Millennials take on Thanksgiving platter

Thanksgiving Day, a national holiday celebrated in Canada and the United States as a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year. It is celebrated on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. Several other places around the world observe similar celebrations however nobody knows how this tradition has affected Millennials?

At Pollfish we wanted to drill down and learn more about that, so find below some key takeaways based on age:

• More older adults prefer the traditional way to cook turkey.
• Millennials (people who are 18-34 years old in 2015, according to the Pew Research Center) are the least happiest generation on Thanksgiving, compared to other generations. This generation has the lowest percentage of people who do not have any Thanksgiving headache.
• Millennials prefer a Thanksgiving platter while the rest of the generations like turkey sandwich when it comes to their favorite Thanksgiving leftover
• Millennials like to sleep off the meal as the best post-Thanksgiving activity
• Adults aged 35-44 have the most people said prepping for Black Friday shopping is their post-Thanksgiving dinner tradition

Of course we didn’t stay only in age so we broke-down regional preferences as well and below are some key takeaways:

• West coast has the fewest turkey fans. 1 in 5 people on the west coast said they are not going to have Turkey this year.
• The happiest place on Thanksgiving is the south. 40% of people who live in the south said they do not have any Thanksgiving headaches.
• People have different Thanksgiving headache across regions. People on the west coast said holiday is their biggest headache, while cooking Thanksgiving dinner is the biggest headache for people on the east coast. Interaction with other family member is the biggest headache for people who live in Midwest.
• Thanksgiving all over again is the favorite Thanksgiving leftover for people who live in the west, east coast and Midwest, while turkey sandwich is the favorite leftover for people who live in the south.
• Most people on the west coast or in Midwest plan to watch football before thanksgiving dinner, while most people on the east coast plan to watch thanksgiving parade
• Except east coast where drinking with family and friends is the most common tradition, sleeping off the meal is the most common post-Thanksgiving dinner tradition for the rest of the regions in the U.S.

Are you interested to learn more about the ultimate gender question?

• More men have Thanksgiving headaches than women, and their biggest headache is holiday shopping
• Men like mashed potatoes the best while women like stuffing/dressing the best
• Turkey sandwich is the favorite Thanksgiving leftover for men while women like Thanksgiving all over again the best
• Most men plan to watch football before thanksgiving dinner while most women plan to watch Thanksgiving parade

Let us know about your preferences to add consumer insights to your content strategy this Thanksgiving, or run your own survey here.