When you think of Thanksgiving, what comes to your mind regarding this American holiday? Chances are that your thoughts go to family and friends, football, parades, autumn leaves, and an oversized feast. At IntelliData, what we see is, of course… data!

Turkey Talk and Family Walk 

When you gather to observe Thanksgiving, we know that 73% of you will be with family for the holiday. Also, according to Statista, the top two preferred locations for this celebration are at home (55%) and at relatives’ (32%).

So while the vast majority of you gather around a communal table in a home, we also know from the National Turkey Federation (hey, there really is an association for everything!) that 88% of Americans will eat turkey at Thanksgiving, resulting in approximately 46 million turkeys being consumed at Thanksgiving nationally. According to a FinanceBuzz piece, “One out of every three whole turkeys purchased at Thanksgiving is sold by Butterball, the North Carolina turkey producer”.

Stuffing Shenanigans, Roll Revelries, and Potatoes Galore!

The US spends $96 million on stuffing for Thanksgiving annually. In fact, the Kraft Heinz Company reports that it sells 40 million boxes of its Stove Top Stuffing Mix from October through December each year. A high percentage of stuffing is eaten on Thanksgiving day, and families don’t generally eat much stuffing after the holiday season.

The National Grocers Association (hey, another association!) reports that 32.2 million dinner rolls are bought for Thanksgiving. Pass the butter!

According to Bob Vila’s website, Americans eat lots and lots of potatoes at Thanksgiving- to the tune of 250 million pounds. The Idaho Farm Bureau Federation (we’ll count it as an association!) indicates that the output of potatoes for the state in a typical year is approximately 13 billion pounds. Gravy, anyone?

Cream of Mushroom and Cranberry Calculations 

40% of the sales of Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup take place near Thanksgiving, and much of this is used in green bean casseroles in more than 20 million kitchens nationwide. Not specifically a stat, but we love this story that FinanceBuzz reported based on a Smithsonian Magazine article: “In 1955, Dorcas Reilly was tasked with creating a simple recipe to be picked up by newspapers that would make it easy and quick for home cooks to assemble the dish with ingredients on hand — specifically Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup and canned green beans. The dish was initially intended to be an everyday meal, yet took off as a Thanksgiving tradition once Campbell’s put the recipe on the soup can label. The recipe is viewed online 4 million times each Thanksgiving.” 4 million?! Way to go, Dorcas! This exposure is well worth whatever Campbell’s was paying you in the 1950’s.

We know how you love word problems and algebra as much as we do! So… Ocean Spray produces 70 million cans of jellied cranberry sauce every year. If 80% of these cans are sold at Thanksgiving, how many cans have been purchased to use at this holiday? Scroll to the end of this blog post to see if you have the right answer.

Slices of Sweet Regional Delights

A FinanceBuzz survey revealed that almost 45% of people would choose pumpkin pie for their Thanksgiving pie, with apple pie coming in second place, and sweet potato taking bronze. Several years ago, FiveThirtyEight conducted a similar survey with pumpkin pie being the preferred pie. Second place choices for pies varied by region, however. Apple pie got the silver medal in both the Mid-Atlantic and New England while pecan pie and sweet potato pie finished in second place in the South. Cherry pie was the runner up throughout the West and Midwest.

Of Parade Magic and Touchdown Traditions

On Thanksgiving Day, you may also find yourself in the mood for watching floats and marching bands. 2023 marks the 97^th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. According to Macy’s, this year’s parade lineup will include:

• 5,000 volunteers
• 16 featured character balloons
• 26 fantastic floats
• 32 heritage and novelty balloons
• more than 700 clowns
• 12 marching bands and
• nine performance groups.

27.7 million viewers caught the 2022 edition of the parade via NBC and Peacock. In the category of televised special events, the parade garners more viewers than the Emmys, Grammys, and Oscars.

And what would Thanksgiving be without football? Last year 42 million viewers watched the Dallas Cowboys defeat the New York Giants, 28-20. This broke the record for the most-watched regular season NFL game which was set more than three decades ago as 41.474 million watched the Giants take on the San Francisco 49ers in December 1990 on Monday Night Football. This year’s lineup featuring the Green Bay Packers against the Detroit Lions, the Washington Commanders going to Dallas, and a primetime matchup between the 49ers and the Seattle Seahawks holds great promise for both exciting football and the possibility of another new viewing record.

While we know you may not want to invite IntelliData to your Thanksgiving dinner, you can certainly use this data to inform and amaze your family and friends. So, keep a copy of it close by or ready on your phone to access these stats easily.

If we’re this obsessed with Thanksgiving data, imagine what IntelliData can do with your membership, event, and product sales data. Contact us today to discuss your objectives for 2024 and beyond.

The answer to the word problem: Ocean Spray sells 56 million cans of jellied cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving.