With the relaxation of COVID restrictions and more general protection through vaccination, U.S. families are returned to traditional Thanksgiving gatherings. This was evidenced by heavy road and air travel over the weekend.

Lending Tree commissioned Qualtrics, a market research company to conduct an online survey of 2,000 U.S. consumers to determine plans for serving a Thanksgiving dinner.  Predictably 47 percent of those surveyed who were hosting a Thanksgiving dinner expected an increase in the number of guests. Thanksgiving gatherings cost $391 on average in 2021for the traditional meal.  Millennials will pay the most at $461, consistent with larger family groups.  It would appear that Thanksgiving gatherings added to household debt with higher prices for foods mainly due to disruption in supply chains.  Nearly half of hosts planned to increase household debt, up from 38 percent in 2020 and only 27 percent will apply a strict budget to their events.

Link to the Lending Tree study: https://www.lendingtree.com/credit-cards/study/thanksgiving-spending-survey/