Let’s face it. Dealing with kooky Uncle Ed and whomever he brings to your table this year presents enough of a challenge during the holidays. You can do yourself a big favor by eliminating the stresses that you can control. Here are five tips for planning a low stress Thanksgiving that you can enjoy too.

 

  1. Set the table the day before Thanksgiving. This ensures that there are no last minute surprises like rust on your linens or spots on your wine glasses.
  2. Arrange your flowers two days before Thanksgiving. Chances are your arrangement will be fuller by Thursday, plus the mess is long gone.
  3. Lay out all of your serving dishes and cooking pans the day before Thanksgiving. Again, this ensures that there are no surprises (e.g. the last minute tear to the store for another 9″ x 14″ Pyrex…been there, done that).
  4. Prepare any dishes you can in advance. This is obvious, but it means you really have to plan ahead. Figure out your menu early and go from there.
  5. DELEGATE. What’s more important? That every dish is perfect…just the way you would make it? Or that everyone has participated, and you can actually create lovely memories with your family and friends because you’re not stressing over each and every detail. Besides, think about the genesis of Thanksgiving. It was about coming together and sharing a meal together – let others pitch in. PS – PlanHero signups are a great way to help with the delegating. Check out our example here.

 

For our example signup, we used Simple Signup Lists and divided things we needed into groups of separate Lists. You could of course just have one long List, but we think it’s easier on the eyes this way.

 

You can use our Bulk Item upload to copy and paste our List Items below to save you even more time!

 

Food Items 🦃

Sweet Potatoes (for 12)

Mashed Potatoes (for 12)

Spinach Casserole (we love Ina Garten’s)

Extra Stuffing (for 12)

Green Salad (for 12)

Bread/Rolls (for 12) 🍞

Cranberries (for 12)

Appetizer (for 12)

 

Desserts 🍥

Pumpkin Pie

Pecan Pie

Apple Pie 🍏

Vanilla Ice Cream (1 gallon)

Whipped Cream (fresh please…for 12)

Happy Thanksgiving.

 

Beverages 🍷

Waters (36 pack)

Sparkling Water (6 big bottles)

Milk (1 gallon)

Red Wine (1 bottle)

White Wine (1 bottle)

 

Other Stuff 🍽

Utensils (plan for 24) 🍴

Napkins (plan for 24)

Sturdy paper dinner plates (plan for 24)

Sturdy paper dessert plates (plan for 24)

Paper Cups (plan for 24)

Wine Glasses (plan for 24) 🍷

 

 

Any tips for success in creating a low stress Thanksgiving that you’d like to share?