Many scale back Thanksgiving plans
Some are holding potluck dinners instead of springing for the entire feast. Others are staying home rather than flying. And a few are skipping the turkey altogether.
On this the fourth Thanksgiving since the economy sank, prices for everything from airline flights to groceries are going up, and some Americans are scaling back. Yet in many households, the occasion is too important to skimp on. Said one mother: “I don’t have much to give, but I’ll be cooking, and the door will be open.”
Thanksgiving airfares are up 20 percent this year, and the average price of a gallon of gas has risen almost 20 percent, according to travel tracker AAA. Rail travelers were also affected, with fares on most one-way Amtrak tickets up 2 to 5 percent.
Still, about 42.5 million people are expected to travel, the highest number since the start of the recession.
Carole Goldsmith of Fresno, Calif., decided she didn’t need to have a feast, even if she could still afford it.
Goldsmith, an administrator at a community college in Coalinga, Calif., said she typically hosts an “over-the-top meal” for friends and family. This year, she canceled the meal and donated a dozen turkeys to two homeless shelters. She plans to spend Thursday volunteering before holding a small celebration Friday with soup, bread “and lots of gratitude.”
“I think everybody is OK with it,” she said. “They understand. Everybody is in a different place than they were a year ago.”
In suburban Chicago, the Oak Park River Forest Food Pantry got rid of turkey altogether. Last year, the pantry had a lottery in October to distribute 600 turkeys between almost 1,500 families.
The pantry’s management has decided to give all of its families a choice between other kinds of meat – ground turkey, sliced chicken, fish sticks and hamburger patties – along with the other trappings of a Thanksgiving feast. The decision will save $16,000, money that can go to feeding the hungry for the rest of the year.
The Greater Chicago Food Depository is paying more for many basic items. Executive Director Kate Maehr said she recently ordered peanut butter that cost 38 percent more than just six months ago. And the increase comes at a bad time, when the economy has forced more families to resort to food pantries, she said.
Thanksgiving travelers were also at the mercy of the weather. Forecasters warned of rain and scattered thunderstorms in much of the Northeast, with a mixture of snow and freezing rain expected in upstate New York and northern New England. Mountainous areas could see 4 to 8 inches of snow.
In Juneau, Alaska, the Rev. George Silides and his wife will bring turkey to a church potluck, but not much more. Like millions of others, Silides said, the couple was “feeling the economic pinch.”
In previous years, Stacy Hansen would either host a large Thanksgiving meal or fly from her Florida home to be with family in Minnesota. Not this year.
“It’s going to be a quiet Thanksgiving,” she said. “We’re going to be thankful for what we do have.”