How To Plan Thanksgiving

Freedom from Want, the Thanksgiving Picture by Norman Rockwell

Thanksgiving is right around the corner! For my British friends, Thanksgiving is when we get together with family to stuff ourselves silly and then watch Football. There are other traditions too, as unique as the families that celebrate. Most of you have probably already planned your Thanksgiving meal, but for those of you that haven't, here are a few tips. 

Know Your Crowd

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You may not be able to plan a menu in which every guest loves every dish, and you will almost certainly have the dreaded Picky Eater sitting down to your table. There isn't much you can do about that one, other than make sure they have at least one thing to eat. But for the rest, think about the people you are inviting. Are there any vegetarians? Allergies? Religious restrictions? If you don't know - ask! 

In my family, none of us are super crazy about turkey. However, none of us would feel quite right without it! Silly, right? But knowing this, I would never plan a Thanksgiving meal without a big fat bird. It also wouldn't be Thanksgiving without my mom's special cornbread stuffing or a big buttery pot of mashed potatoes. You won't be able to include everyone's personal favourite dish, but you can totally include the all around crowd pleasers.

Don't Overdo It

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Like I said above, you just cannot incorporate every beloved comfort food into your Thanksgiving feast. Don't forget, you have to actually cook all the food you serve. The more dishes you decide on, the more time you're going to have to spend cooking and the more money you're going to have to spend. Food can get expensive! Your Thanksgiving shouldn't be spent stressing over how you're going to get 20 dishes on the table. You should be relaxing with friends and family and basking in the praise heaped upon your glorious spread.

This goes for planning your presentation as well. Rather than attempting to make every single side look worthy of Food Network, choose one or two things to really make an effort on. Your big, beautiful roasted turkey won't need much - it makes a mouth watering centrepiece all on it's own. I personally like to make a beautiful desert. 

Those are CUPCAKES! That I made!!! 

Make Ahead

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Believe it or not, you can make a TON of food up to weeks ahead of time! This can make your life so much easier, it will also spread the cost of the meal out. Check out this list from Food.com for a few recipes! 

So, what am I doing for Thanksgiving you ask? Surely I'm going to be serving up a host of tasty American dishes just like momma used to make, right? Nah. My flat is way too small for that this year. So we're going to Frankie and Benny's. That's a great perk of spending Thanksgiving Day in England - all the restaurants are open! 

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What are your favourite Thanksgiving dishes?