Stress Free Thanksgiving
With Thanksgiving less than a month away, now is the perfect time to start planning for the big occasion. If you are going to be the hospitable one who is going to have all of the family and friends over at your house every minute counts. It can be such a big job to prepare your home and a meal for a large amount of guest.
First things first, start by making a few lists. On the first list, have the people that you will invite. After you have come up with a head count for your event, let the second list be your menu. Hopefully some of the guest will offer to bring items such as a covered dish or a dessert. If they offer to contribute to the dinner, then by all means allow them to. However, be prepared to cover for them if they do not offer to contribute or if for some reason they have to back out at the last minute. The third list should be a grocery list of the items that you will need to pull your Thanksgiving dinner together. This list should include all food items to prepare your dishes and items that you will need to serve your dinner, such as paper plates, forks, spoons, cups and napkins. Yes, paper, it makes for easier clean up and that will take a lot of the stress out of your day if you do not have to wash a truck load of dishes. Also it will allow you time to visit with your guest and really enjoy the day more. Buy the large disposable aluminum pans for turkey or ham. Buy the disposable aluminum cake pans for your desserts and side dishes that you will prepare.
Work on cleaning your home a little at a time in the week before the event instead of saving everything for one long cleaning day. Do the chores first that will last the longest such as dusting and detail work. Clean your bedrooms early in the week as not many people should enter them anyway. Save the last minute chores until the day or night before the event such as vacuuming, mopping and bathroom cleaning. You may want to hold off on any chores in the kitchen since you will probably be using it right up until the last minute. You can always wipe down items such as the outside of the fridge and counter tops while you are waiting for a dish to come out of the oven.
Make sure you have plenty of seating for your guest. It’s ok if you have to serve some of your guests at a folding table or a card table, simply cover it with an attractive table cloth which can also be disposable if you choose.
Prepare any of your dishes that you can in advance and freeze them or keep them in the fridge until it’s time for heating them. Serve your dinner buffet style so that everyone can help themselves and you won’t have to be bothered with serving them, again more enjoyment for you.
If children will be part of your guest you may want to have things to do to keep them busy such as a favorite movie to watch or outside activities if the weather allows it. A few board games may be entertaining for them also.
If the majority of your guests will be family members, then by all means, feel free to delegate to them what you would like for their contribution to be. This will surely help to take the brunt of the burden and stress from you.
