Turkey Day Tips

Celebrate a Stress-Free Thanksgiving

Making a huge meal and serving it to a hungry crowd with high expectations can be easy—and fun. Really!

 

Thanksgiving should be a joyful day when family and friends gather for good company and good food. But if you’re dashing from oven to table, shuffling plates, refilling drinks and trying to keep kids from uttering the dreaded “we’re bored,” that special day can turn into a real slog. So how do you keep guests well fed and entertained without an army of elves? 

Chef Erika Davis, pastry chef and former Top Chef contestant, has cooked for some very demanding diners (including celebrity judges) and knows a thing or two about entertaining under pressure. One of her favorite tips, which she learned from her mother, is to set the table the night before. “It’s an easy way to give yourself extra time the day of the big meal,” she explains. And since she’s a chocolatier, it’s only natural that Davis feels that “a day is never good without chocolate,” so she always sends her dinner guests home with a handmade chocolate treat.

If you’d like to create your own surprise for guests—and cut your T-Day workload—bake up a Pumpkin-Sweet Potato Pie and stash it in the fridge. Then, at the end of the day, present your guests with a slice they can enjoy later while remembering what a special time they had.

Interested in more ways to take the stress out of Thanksgiving? Adopt this two-pronged approach and discover how much fun big-deal entertaining can be.

Part One: Try these Smart Food Moves

• Plan your menu well in advance. Make it a mixture of familiar family classics and a few new twists that everyone will love, like this Roasted Turkey with Bourbon-Butter Glaze. Always include one standout item that can share oven space with the turkey and mac and cheese, like this Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan Topping. For the freshest flavor, include recipes that incorporate seasonal produce to ensure that your dishes taste their best.

• Make Monday or Tuesday your shopping day. The stores may not be as crowded, and you’ll have Wednesday to pick up anything you may have forgotten.

• Make Wednesday your prep day. Identify items like stuffing, soup, compote and desserts that can be made in advance. Vegetables can be prepared early and reheated when ready to serve. For more on what can be ready before the big day, read 5 Tips to Cook Sunday Dinner Faster. This is also the time to let others know their duties for the next day, from bringing the food to the table to overseeing cleanup.

• Don’t let Thursday morning make you cry—live by your list. Create a timeline that charts the day dish-by-dish.

•  Think beyond the table. Press every piece of furniture into service, maybe even turning windowsills and chests of drawers into serving stations. This works particularly well for appetizers and will encourage guests to move and mingle as they make their way from the cheese plate in the dining room to the nuts and dried fruit on the living room coffee table.
• Serve the food family style, buffet style or a combination of both. For instance, sit everyone down to a plated first course and then have people serve themselves for the sides and main courses. 

Part Two: Keep Everyone Busy

The food is delicious, but Thanksgiving is also special for family time together. Here are a few ways to celebrate each other.

• Hold a turkey trot or other athletic activity. Even if not everyone is up for a run, find an outdoor exercise where people can work up an appetite.

• Transform the table into a tribute of thanks. Using fabric markers and paint, embellish tablecloths, runners and napkins with handwritten words or quotations about thanks. Use books or online references or make up your own. Complement the table with a centerpiece that celebrates your family history. Ask guests to bring a family photo and arrange them in the center of the table. Then take turns discussing each photo, reminiscing and telling stories that can be shared from one generation to the next.

• Do a round of thanks. Before dinner, have each person say what he or she is thankful for. After all, that’s the reason for the season, and it also reminds us that every day has cause to be grateful.

• Organize indoor activities before and after the meal. Set up different stations like a card table, an area for board games and since Thanksgiving is “game day,” designate a TV room for sports fans.

• Make the kidstable a crafts table. Think outside the “turkey hand” drawing and give little ones art supplies like butcher paper, stencils and paints to make their own tablescape and encourage a theme of thankfulness.