Bills in 2021.

After the game against the New Orleans Saints that year, Poyer and his teammate Josh Allen feasted on turkey legs on the field. “He had a really good game that year… I sat up front, so I got the game ball for that game,” she recalls. “That was a fun one.”

As Poyer was chowing down on the field, Bush was eating well in the suite! “Anything holiday themed, you’re going to have a fun menu!” she reveals of the Bills’ hospitality. “For Thanksgiving, they did a Thanksgiving feast in our suite.”

“Build Your Own Turducken Sliders” was an option on the menu, which was a patty that combined turkey, duck and chicken.” Bush adds, “Then they had puff pastry wrapped baked brie with blackberry and vanilla, and cinnamon pita chips.”

“And then they had pumpkin bread with pumpkin seeds and a salted caramel glaze… That’s what I want to say were the specials,” Bush recalls. “Then they had sweet potato, charred corn, pineapple, red onion and cilantro tostadas as well!”

Bush’s “favorite,” however is the Bills’ special: Buffalo mac and cheese. “It was like a staple,” she says of the NFL team’s suite offering. “They had so much fun,” she notes, also remembering the customized theme-menu designs. “It was really, really cute.”

Sarah Jane Ramos

Sarah Jane Ramos is engaged to Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, who popped the question in October this year. Together, they share daughter Margaret Jane “MJ” Rose.

When speaking with PEOPLE ahead of Turkey Day, Ramos revealed that her family’s tradition has always been to go to the game. Despite Prescott’s season-ending injury, their tradition will remain the same as the Cowboys face-off against the New York Giants — but with a twist!

“He’ll go to the game and he’ll watch up with the coaches in the box and I will watch with our daughter in our suite,” shares Ramos. “And then the following day is actually when we celebrate Thanksgiving… the Friday after Thanksgiving.”

When they’re not at the stadium, they’ll have family over in Texas where they’re now based. “This year it will be with Dak’s side of the family, and his brother and his wife and their kids will come over and some of our extended family,” she explains.

Ramos, herself, will be busy on Thanksgiving Day. “I will cook,” she shares. “I’ll make a Turkey and ham and some traditional Italian dishes.”

Christen Harper Goff

Christen Harper Goff is married to Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff, who she wed in June this year. The pair were first linked in 2019 and announced their engagement three years later.

Thanksgiving game days are nothing new for the couple since Goff moved to Detroit after playing for the Los Angeles Rams from 2016 to 2021. “The Lions play every year,” says Christen, noting that it was “definitely a big shift when we first moved.”

While it was initially hard for Christen to wrap her head around work on Thanksgiving — “What does that look like? How do you have a football game going on? We’re going to be at the stadium?” she questioned at first — she and her family have turned it into “a fun tradition” since.

“So we’ll go and we’ll watch the game. We have the first game on Thanksgiving,” she says of this year’s match-up against the Chicago Bears. “It’s nothing too crazy or elaborate, but it’s so fun that now football is such a big part of it and we get to spend Thanksgiving with so many people.”

Not only is Christen celebrating the holiday with her family, but the fans of the team are just as much invited to the party! “The whole city of Detroit is there and it’s just a big celebration,” she says. “It’s so fun and we have so much to be thankful on that day.”

Understandably, Thanksgiving Day is hectic, which is why Christen gets all the kitchen prep work done early. “Usually the few days leading up to the game we’re prepping food and maybe either picking up a pie or maybe baking a pie,” she explains.

“And we’ll come home and we’ll kind of just throw it in the oven, heat it all up and then just do our own little Thanksgiving,” Christen continues. “So it’s fun to come home and just take it all in.”

Christen says “sometimes” family will come to town to join in the holiday fun, but she notes that it’s “always” changing due to schedules. When they do come to celebrate, she says they’ll “take turns cooking something” and “getting stuff together” for the feast. “It’s been fun,” she adds.

While Christen says many of the NFL families will opt to celebrate Thanksgiving “the day after” on Friday, she explains why her family prefers to enjoy the festivities on the actual holiday. “After we’ll watch the second game and it’s kind of a football Thanksgiving,” she says. “It feels very American.”

Alix Earle

Alix Earle, who’s dating Miami Dolphins star Braxton Berrios, previously told PEOPLE about her Thanksgiving plans during an interview on the red carpet at the 2024 CFDA Awards in October. Game day will look a bit different for the NFL star, however, due to his season-ending injury.

The Dolphins will play against the Packers on Turkey Day, which Earle joked could cause some drama in her household. “It’s going to be a little controversial because half my family are Green Bay Packers fans,” the New Jersey native explained.

Still, Earle plans to support Berrios and his team in the best way possible. “I’m going to have to get them in some Dolphins gear, but I’m looking forward to it!”

Olivia Culpo

Olivia Culpo’s husband Christian McCaffrey of the San Fransisco 49ers may not have a game on Thanksgiving this year, but she opened up about her past experiences about the work-holiday overlap having dated the football player for four years before tying the knot in June.

“Having a husband in the NFL, you do have to base your holidays around their schedule,” Culpo tells PEOPLE exclusively. “Every time we get the new schedule, you have to check out… every year is very different and exciting. There’s not really one way to plan for consistency, which makes it interesting.”

While the 49ers don’t play again until Dec. 1 against the Bills for an away game, Culpo says the team still treats Nov. 28 as a “normal work day,” noting that “they don’t get days off.” She explains, “After all of his meetings and everything that they do… he’ll probably finish around 6:00 or 7:00 p.m.”

“Then, hopefully, we’ll be able to give thanks around then,” Culpo predicts. “I know. I know. His schedule is wild.” Still, she proudly states, “I love married life. It’s so fun!” She explains, “I feel like you can really make the most out of the little moments. Everything feels easy to romanticize, in a way.”