Thanksgiving Dinner Cost Calculator
How much will Thanksgiving dinner cost this year?
Thanksgiving is the one dinner a year that gets its own budget line. Enter your guest list, adjust the prices to your store, and see the whole meal priced out before you shop: bird, sides, pies, rolls and all. Whole turkeys are mostly bone and ceremony, so the planning rule is about 1 pound per adult and half a pound per child, bird weight, not meat weight.
Thanksgiving is the one dinner a year that gets its own budget line. Enter your guest list, adjust the prices to your store, and see the whole meal priced out before you shop: bird, sides, pies, rolls and all.
Your table
Item prices (Farm Bureau 2025 survey, per package)
Prices are the national averages from the Farm Bureau survey. Your store will differ; that is what the edit boxes are for.
The itemized dinner
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Turkey (0 lb at your price per pound) | $0 |
| Sides: stuffing, sweet potatoes, peas, cranberries, veggie tray, misc. ingredients | $0 |
| Pies and dessert: pie mix, crusts, whipping cream | $0 |
| Drinks: whole milk and drinks | $0 |
| Dinner rolls | $0 |
| Your extras | $0 |
| Total | $0 |
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How the turkey math works
Whole turkeys are mostly bone and ceremony, so the planning rule is about 1 pound per adult and half a pound per child, bird weight, not meat weight. Eight adults and two kids means a 9-pound bird at minimum; most families round up to a 12 to 14 pounder anyway, because the price difference is small and leftovers are half the point. The Farm Bureau, for comparison, prices a 16-pound turkey for its table of 10, about 1.6 pounds per person, which is the generous end of the range.
Where the rest of the money goes
The bird gets the attention, but in the 2025 Farm Bureau survey it was only 39% of the bill, its lowest share since 2000. The sides are the quiet half: stuffing, sweet potatoes, peas, cranberries and the veggie tray, plus the pie fixings. This calculator buys those in whole packages, one Farm Bureau basket (priced for 10) for every 10 guests, rounded up, because that is how a real shopping trip works. If your family doubles up on pies or skips the peas, edit the prices to zero or up to match.
Fitting dinner into the whole holiday budget
Dinner is one line of the holiday season, not the whole of it. Once you have this number, drop it into the food line of our holiday budget planner alongside gifts and travel, and keep the weekly shop on track with the grocery budget calculator, because the four regular grocery runs in November cost more than the feast does.
About the prices
Defaults are the American Farm Bureau Federation's 40th annual Thanksgiving dinner survey, published November 2025: a classic dinner for 10 at $55.18, with a 16-pound turkey at $21.50 ($1.34 a pound). The 2026 survey comes out shortly before Thanksgiving 2026; until it does, the 2025 figures are the newest published ones, and every price above is editable to your store's shelf tags.
Frequently asked questions
How big a turkey do I need?
Plan about 1 pound of whole turkey per adult and half a pound per child. That accounts for bone and gives everyone a generous serving. Add the leftovers option (about 50% more) if sandwiches and soup are part of the plan, and round up: nobody ever regretted the bigger bird, and whole turkeys only come in whole sizes.
How much does Thanksgiving dinner cost per person?
The American Farm Bureau Federation's 2025 survey put the classic dinner for 10 at $55.18, about $5.52 per person, using a 16-pound turkey. Your total depends mostly on bird size and how many packaged sides you scale up; this calculator prices both from your guest list.
Where do the default prices come from?
Every starting price is from the American Farm Bureau Federation's 40th annual Thanksgiving dinner survey (2025), the newest published survey: turkey at $1.34 a pound, cubed stuffing $3.71, sweet potatoes $4.00 for 3 pounds, and so on. The 2026 survey is published shortly before Thanksgiving; until then, edit any price to match your store.
Why do the side costs jump in steps?
Because groceries come in packages, not servings. The Farm Bureau basket feeds 10, so the calculator buys one basket for every 10 guests, rounding up, just like a real shopping trip. Feeding 12 does not cost 20% more on stuffing; it costs one more bag.