Bring real-world math to life this holiday season with this Thanksgiving Dinner Budgeting Simulation! Students will plan a full Thanksgiving meal while practicing money math, budgeting, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and decision-making skills.

Perfect for middle school, special education, and math intervention classrooms, this engaging simulation challenges students to host Thanksgiving dinner for six people with a $75 budget. Using realistic grocery prices, they’ll decide what to buy, calculate totals, and figure out how much money they have left — just like real-world shopping!

🍁 What’s Included:

• 🛒 Thanksgiving Grocery List with realistic prices
  
• 💵 Student Budget Sheet to plan and record meal choices
  
• ✏️ Reflection Questions to build financial literacy and critical thinking
  
  
• 🧩 Optional extension ideas (add tax, increase guest list, group budgets, or digital version!)
  

🎯 Skills Covered:

• Real-world money math
  
• Addition, subtraction, and multiplication with decimals
  
• Budgeting within a set amount
  
• Decision-making and problem solving
  
• Functional life skills and financial literacy
  

👩‍🏫 Perfect For:

✅ Special Education & Life Skills Math
✅ Middle School Functional Math
✅ Math Intervention or Consumer Math Units
✅ Holiday-Themed Centers or Sub Plans
✅ Individual or Group Projects

💡 Why Teachers Love It:

This simulation makes math meaningful and fun while keeping students engaged before the Thanksgiving break. With clear visuals, realistic prices, and built-in differentiation, it’s an easy-prep activity your students will love — and you’ll love the real-world learning it inspires!