Families hosting Thanksgiving dinner feel financial burden from inflation

Stubborn inflation is weighing on American households as they plan for their Thanksgiving dinner, according to a new survey from LendingTree.

The survey found that about 60% of Americans are planning to host or are considering hosting Thanksgiving dinner this year, with an average of 11 guests and an expected average cost of $361 on food, beverages and decorations – a figure that rises to $469 for families with children under 18. About 34% of respondents considering hosting said this year’s Thanksgiving festivities will cause a financial strain.

 “There’s no question that inflation is playing a role in people’s Thanksgiving plans,” LendingTree chief credit analyst Matt Schulz told FOX Business. “That shouldn’t be too surprising given how tight people’s budgets are, how many people are living paycheck to paycheck and how small the average person’s financial margin for error is.”

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About 60% of the survey’s respondents indicated that inflation is impacting their Thanksgiving plans or budget in some way – as 77% of potential hosts are shopping around or using coupons. About 22% of potential hosts have a strict budget, while 56% have a rough budget with some wiggle room, and 22% are not planning to curtail spending for Thanksgiving festivities.

“Everything today is more expensive than it was a year ago, so if you are expecting to have the amount that you budgeted for last Thanksgiving work this year, you may end up being a little bit disappointed,” Schulz said. “So it’s really important to shop around and to ask people to pitch in and also, if you can, to take advantage of credit card rewards, that sort of thing to help extend your budget a little bit.”

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With hosts’ budgets being stretched due to inflation, guests should be mindful of those financial concerns and look to chip in where they can to help their host by bringing food, dessert or beverages – as the survey found that 20% of potential hosts would consider not inviting a guest next year if they show up empty-handed.

“It’s completely understandable because you want everybody to help and you know that you would help if you were in that situation. But given that the group of people who generally come to these Thanksgiving get-togethers – people like extended family and close friends and that sort of thing – the idea of uninviting somebody because they didn’t pitch in would be a pretty big move,” Schulz said.

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He went on to say that potential hosts already thinking ahead toward next Thanksgiving may want to consider stocking up on certain items when products tied to the holiday go on sale after this year’s festivities pass.

“With a little bit of planning and forethought, you really can save some money on the holiday decorations, whether it’s Thanksgiving or Christmas or anything else. There’s no better time to buy holiday merchandise than right after that particular holiday has ended,” Schulz said.

“And we don’t necessarily always think to do that, because we’ve kind of moved on to the next thing, but if you take the time to buy Thanksgiving decorations and merchandise at the end of November there’s a good chance you’ll be able to save a pretty decent amount of money for next year,” he added.