The Seven Deadly Sins of Hosting a Big Thanksgiving Dinner
Lifehacker has revealed the worst things you can do while cooking Thanksgiving , but food is only half the holiday, the other half is the overall quality of the hosting. No one will care that your bird is perfectly juicy and the filling is spot on unless you also offer your guests a friendly and warm atmosphere. So avoid these seven common hosting mistakes to ensure your guests’ Thanksgiving dinner is as smooth as canned cranberry sauce.
Too many worries about this
There’s a good chance your Thanksgiving will be a disaster—that’s what Thanksgiving is—but the type of disaster matters. It’s such a disaster when the turkey burns and you forgot to buy potatoes, but everyone laughs and makes pasta and it really is the best Thanksgiving ever. And then there’s the disaster that happens when Dave’s cousin’s date passes out drunk, your niece locks herself in the bathroom to cry, and someone has to call 911. Whatever happens, embrace the disaster and keep a light heart and a sense of humor. I hope no one remembers the really bad parts of the day.
Using Thanksgiving to Solve Family Problems
If you’re a “responsible” sibling and are hosting Thanksgiving because Mom’s health isn’t great and Dad’s not in the mood, don’t lord it over your siblings by being superior just because you live in the suburbs and your husband is an accountant. or whatever the hell he’s doing. You’re no better than anyone else, Melissa . I saw you grin when I told you about the methadone clinic. Recovery is work, and besides, what do you do all day long besides Pilates and talk about how you’re going to open a candle business? You know? We leave and take the dog with us. We’ll go to Denny’s or somewhere else. Anything is better than this hellhole.
I don’t clean the house well enough
I wouldn’t have thought to include the obvious advice to “clean up your damn house” if I hadn’t been invited to a college Friends Day where the hosts didn’t even clean out their rancid apartment before dinner. Please, in the name of all that is good and holy, clean up your place before inviting anyone over for dinner, especially on Thanksgiving Day. You won’t have to clean bedrooms or other areas that won’t be used by guests. But the bathrooms definitely need a dusting.
Refusing help (or accepting too much help)
You don’t have to go it alone. If your guests offer to help at Thanksgiving, tell them “hell yes” and accept their offer. Unless your friends and family are complete assholes, at least one guest will offer to help clean up after dinner, and everyone else will be embarrassed to help. Under no circumstances should you say, “Oh no, I’ll take care of the cleaning.” That’s what they want you to do, and they’ll leave you with a disaster zone in the kitchen and some serious grievances to heal.
However, if your best friends and close family offer help and you accept their offer, don’t go too far with their services. You may end up trusting the people you care about most to cook and serve food to people you only invited because you felt obligated to.
Forgetting about snacks
You’ll have a lot of food to prepare for the Thanksgiving holiday, but don’t forget about the hours leading up to the meal. Your guests want bacon-wrapped figs, pigs in blankets, and other food-wrapped items. Or at least some chips and salsa. If someone offers to bring a dish for dinner, put them on appetizer duty. They will probably knock themselves out with something that will be unimportant to you.
Repacking at home
This Thanksgiving, I’m breaking that rule—we’re hosting way more people than our tiny house can accommodate—and it’s probably going to end in disaster and recrimination. People will eat from different plates, and there will be many adults sitting at the children’s table. We ‘ll run out of forks. No one will have room to do anything and everyone will leave in a huff. Please use the future me as an example and don’t follow my lead. Only host the number of people your space can reasonably support.
Just planning my meal
The main attraction of Thanksgiving is obviously the turkey meal, but you’ll also need some opening acts. At many Thanksgiving get-togethers, the only activity that needs to be planned is watching football, but I’ve heard that some Thanksgiving parties include walking, playing board games, or giving poignant speeches about love and family. It’s especially important to plan something if there are children there – they won’t be able to get drunk unnoticed like the rest of your guests. This doesn’t mean you have to micromanage everyone’s schedule, but remember: Thanksgiving is a full day , so plan accordingly.