GARNER, NC. — Butterball’s Togetherness Report: 2024 Thanksgiving Outlook, released on Sept. 18, highlighted turkey as a must-have item for many hosts and their guests this upcoming holiday season. Close to 90% of hosts plan on serving turkey during their Thanksgiving dinner.

Roughly half of consumers named turkey as their favorite part of the meal, followed by stuffing, pie and potatoes.

Several US consumers are planning to partake in the Thanksgiving holiday, with 86% saying they plan to celebrate with others and the average celebration size being nine people.

While many are commemorating the holiday, 98% said they expect inflation to impact their plans — up from 79% in 2023. More than half expect inflation to impact their celebrations in the same way as last year, while 44% expect it to have an even greater impact than the previous year.

Even so, most consumers aren’t planning on making any changes to their gatherings to save money. Of those that do plan to manage costs, most plan on saving through non-food related items, such as paper goods or décor (18%) as well as side dishes (17%).

“It’s clear people are committed to celebrating Thanksgiving with turkey at the center of the table again this year, despite outside influences, like inflation,” said Rebecca Welch, director of retail and international brand management at Butterball. “Butterball is proud to help bring people together for Thanksgiving celebrations and support holiday hosts with our Butterball Turkey Talk-Line.”

Butterball conducted its survey among a nationally representative sample of 1,502 US adults. The survey was fielded by Circana between July 15 and 26, 2024.