PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Thanksgiving budgets may be in for some relief this year, according to a new report on holiday spending.
According to Wells Fargo’s annual food report, a Thanksgiving dinner for 10, including dessert, will cost around $78.93 this year — down about 0.4% from 2025.
The prices of turkey, cranberries, and frozen vegetables have all fallen, though other grocery prices remain stubbornly high.
According to Jeff Hornstein, executive director of the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia, overall grocery prices will stay high as long as the global run on oil continues.
“As long as oil prices are high, everything else runs downhill,” Hornstein explained. “Because hydrocarbons are fundamentals to fertilizer, so fertilizer prices are extremely high. Hydrocarbon prices drive up the cost of wages, because you have to pay your workers more if you’re going to keep them.”
The Wells Fargo report also says that the cost of providing drinks for Thanksgiving festivities is up about 0.5%, tacking on nearly an additional $49 for parties of 10 and bringing the total cost of hosting to about $127.54.
Hornstein says that food costs are what drove many rural Pennsylvanians to flip the Senate seat in the midterm elections.
“These are not people who are like progressive Democrats,” he said. “These are people who are like, ‘Alright, I can’t feed my family, and the current guys that have been in power in the last 10 years in the Pennsylvania Senate — time to get rid of them.’”
The Wells Fargo report also finds that the rise in popularity of GLP-1 drugs may lead to Thanksgiving guests taking smaller portions on the holiday.
The price of hosting a dinner for 10 for the holiday this year is down nearly half a percent
The price of hosting a dinner for 10 for the holiday this year is down nearly half a percent
