Thanksgiving 2024
Thanksgiving Events
We will be gathering things to do all weekend long, from turkey trots and parades to Thanksgiving Eve parties to Weekend events, and plenty of shopping in between. We’ve included many of the events on our state and city festivals pages, but have pulled out events for some of the biggest metro areas in the US below.
Black Friday is the Friday following Thanksgiving in the United States. It is traditionally considered the start of the Christmas shopping season. Although the term Black Friday has been used for years in different contexts, it came to be associated with deep discounts at retailers to start the holiday season in the 1980s.
Here are some of the stores we track ads for each year. Each ad is connected to the respective store’s website for easy shopping. Ads and deals are usually available beginning in November.
Small Business Saturday
The day after Black Friday is Small Business Saturday, an up and coming day for marketing and patronage of local and small businesses. The event started in 2010 as a promotion by credit card company American Express. An estimated $19.6 billion was spent at small independent businesses on Small Business Saturday in 2020, the 10th anniversary, which was just barely surpassed in 2021 with an estimated $19.8 billion spent at small local retailers.
Cyber Monday
The first Monday after Thanksgiving is Cyber Monday, a day of deep discounts at online and e-commerce retailers. The term was first used in 2005 by Shop.org, a division of the National Retail Foundation. On its 10th Birthday in 2015, online orders hit $3.07 billion, and have grown each year since. American consumers spent $10.8 billion on Cyber Monday in 2020, making it America’s biggest e-commerce sales day ever. Cyber Monday 2021 did not quite surpass this amount but it almost matched it, indicating that the online shopping day is here to stay.
Nonprofit organizations have started using the #GivingTuesday hashtag to encourage charitable contributions on the first Tuesday following Thanksgiving. In 2015, more than 1 million donated over $100 million to various causes as part of the campaign. The trend experienced massive growth in the years that followed, with 34.8 million people in the US donating a record $2.7 billion in 2021, a 37% increase from 2019’s $1.97 billion. Many organizations and businesses often match donations made on this day, increasing the power of your donated dollar. The day is currently celebrated not only with cash donations but also volunteering and acts of kindness in the United States and 70 other countries.
To access an article on the history of Thanksgiving especially as it has been celebrated in the Upper Valley of Vermont and New Hampshire go to “In Times Past: Thanksgiving Myths and Memories”