Thanksgiving Activities THANKSGIVING DINNER MATH AND BLACK FRIDAY COMPARISON SHOPPING Thanksgiving dinner usually involves cooking a turkey, mashed potatoes, salad, sweet potatoes, cranberries, and pumpkin pie. Maybe your family has a different dining tradition. But, for most Americans, turkey is the main dish. According to the National Turkey Federation, Americans ate 235 million turkeys in 2014. Nearly 46 million of them were served on Thanksgiving, 22 million on Christmas and 19 million on Easter, with the rest sprinkled throughout the year. The Federation reports that about 88 percent of Americans surveyed eat turkey on Thanksgiving. Note: All of these activities, except the Extension Activity, are intended to be done by students on their own. Thanksgiving Activities Activity 1: Thanksgiving Dinner Math The American Farm Bureau Federation has tracked the price of a traditional Thanksgiving meal since 1986. Volunteer shoppers from 35 states report local costs of twelve basic items found on the dinner table on Thanksgiving Day. Survey responses are used to determine the average cost of a Thanksgiving dinner prepared for ten people. Remember, this is an average. Where you live and shop could change the total. Find the price of the items listed below in ads of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Use prices from at least three different store ads and enter the average in the table under the 2015 Price tab. (Store 1 Price + Store 2 Price + Store 3 Price)/3 = Average Now subtract the 2014 price from the 2015 price to determine the difference between the years. Did the cost of a Thanksgiving dinner with the traditional trimmings go up or down this year? ITEM 2014 PRICE 2015 PRICE DIFFERENCE Miscellaneous ingre- 3.48 dients Sweet potatoes, 3 3.56 lbs. Whipping Cream, ½ 2.00 pint Milk, 1 gallon whole 3.76 Pumpkin pie mix, 30 3.12 oz. Carrot and celery 0.82 relish tray, 1 lb. Peas, 1 lb. 1.55 Cubed stuffing, 14 2.54 oz. Turkey, 16 lbs. 21.65 Fresh cranberries, 2.34 12 oz. Pie shells, 2 2.42 Rolls, 1 dozen 2.17 TOTAL 49.41 Thanksgiving Activities Activity 2: Plan Your Own Meal Decide on a Thanksgiving Day menu. Your dinner must have a meat, a vegetable, side dish, and dessert. It may include the above items or others, but plan for 10 guests at your dinner. You have a strict budget of $45. Find the best prices by using ads from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. You may find the menu needs to change to stay within budget. Finally, share your final menu by creating a poster using the ads, with prices marked, stores identified, and the final cost. Create an excel spreadsheet with all of the data. Use the Formula function to have the averages, price differences, and totals automatically calculated. Use the Chart function to display your results. Go to the American Farm Bureau Federation Cost of Turkey Dinner page to track the difference through the years, all the way back to 1986. Do you see a pattern? Do research to determine the reason for the pattern you’ve discerned and write a synopsis of what you’ve discovered. Thanksgiving Activities Activity 3: Tons of Toms We’ve learned that nearly 46 million turkeys were served on Thanksgiving in 2014. Do some research to find the average weight of turkeys purchased for Thanksgiving and then calculate the number of pounds consumed in the United States last year. EXTENSION ACTIVITY: ECONOMICS OF LOSS LEADER TURKEYS – A Classroom Activity Stores discount the price of turkeys in November, right when the demand is at its highest. Why would they do that? Are they merely being nice? Or, is it economics? Loss leader pricing is the practice of setting prices on selected products at low levels that generate less than the usual profit margins. There are quite a few theories on reducing the price of turkeys right before Thanksgiving. Divide your class into groups and have them research the theories. Each group should choose a different theory. They should prepare to present and defend the rationale of their theory, and compare and contrast their theory to others. The supply side theory suggests that for retailers the objective is to increase store traffic so they can sell other products at traditional profit margins. Customers will come to the store for the discounted turkeys and buy potatoes, stuffing, pies, and the other trimmings. The demand side theory is that changing consumer preferences drive these price drops. Consumers become more price-sensitive during periods of peak demand and do more comparison- shopping, so stores have to drop their prices if they want to capture sales. Maybe shoppers become more sensitive to price in November because they’re cooking for more people than usual. If someone likes a particular brand of an item, say soda, they are probably willing to purchase it for themselves, even at a higher price. But, if they’re serving the soda to others, they will probably choose the cheaper brand, on the assumption that not everyone likes their favorite. Free Turkey with additional purchase! Thanksgiving Activities Activity 4: Black Friday Shopping Become a smart shopper with this lesson. Create a list of people you intend to give gifts to and the amount of money you intend to spend on each person. Now “give” yourself $400 for your Black Friday shopping. Research and create a Black Friday shopping list. The site, http://www.theblackfriday.com/, has numerous Black Friday ads from a wide variety of stores. Your list should include at least some of the gifts and may include items for yourself. Do not forget to account for taxes, delivery, if necessary, and warranties, if you choose to purchase them. Each taxing district has a slightly different amount so assume for this lesson that taxes are 4.225%, which is Missouri’s sales tax rate. Start shopping! Do comparison shopping on the same and similar items being offered by different stores. Comparison shopping helps you decide what you want to buy and then guide you in choosing the best product and store to purchase it. First, identify your needs. If you want a new phone, think about data plans, usage, camera, and terms. Online research will help with this process, as will speaking with friends and going to stores to talk to sales people. Once you have decided on what you want, learn as much about that particular item as possible by checking prices, styles, features, brands, colors and availability. Availability is important, especially on Black Friday. Often items are deeply discounted but with a very limited number per store. You want to be sure your item will be there when you get to the store. Most stores have online reviews of items. Add the reviews into your comparison shopping. A phone that does not get very high ratings may be less expensive, but not worth the expense. Once you have chosen, enter the item and price on your list. What were the hot items for sale this year? Did ads for the hot items cause you to stray from your list? What stores had the widest variety of deals or the best deals? Did the breadth of the sales cause you to shop in one store versus several? Once you have spent your $400, look over your list. Do you think you would have gotten the most value for your money if you had really spent that amount? Did you get as much as you thought you would? Did you use more of your funds for yourself or your gift list? Are you ready for a real Black Friday shopping spree? Just remember to research, learn and compare..