According to Statista's Consumer Insights and more than 1,000 U.S. respondents between the ages of 18 and 80, Thanksgiving with the family is still the way to celebrate the holiday. 73 percent in the survey carried out this year said they would celebrate this way. Friendsgiving - or celebrating Thanksgiving with friends - was the next popular plan, with 20 percent of Americans saying they were going this route. Friendsgiving was most popular with younger demographics between the ages of 18 and 44. While Friendsgiving's popularity remained constant, celebrating Thankgiving alone became four percentage points more popular since 2020, despite that year having been the first of the Covid-19 pandemic.
14 percent of Americans said they would likely celebrate alone - here older Americans were overrepresented. Only 3 percent said they would not celebrate at all. Concerning the location of the celebration, 7 percent said they were going to a restaurant, 3 percent were headed to a parade and 4 percent planned to help out at a homeless shelter. Respondents were asked about plans for their main celebration but were able to give multiple answers. According to the results, however, only a few seem to be mixing friends with family during their main Thanksgiving event.
As part of the survey, 65 percent of respondent said that the meaning of Thanksgiving was to spend time with family, while 67 percent saw it as a time to be thankful. 46 percent said they where out to have a good meal, 20 percent found meaning in watching football and 21 percent liked to remember the history of the celebration.
