Thanksgiving Dinner Costs How Much?

Have you tallied up how much your family spends on the turkey dinner at Thanksgiving? Counting that green bean casserole with the french fried onions on top, cranberry sauce, the bird, and other trimmings, the average cost of Thanksgiving dinner is $44.04 this year.

The American Farm Bureau Federation conducted a survey and put together the numbers, and came up with that amount, which is about 44 cents less than last year's meal. We shaved half a can of corn off the total apparently.

Are they counting the alcohol? Most families I know (like mine!) always include wine as part of the Thanksgiving meal. Even at Grandma's house when I was growing up, I remember all of the adults opening a huge bottle of that Mogen David wine and getting a little tipsy before the meal. Hurray for cheap wine! Thanksgiving dinner can be accomplished for $49 total when you add that stuff.

Did you hear there might be a big turkey shortage this year? And by that I mean there might be a shortage of the bigger turkeys, weighing sixteen pounds or more. Butterball says for whatever reason, the turkeys had trouble gaining weight on the farms this year.

The turkeys may be skinny this year, but strangely enough, they'll make us gain weight on Thanksgiving Day. Or maybe it's the pumpkin pie.