How to Avoid a Thanksgiving Dinner Fiasco

Hosting a Thanksgiving dinner for a large group of people is no small undertaking.

There are a lot of moving parts that need your attention: the turkey, the fixings, the dessert, drinks, appetizers, decor, seating, and entertainment.

For the dinner to go smoothly, it all comes down to one thing – good PLANNING.

Here are some tips you can use to plan and organize your Thanksgiving.

Start Planning Your Thanksgiving Dinner With a Guest List

The best place to start organizing and planning your Thanksgiving dinner is with the number of people that will be attending.

The most important element of your meal revolve around this one factor: how much food to buy and prepare.

So, make a guest list, and be sure to nail down the RSVP’s.

If you sometimes have friends and family pop in unannounced – then factor in a few extra people into your head count.

Enlist Help From Your Thanksgiving Guests

Preparing a Thanksgiving meal is a lot of work.

But you don’t have to do it all by yourself.

Recruit your family and friends to help you out with certain tasks.

It is not unusual to ask guests to bring an appetizer, a side dish, or a dessert.

Make a list of the things you need and when people ask what they can bring – you will have a suggestion at the ready.

Be sure to let them know how many people will be attending so they will know how much food to bring.

One week before the big day – send them an email or give them a call to confirm their assigned item.

It is also a good idea to have a backup plan, in case someone falls through or forgets at the last minute.

For example, buy a few boxes of stuffing mix if someone else is assigned to stuffing.

If you don’t end up using them for your Thanksgiving dinner, you can always use them during the December holidays or donate to a food pantry.

Food is not the only part of the meal that can be delegated. You can enlist help for everything from setting the table to making last minute grocery runs.

Consider some of the roles on this great list that Seana at The Seana Method put together.

The Effortless Thanksgiving Dinner

If you don’t want to spend Thanksgiving Day in the kitchen, consider having your meal catered.

It is the easiest option – one phone call does it all!

Just make sure to make that phone call well in advance – because many restaurants have deadlines by which to order.

Turkey Cooking Tips

For many families the turkey rules Thanksgiving Day.

A little planning can help you regain control from that pesky bird.

Buy the Right Size Turkey

This is where we head back to the starting point – how many people will be attending your Thanksgiving dinner?

Make sure to buy the right size bird.

You don’t want hungry guests.

But you also don’t want to be eating turkey all the way through to the New Year.

The typical recommendation is to buy 1 pound of turkey per person. So, for 10 people you could purchase a 10 to 14 pound bird. But there is room for variation.

Adults eat more than children.

Some people eat more turkey and other people fill up on mashed potatoes, stuffing, and sides.

It comes down to a judgment call – but this fun turkey calculator (who knew there was such a thing?) on the Butterball website is a good starting point.

Fresh or Frozen Turkey?

Nothing is worse than a still frozen turkey on Thanksgiving morning.

If you plan to buy a frozen turkey and thaw it in the refrigerator, you will need about 1 day of thaw time for every four pounds of turkey.

But instead of guessing – on the same page that I linked to above – Butterball also has a turkey thawing calculator.

Just type in the pounds and it will calculate your thaw time.

A fresh turkey, obviously, needs no thawing time. But you will need to buy it somewhat last minute so it doesn’t go bad.

When choosing a fresh or frozen turkey, consider your space limitations.

If you have a small refrigerator, you may not want to have all your space taken up by a thawing turkey for several days.

Turkey Cooking Time

Despite all your planning your perfect Thanksgiving dinner can still be derailed if the turkey is not cooked on time or done too early.

Butterball also has a turkey cooking calculator so you know exactly when to put the bird in the oven.

Don’t Leave Anything to Chance

Now that you have the turkey under control, you need to time the preparation and storage of your side dishes, appetizers, and desserts.

Remember that your resources are limited. You likely have one oven, possibly a double. And a finite amount of refrigerator space.

Given these restrictions – decide what you will make in advance, what you will assign to others to bring, and what you will prepare while the turkey is cooking.

And most importantly – write it all down.

Use your notes as your cheat sheet as you sail seamlessly through your Thanksgiving holiday.

Thanksgiving Does Not Have To Be Stressful

Thanksgiving Day is a time for family and friends to get together and enjoy each others company.

Make that your main priority.

It is great if the meal comes out perfectly – but if it doesn’t it is not the end of the world.

In fact, a cooking fiasco (not that you want one) will make the meal even more memorable.

Even though you are the host, you should also get to enjoy the meal.

So, plan ahead as best as you can, enlist help from your guests, and approach the day with a nice, relaxed, roll with the punches type attitude.

Happy Thanksgiving!