Oct
Thanksgiving (TG) is a really big holiday in the United States. We commonly have large crowds over to our homes and prepare large amounts of food. Sometimes we have guests spend the night in our homes so we must prepare for all of this. In addition to the preparations, Christians prepare mentally and spiritually for the family members who may not be on the best of terms.
In other countries where T2CHK has many readers, there are also big holidays where the women of the house prepare large meals for crowds of people. These Thanksgiving Prep Plans can be adapted to any holiday or event. I hope you will find these ideas and lists to be of help to you in your preparations to show hospitality.
I suggest that you print off these instructions and place them in a notebook where you can access them easily.
Any really big occasion requires planning. And even if your Thanksgiving isn’t going to be BIG, you can make it much more simplified and restful by planning. In these instructions you can replace the word “Thanksgiving” with most any other occasion and utilize them in your preparations. This year our Thanksgiving Plans include a 4 week guide to preparing your heart and home for a celebratory meal and for guests that may stay in your home over night.
You will need a notebook or a folder to keep all your plans and information in.
Our TG plan includes 4 weeks of preparation.
First three days - Planning and List Making - October 29-31
Task #1 - Cleaning and Organizing, Buying Supplies November 1 - 4
Task #2 - Gathering in Supplies and Bake Ahead Week 5 - 10
Task #3 - Touch-Up Cleaning and Begin Cooking November 11-17
Task #4 - Thanksgiving Week - cooking and enjoying time with your guests 18-22
For the next three days we will make lists and make plans. Your plans may be different from mine or others’ plans. Use these instructions to make the pans that will fit what you need to do in the next 4 weeks to get your heart and home ready for Thanksgiving.
Lists To Make
1. Menu Plans
Plan your TG menu and write it all down. You can make changes in it as the days go on.
Favorite Dishes and Recipes
Gather together all your recipes or ideas for food that you want to offer. Ask friends and relatives for recipes that you don’t have but are interested in making. Try out new recipes to make sure you will be satisfied with them. Put all your recipes in your TG notebook.
2. Plan who you will invite.
This is a great time to start new traditions. One of those traditions can be to invite someone new to TG dinner. We often have a soldier or soldiers over from the local military base. Making a list of people that you want to invite will help you in several ways. It will keep the number of people to feed and seat in your mind, and it will make you aware that you need to find out about food allergies or preferences. Make a list of the guests you will be having over, or just note that you will have only your immediate family if you will not be having guests this year.
3. What do I need to do as far as cleaning and repairing goes? You can do a deep cleaning or a light once-through. It all depends on what state your home is in, what your acceptable level of clean is, and how much time you have. Don’t forget to delegate duties to family members.
4. What do I need to gather together as far as equipment goes?
You need to make sure you have all the correct pots and pans, cake pans and gelatin/congealed salad molds, serving pieces and flatware that you will need. As you decide on your menu, you will be better able to fill in your list of needed pots and pans. Same for the number of chairs, when you know how many are coming, you can start to fill in that information in your list. So leave a page for this list ready to be filled up as you plan. Did you kow that your dinner plates and glasses, saucers and dessert bowls don’t have to match? And they don’t even have to be glass. Really! Some Thanksgivings I use PAPER PLATES. No kidding. If you want a really easy clean up, consider paper plates, tumblers and dessert plates this year. Last year I saw plates, cups, tumblers, napkins and flatware that all matched with lovely fall colors. The plates were sturdy and it looked great!
5.What kind of decorations will I use? This is one of the really fun parts. You can go wild with decorations and not spend very much money this time of year by bringing in the outdoors! Pine cones, leaves, branches of buds, nuts, dried flowers and seed pods make lovely decorations.
When you bring in things from the outdoors, be sure to lay them in the tub for a while to see if any creatures crawl off of them. You wouldn’t want them to crawl off on your TG table. Lay them in the tub and give them a shake every few minutes. If the things you chose are sturdy, you can rinse them lightly under warm water and allow them to dry in the tub. One of my favorite arrangements is a small pumpkin cut open, with flowers arranged in the top. Of course you can choose to have a professional arrangement made, or simply buy some fall flowers and arrange them yourself.
Brown butcher paper or postal paper can be colored or cut out and made into a very pretty cover for the table cloth.
6. Look for activities for the children.
Coloring, crafts, games. Think about table decorations for both the buffet table and the dining table. I like to use brown postage paper to decorate the children’s table, with a white butcher paper over that. Then I cut designs (stencils of corn on the cob, Indians and pilgrims, pumpkins and turkeys) in the butcher paper so that the brown shows through. Its always a good idea to delegate this to an older youth or young adult in your family. If you came up with the ideas and materials, older children and young adults can usually manage getting the younger ones involved.
For the next three days we will be working on getting all these plans made. If you have other plans you are working on, be sure to share them so that someone else can help you or can have the benefit of your
experience. smile.gif List your menus, add recipes to the Recipe Forum; look for the Thanksgiving Thread.
Share your lists for cleaning, cooking pan lists, anything you are getting together, for the next three days.
Remember, for the next three days, we’re just making plans and sharing what we’re doing. Ask questions, if you need information!
