16 Things You Should Know About Thanksgiving This Year

In September 2021, an Ipsos survey of 1,003 adults concluded that nine out of ten Americans were planning to celebrate Thanksgiving, with 61% saying they wanted to make the holiday special to make up for the impact of Covid-19 on the holiday in 2020. But this year is different. A recent survey of 1,000 adults by online financial advisor Personal Capital found that 26% of Americans had no Thanksgiving plans. Other than the higher cost of hosting Thanksgiving this year, 71% of respondents without plans cited losing a job as a factor in their decision.

While most Americans do plan to celebrate Thanksgiving, about a third of those polled by Personal Capital say the celebration will be smaller this year than last. Only 15% said they would host a larger Thanksgiving party.

Friendsgiving, a kind of informal potluck gathering among friends who opt out of family Thanksgiving feasts, will be more popular this year because of rising food costs. About 47% of respondents to the Personal Capital survey said they’d forego dinner with family and instead host or attend a Friendsgiving party.

For those planning to forego elaborate family gatherings for the holiday, a pot-luck-style Friendsgiving dinner party will also more likely skip the turkey altogether. The top choice for an alternative? The ever-pleasing and economical pizza.

Younger people tend to have lower incomes and assets than older ones. Couple that with the lack of experience among young adults in planning and hosting bountiful daylong dinner gatherings and it should be no surprise that more than half of Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) and adult members of Generation Z (1997-2012) say they feel financially stressed by Thanksgiving, according to the Personal Capital survey.

There are likely to be fewer leftovers to take home from the Thanksgiving table this year. More than half of the Americans polled by Personal Capital said they plan fewer dishes this year. Nearly 90% said they were cutting at least one dish from the menu this year.

If you find turkey dry and bland, you are among the one in four Americans who think the bird is an overrated Thanksgiving centerpiece, according to the FinanceBuzz survey. On the other hand, one in ten respondents said they think Thanksgiving ham is underrated. But turkey producers can relax: Most Ameircans consider turkey to be an important and delicious (and juicy if prepared correctly) part of the Thanksgiving feast.

Despite that 25% who don’t much care for turkey and despite the higher cost for the bird this year, it remains the most popular dish of the holiday feast, followed by gravy, mashed potatoes, and stuffing. But dishes more likely to be cut this year include less popular items like mac and cheese, creamed spinach, and anything containing broccoli, beets, or squash.

With smaller menus likely to be served this year, a little more than half of respondents to the Personal Capital survey said they will ask guests to bring something to the Thanksgiving table. And about 42% of respondents said they would ask guests to pitch in money to cover the costs of hosting.

As any wedding planner knows, alcoholic beverages are among the priciest items someone can provide at any gathering. In order to cut the cost of hosting Thanksgiving, three out of four Americans are planning to ask guests to bring libations to the table, according to the Personal Capital survey. Nearly half said they would ask people to bring dessert.

Only 15% of Americans polled in the Personal Capital survey said they plan to spend more on Thanksgiving this year than usual while about a third say they would spend less. But an unlucky one in five Americans said they don’t have the money to cover the cost of being a Thanksgiving dinner host.

A majority of Americans, 57%, said they would spend between $101 and $200 on Thanksgiving this year, according to the Personal Capital survey. About 28% said they would limit their Thanksgiving budget to $100. Only 15% said they plan to spend more than $201 this year.

Over a third of respondents to the Personal Capital survey said they would be more attentive to promotional deals and use coupons to reduce the cost of Thanksgiving in 2022. About 36% said they would shop earlier to avoid last-minute price hikes and supply shortages.

The FinanceBuzz survey found that 59% of Americans plan to host their repast in the early to mid afternoon. Another 19% will dine between 4 and 6 p.m., 9% will eat between 6 and 8 p.m., and 3% will carve the turkey after 8 p.m. early afternoon. And some 10% will get an early start, sitting down before noon.

The U.S. Census Bureau says there are four places named after the popular Thanksgiving main course, including two Turkey Creeks – one in Arizona and the other in Pennsylvania – and two named simply Turkey, in North Carolina and Texas. All four have populations smaller than 600 people. There are five townships named “Cranberry,” the largest being in Butler County, Pennsylvania.

According to the Library of Congress, President Franklin D. Roosevelt bowed to pressure from merchants to extend the Christmas shopping season by a week in 1939 by declaring that Thanksgiving would take place on the next-to-last Thursday of November for the District of Columbia and federal employees. Some states didn’t follow the decree, causing the holiday to land on different Thursdays. Congress later intervened to make the day of the holiday a national standard in which Thanksgiving lands on the last Thursday of November in five out of seven years.