What are your plans for Thanksgiving?
Celebrations
Most Americans will be spending Thanksgiving with relatives
this holiday weekend, with 89 percent having Thanksgiving dinner with members
of their family, according to a Pew Research Center survey.
A majority of Americans who say they will be spending
Thanksgiving with family members, 62 percent, think that 10 or more relatives
will be attending the festive meal.
More than a quarter expect to be enjoying turkey and pumpkin
pie with 20 or more family members. Fifteen percent are planning for a small
family affair, hosting one to five relatives for dinner.
Overall, the average Thanksgiving party will host 12
relatives this year.
Travel
AAA projects 44 million Americans will travel 50 miles or
more from home during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, an increase of nearly 1
percent over the 43 million people who traveled last year. This increase marks
the fourth year of growing holiday travelers since 2008 when Thanksgiving travel
fell by 25 percent.
Ninety percent of travelers or 39 million plan
to travel by automobile, an increase of nearly 1 percent. Holiday air travel
will decline to 3.14 million travelers from 3.2 million in 2011.
Median spending is expected to drop 10 percent
to $498, compared to $554 last year.
Average distance traveled will decline to 588
miles from 706 miles, due in part to a decrease in the number of air travelers
and Americans desire to economize budgets.
“Thanksgiving
travel hit a decade low in 2008 when only 37.8 million Americans traveled,” AAA
President and CEO Robert Darbelnet said in a statement. “Since that year, we
have seen a steady increase in the number of travelers taking to the roads and
skies for the holiday. Americans continue to find ways to economize their
budgets so they can gather around the holiday table to carve the turkey.”
Shopping
Up to 147 million people plan to shop Black Friday weekend,
a slight decrease from the 152 million who planned to do it last year,
according to a National Retail Federation survey. About 71 million said they’d
shop and another 76 million said they would wait and see what retailers have
in-store that weekend.
To stay up-to-date on sales throughout the holiday season, half of shoppers
will use advertising circulars and three in 10 say they’ll use TV
advertisements. The number of Americans who prefer to see advertisements
digitally is increasing; 27 percent will follow retailers’ websites and 31
percent will track emails from retailers.
Whatever your plans, best wishes to you all for a great Thanksgiving celebration.
