Thanksgiving Countdown

How many days until Thanksgiving?

The Thanksgiving countdown above ticks every second to the fourth Thursday of November — never earlier than 22 November and never later than 28 November. The countdown updates automatically each year to the correct date.

When is Thanksgiving?

Thanksgiving Day in the United States falls on the fourth Thursday of November every year. Because it's a relative date (not a fixed calendar date), it lands on a different number each year — but always in the 22–28 November window.

US Thanksgiving dates through 2031

Canadian Thanksgiving — different date

Canada also celebrates Thanksgiving, but on the second Monday of October — about six weeks earlier than the US. The two holidays are unrelated; Canadian Thanksgiving actually predates US Thanksgiving (the first Canadian Thanksgiving was held by explorer Martin Frobisher in 1578).

• Canadian Thanksgiving 2026 — Monday 12 October 2026
• Canadian Thanksgiving 2027 — Monday 11 October 2027

Liberia, Norfolk Island (Australia), and several smaller territories also celebrate their own Thanksgiving days on different dates.

The history of Thanksgiving

The most widely recognised "first" American Thanksgiving was celebrated in November 1621 by the Plymouth colonists and the Wampanoag people, marking the colonists' first successful harvest. The three-day feast included venison, fowl, corn, and seafood — though almost certainly no turkey as the centrepiece.

For over 200 years afterward, individual states observed Thanksgiving on different days. President Abraham Lincoln formally declared a national Thanksgiving holiday in 1863, fixing it on the last Thursday of November as a unifying gesture during the Civil War.

The fourth-Thursday rule (rather than last-Thursday) was established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939 and codified by Congress in 1941. The change was made because some Novembers have five Thursdays — Roosevelt wanted to extend the Christmas shopping season by an extra week. Modern Black Friday and Cyber Monday are direct descendants of this decision.

Thanksgiving travel — the busiest week of the year

Thanksgiving creates the largest annual travel surge in the United States. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving and the Sunday after are among the busiest travel days of the year:

• ~50 million Americans travel for Thanksgiving each year
• The TSA's busiest day on record is consistently the Sunday after Thanksgiving
• Average traffic delays on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving are 50–80% higher than baseline
• Flight prices peak roughly 6–8 weeks before Thanksgiving — book early, ideally in mid-September

Thanksgiving meal — the basic playbook

The traditional Thanksgiving menu has remained remarkably consistent for decades:

• Turkey — the centrepiece. Roughly 46 million turkeys are consumed in the US each Thanksgiving.
• Stuffing/dressing — bread-based, with regional variations (cornbread in the South, oyster stuffing in some New England traditions).
• Mashed potatoes and gravy
• Cranberry sauce — either canned (with the iconic ridges) or homemade.
• Sweet potatoes / candied yams — often topped with marshmallows in some regions.
• Green bean casserole — invented in 1955 by a Campbell's Soup test kitchen and now a fixture.
• Rolls or biscuits
• Pumpkin pie, pecan pie, apple pie — all three appear on most tables.

Average prep time for a full Thanksgiving meal: 3–6 hours of active cooking over several days, with the turkey alone taking 3–5 hours to roast.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday

The day after Thanksgiving — Black Friday — has been the unofficial start of the Christmas shopping season since the 1960s. The name originally referred to traffic chaos in Philadelphia, but was rebranded in the 1980s by retailers as the day their accounts moved into the "black" (profit) for the year.

Key shopping dates each Thanksgiving week:

• Thursday (Thanksgiving) — many large retailers now open Thanksgiving evening
• Friday (Black Friday) — traditional shopping day, doorbuster sales
• Saturday (Small Business Saturday) — promotion of local independent businesses, started by American Express in 2010
• Sunday — heaviest day for Thanksgiving travel returns
• Monday (Cyber Monday) — biggest online shopping day of the year, with US sales now exceeding $13 billion

Other notable Thanksgiving facts

• Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade has run almost continuously in New York City since 1924, watched by ~50 million Americans on TV.
• The presidential turkey pardon — informal practice by US presidents since at least JFK; formalised by President George H.W. Bush in 1989.
• Thanksgivukkah — when Thanksgiving overlaps with Hanukkah. Last occurred in 2013; will next happen in 2070.
• Football — NFL games on Thanksgiving Day are a tradition dating to 1934 (Detroit Lions) and 1966 (Dallas Cowboys).
• The Ohio State vs Michigan game often falls on the Saturday after Thanksgiving — one of the biggest college football rivalries.