If you were trying to figure out when is thanksgiving in 2017, you probably remember the slight panic of realizing how late it fell that year. It wasn't one of those early Novembers where you have weeks to recover before Christmas. No, in 2017, Thanksgiving landed on Thursday, November 23.
It felt late. It felt rushed.
Because the holiday is tied to the "fourth Thursday" rule rather than a fixed date, it floats around like a restless ghost. In 2017, that fourth Thursday pushed us deep into the month. Honestly, that specific timing created a perfect storm for travelers and retailers alike. You had millions of people trying to cram an entire holiday season into a window that felt about three days shorter than usual.
The calendar math of 2017
Most people don't think about the math. We just wait for the calendar to tell us when to buy the turkey. But the "when is thanksgiving in 2017" question is actually rooted in a 1941 federal law. Before that, it was a bit of a mess.
President Abraham Lincoln originally set the precedent for the last Thursday in November. That worked fine until 1939. That year, the last Thursday was November 30. Retailers freaked out. They begged President Franklin D. Roosevelt to move it up so people would have more time to shop for Christmas. He did. People got mad. They called it "Franksgiving." Eventually, Congress stepped in and legally fixed it to the fourth Thursday to keep everyone from losing their minds.
In 2017, because November 1st was a Wednesday, the Thursdays fell on the 2nd, 9th, 16th, and 23rd.
If the month had started on a Thursday, the holiday would have been as early as the 22nd. If it had started on a Friday, it could have been as late as the 28th. The 23rd is actually a pretty "middle of the road" date, but for some reason, the energy that year felt incredibly condensed.
Why the date matters for your wallet
You've probably noticed that flight prices fluctuate wildly based on these dates. In 2017, travel experts at Airlines for America predicted that 28.5 million passengers would fly during the Thanksgiving period. That was a huge jump from the previous year.
When the date falls on the 23rd, it creates this weird psychological pressure.
You’re basically staring down the barrel of December. If you didn't have your flights booked by late September that year, you were likely paying a massive premium. The most expensive day to fly is almost always the Wednesday before, which in 2017 was November 22. If you were smart—or just lucky—you flew on the holiday itself. It's usually cheaper. Kinda lonely, sure, but cheaper.
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The 2017 "Bomb Cyclone" and weather chaos
Weather doesn't care about your calendar. While everyone was searching for "when is thanksgiving in 2017" to plan their road trips, the atmosphere was busy brewing up trouble.
The Northeast got lucky with relatively mild temperatures on the actual day, but the week leading up to it was a different story. If you were driving through the upper Midwest or parts of New England, you were dealing with the typical November gray and slush.
I remember the news reports. People were stranded in Chicago. O'Hare is a nightmare on a sunny day in May; during the 2017 Thanksgiving rush, it was a special kind of purgatory. According to data from FlightAware, delays started stacking up as early as Tuesday evening.
It’s the ripple effect.
One plane gets stuck in a de-icing line in Denver, and suddenly a family in Orlando is sleeping on a terminal floor. That's the reality of the holiday. We celebrate the "togetherness," but the actual process of getting to that turkey is often a logistical war zone.
Retailers and the "Grey Thursday" shift
2017 was a pivotal year for how we shop.
The question of when the holiday fell was critical for stores like Target, Walmart, and Best Buy. Since the holiday was on the 23rd, Black Friday was the 24th. But "Black Friday" had already started to bleed into "Grey Thursday."
In 2017, many big-box retailers opened their doors at 5:00 PM or 6:00 PM on Thanksgiving Day.
It was controversial. It still is.
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REI made waves by sticking to its "Opt Outside" campaign, closing all their stores and paying employees to go hiking instead. But for the rest of the retail world, the 2017 date meant a mad dash to capture consumer dollars before the shorter-than-average December window closed. National Retail Federation statistics showed that more people shopped online that year than ever before, with mobile shopping finally becoming the dominant force.
What we got wrong about the 2017 feast
People always worry about the price of turkey.
Back in 2017, the American Farm Bureau Federation did their annual price survey. Surprisingly, the cost of a Thanksgiving dinner for 10 people actually dropped that year. It was about $49.12 on average. That was the lowest price in five years.
So, while the travel was a nightmare and the calendar felt rushed, the actual food was relatively affordable.
We often remember these years by the political climate or the movies that were out (remember Coco or Justice League hitting theaters that week?), but the day-to-day reality was just about trying to find a bird that wasn't frozen solid on Wednesday night.
Cultural moments from that weekend
- The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade featured 17 giant character balloons.
- The temperature in NYC was a crisp 44 degrees—perfect for marching.
- The NFL triple-header: Vikings vs. Lions, Chargers vs. Cowboys, and Giants vs. Redskins.
- The "Thanksgiving 2017" Google searches peaked at 7:00 AM on Thursday as people looked up "how long to cook a 20lb turkey."
Classic. Every year we act like we've never cooked a bird before.
Legacy of the 2017 holiday
Looking back, 2017 was one of the last "normal" years before the global travel landscape changed significantly.
The logistics were tight. The 23rd is a date that forces you to balance the end of the fall season with the immediate onset of winter. It teaches us a lot about how we handle stress. If you managed to get through that week without a mechanical failure on your car or a canceled flight, you basically won the lottery.
The biggest takeaway from the timing of that year? Don't wait.
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When the holiday falls before the 25th, the transition into December is brutal. You lose that "buffer week" that sometimes happens when Thanksgiving is as early as the 22nd.
Practical steps for future holiday planning
Even though 2017 is in the rearview mirror, the patterns repeat. Every few years, we hit that November 23rd date again. Here is how you should actually handle it based on the lessons learned from that chaotic year.
Book "The Tuesday Shift"
Data from 2017 showed that travelers who left on Tuesday and returned on the following Monday saved upwards of 30% on airfare. Sunday is the busiest travel day in human history. Don't do it to yourself. Stay an extra day, work remotely from your aunt's kitchen, and fly back when the airports aren't a mosh pit.
The Three-Week Rule for Grocery Shopping
In 2017, the biggest price spikes for non-perishables happened about six days before the holiday. Buy your canned pumpkin, stuffing mix, and cranberry sauce in October. It sounds obsessive. It is. But you'll avoid the "bread aisle brawl" that happens on November 22.
Check the "Fourth Thursday" Logic
Always look at your calendar in January. If Thanksgiving is late (like the 27th or 28th), you have a long, breezy November. If it's early or mid-month like the 23rd, you need to have your Christmas shopping at least 50% done before you even sit down for turkey.
Track the Bird Prices
Follow the Farm Bureau's annual reports. They are the gold standard for knowing if you're getting ripped off on your poultry.
Ultimately, the date of Thanksgiving in 2017 was just a number on a grid. But for the millions of people who sat in traffic on the I-95 or waited through a three-hour TSA line, it was a lesson in logistics. It's a reminder that we are all collectively at the mercy of a calendar decision made in the 1940s. Next time you're frustrated by a late November holiday, just remember: it could be worse. It could be "Franksgiving."
Before you start planning your next big family gathering, take a look at the flight trends for the upcoming year. Look for the "dead zones"—those specific Tuesdays and Wednesdays where the prices dip—and set your alerts at least four months in advance. Your bank account will thank you even if your boss won't.
Actionable Insights for Holiday Management:
- Audit your travel schedule: If the holiday falls between the 22nd and 24th, expect higher congestion.
- Monitor poultry futures: Food costs are predictable if you watch the Farm Bureau trends.
- Leverage "Opt Outside": Consider avoiding the "Grey Thursday" shopping madness to preserve your sanity.
- Ship ahead: Use services like UPS or FedEx to send your luggage or gifts to your destination five days early to avoid airport baggage claim disasters.