Top 10 Tips for an Organized Thanksgiving Holiday
Any holiday can add to your stress level.
If you are hosting the holiday meal this year get organized for Thanksgiving with these top 10 tips: 1) Know how many people are coming.
Get a count, including kids, as close as you can.
Sometimes your guests will not know exactly their plans and the number.
You will have to build in contingency plans for extra people in that case.
These plans would include extra food and places to eat.
Get out paper and a pen.
Write down all their names and if they eat a lot.
I am not kidding, just doing this will help.
You do not want to try to remember all this.
Using your head instead of paper and pen is where so many people go so wrong and get so stressed.
2) Calculate how much food to prepare.
Preparing too much food is almost as bad as too little.
The problem with too much is that it is hard to store beforehand, hard to prepare properly, hard to distribute to your guests and hard to deal with afterward with all the leftovers.
As you can see, I think it is hard.
Again, use you paper and pen and make plans on the paper.
Trying to do all this in your head is a recipe for disaster.
3) A better way to think of the main meal is that each person will have one normal size helping, rather than 3 helpings, if you have snacks and a desert.
If you are not having snacks then you would probably want to plan on 2 servings for each adult guest and each older child.
4) Shop for the items you need now.
Why wait until a few days before Thanksgiving for canned goods and easily stored items? The only thing you should need to buy a few days before Thanksgiving are the turkey and refrigerator items.
You know by now how much food and the types.
Go to the store now.
A lot of the holiday food is at a low price.
Get it now.
5) Bake your pie a day or two before.
6) Clean your house thoroughly now.
Dust now.
Vacuum now.
Clean your bathrooms now.
You would only want to do some spot cleaning the last day before your guests arrive.
7) After your house is cleaned, put up your Thanksgiving type decorations.
I am not much for decorating, but it seems to me that a little decorating goes a long way.
8) Take care of your normal chores now and faster.
Take care of you outdoor door quickly and be done with it.
You may want to let a lot of the things slide that do not matter so much.
9) Create a holiday ritual that is fun and interesting for your kids that helps you and brings you together.
They will remember it for years and may want to do it themselves as adults.
This could be baking the pumpkin pie with them, or setting out the decorations, or shopping for the canned goods.
All these things need to be done, and your children can help.
10) Limit the other extra things you do at this time of year so you have more time to concentrate on your holiday gathering.
You can easily not watch TV until Thanksgiving is over.
If you are hosting the holiday meal this year get organized for Thanksgiving with these top 10 tips: 1) Know how many people are coming.
Get a count, including kids, as close as you can.
Sometimes your guests will not know exactly their plans and the number.
You will have to build in contingency plans for extra people in that case.
These plans would include extra food and places to eat.
Get out paper and a pen.
Write down all their names and if they eat a lot.
I am not kidding, just doing this will help.
You do not want to try to remember all this.
Using your head instead of paper and pen is where so many people go so wrong and get so stressed.
2) Calculate how much food to prepare.
Preparing too much food is almost as bad as too little.
The problem with too much is that it is hard to store beforehand, hard to prepare properly, hard to distribute to your guests and hard to deal with afterward with all the leftovers.
As you can see, I think it is hard.
Again, use you paper and pen and make plans on the paper.
Trying to do all this in your head is a recipe for disaster.
3) A better way to think of the main meal is that each person will have one normal size helping, rather than 3 helpings, if you have snacks and a desert.
If you are not having snacks then you would probably want to plan on 2 servings for each adult guest and each older child.
4) Shop for the items you need now.
Why wait until a few days before Thanksgiving for canned goods and easily stored items? The only thing you should need to buy a few days before Thanksgiving are the turkey and refrigerator items.
You know by now how much food and the types.
Go to the store now.
A lot of the holiday food is at a low price.
Get it now.
5) Bake your pie a day or two before.
6) Clean your house thoroughly now.
Dust now.
Vacuum now.
Clean your bathrooms now.
You would only want to do some spot cleaning the last day before your guests arrive.
7) After your house is cleaned, put up your Thanksgiving type decorations.
I am not much for decorating, but it seems to me that a little decorating goes a long way.
8) Take care of your normal chores now and faster.
Take care of you outdoor door quickly and be done with it.
You may want to let a lot of the things slide that do not matter so much.
9) Create a holiday ritual that is fun and interesting for your kids that helps you and brings you together.
They will remember it for years and may want to do it themselves as adults.
This could be baking the pumpkin pie with them, or setting out the decorations, or shopping for the canned goods.
All these things need to be done, and your children can help.
10) Limit the other extra things you do at this time of year so you have more time to concentrate on your holiday gathering.
You can easily not watch TV until Thanksgiving is over.
Source...