Don’t let the sweet holiday commercials fool you — hosting Thanksgiving often feels like running a marathon you didn’t sign up for. We’ve put our brains together to bring you some of the best Thanksgiving tips that will keep your cortisol levels low and your spirits high. After all, you deserve to enjoy your Thanksgiving Day, too.
13 Ways to Max Out Your Thanksgiving Fun
Hosting Thanksgiving can really suck the gratitude out of the holiday, but we’re coming to the rescue. These Thanksgiving celebration tips won’t be the only things you’ll be thankful for — but they just might top the list.
Eat Your Thanksgiving Meal for Lunch
Eating your Thanksgiving meal at lunchtime will revolutionize your holiday flow. Not only does it free up your evening to unwind and relax from a day full of hosting, but it also gives you enough leftovers to serve at another meal.
With a Thanksgiving dinner, you still have an entire day’s worth of meals to figure out as well as a heavy stomach to fall asleep with. Serving the meal a few hours early will rock your Thanksgiving world.
Spread Out Your Grocery Shopping Weeks in Advance
Avoid the Thanksgiving Day madness at your local grocery store by shopping for your groceries well in advance. Starting in the first week of November, add a handful of your Thanksgiving ingredients to your regular shopping list.
These staggered expenses won’t feel like such a blow to your wallet, and it will give you enough time to grab those last-minute items you missed on your first pass through the pantry.
Snag your Thanksgiving mainstay ingredients early in the month. Stuff like gravy packets and pumpkin filling will be in short supply the closer you get to that fateful Thursday.
Make a Smaller Spread & Forget About Leftovers
It feels like there’s a mandatory Thanksgiving rule on having leftovers. But cooling, packing, storing, and eating through leftovers isn’t always fun. If you’re tired of the leftover game, embrace making a smaller Thanksgiving spread.
You don’t have to make more food than is enough to serve the number of people you’re having over, whether that’s a party of 20 or a party of one. This decreases your cost, prep & cook time, and so much more.
Give New Dishes a Trial Run Before the Big Day
Everyone has an aunt who brings some new funky dish to Thanksgiving that she’s never cooked before but is confident will taste amazing. Don’t be like that aunt. Instead, enjoy every bite of your Thanksgiving meal by testing new dishes beforehand.
Switch Up Your Thanksgiving Menu Every Year
Sure, turkey is the poster child of Thanksgiving, but there’s no rule saying it has to be front and center at every Thanksgiving dinner. Inject a little excitement into the mundane tradition by changing your Thanksgiving menu every year.
Turn it into a fun game by picking a new location each holiday to inspire your spread like delicious pasta from Italy and pho from Vietnam. It's easy to send your tastebuds alight!
Related: Stress-Free Ways to Make Thanksgiving Dinner Without an Oven
Require Your Guests to Bring Their Own Dish
Cooking a multi-dish meal for your family on a weeknight is hard enough, but multiply that by your cousins and besties, and you’ll be standing over the stove for hours. Give yourself a break and take advantage of your community by making them bring their own dishes.
Whether store-bought or homemade, your guests should help lighten the load so you can prop your feet up on Thanksgiving Day, too.
Make as Many Dishes in Advance as Possible
One of the major keys to unlocking Thanksgiving Day fun is cooking and baking as many dishes before the day as possible. From macaroni and cheese to fully glazed hams, there’s very little you can’t make ahead and reheat on the day.
Eat Snacks While Cooking to Keep Your Energy Up
Hosting any party is exhausting, let alone a Thanksgiving celebration. If your energy slumps, you might not have the heart to enjoy your nephew’s antics and your grandpa’s pranks.
Keep your energy up by remembering to eat along the way. It’s easy to forget to make yourself a meal when cooking everyone else’s, but you must take care of yourself, too.
Host a Dry Thanksgiving
Letting your family drink on Thanksgiving can be a bit like feeding the Mogwai after midnight. If you don’t want to rehash the family drama from two decades ago or encourage some foolhardy antics, try hosting a dry Thanksgiving. There are too many delicious Thanksgiving mocktails just waiting to be tapped into.
Don’t Let Guests Serve Themselves
Sure, this one seems a bit counterintuitive. You’d think that letting guests assembly line their way through the Thanksgiving dinner would be a faster way to do things. However, letting everyone pile food on their own plates is a one-way ticket to the people at the back of the line missing out.
Make sure everyone gets a fair helping of each dish by doling them out yourself. Once everyone has their fair share, people can fight over seconds and thirds.
Put One Person in Charge of Taking Photos
Thanksgiving is hectic enough, let alone in this picture-happy age we live in. Avoid half of your day off being taken up by amateur photographers by designating one person to get family photos. It’ll save so much of your time.
Related: The Ultimate Guide to Hosting a Friendsgiving Party
Delegate Clean Up Tasks to Your Guests
If you’ve become the consummate Thanksgiving host, it’s high time that you made your guests clock in to work. They don’t get to enjoy your delicious meal for free! The amount of mess your extended family can make is way more than one person can (or should) handle. Instead, delegate your cleaning tasks and make everyone participate. You’ll see your tidying-up time cut down from hours to minutes.
Set a Cut-Off Time to Wind the Party Down
With most Thanksgiving celebrations, no one will leave without at least saying goodbye three times. Ensure that you get some extra time to relax and unwind after the day by setting a strict cut-off time before the party starts. If you don’t, you might wind up with unwanted guests staying the night.
Feel Thankful for Your Thanksgiving Celebration
It can be hard to feel thankful for your Thanksgiving celebration when you’re the one planning, hosting, cooking, and cleaning up your family and friends' Thanksgiving party. Try out a few of these small adjustments this year, and you’ll feel full of gratitude for the November holiday.
