#THANKSGIVING MEAL PLANNER HOW TO#
#THANKSGIVING MEAL PLANNER FULL#

I first start with the basics, whether it will be turkey or ham. Once you have your guest list determined, the second step is to determine your menu. I needed to have the serving dishes ready to go, labeled, and in a place, where anyone could find them. I needed to plan when and where to purchase the turkey, what traditional side dishes would make everyone day memorable, and where were the recipe cards. Invitations needed to be communicated so I would know who needed a guest room. I soon learned that I needed to start well in advance planning who is coming, and what decorations I was going to have. Whether you need to get up early, stay up late one night, or hire a mother’s helper to come to play with the kids while you plan, it is well worth the effort to have the plan set in place, in writing, before the week of Thanksgiving.

#THANKSGIVING MEAL PLANNER FULL#

We all know when your house is full of little ones, there isn’t much time for yourself to sit reflect and plan. I realize now that some of my delay in starting a comprehensive Thanksgiving Day planning was having small children in the house.

Get your copy of the Planner I used to plan our family Thanksgiving Dinnerĭownload and print off as many copies as you need and make sure to share with your friends and family and on social media. So I designed what I know I needed which was a Thanksgiving Planner. That’s when I decided that a more cohesive all-in-one Thanksgiving dinner planning was needed to be done. I love Thanksgiving dinner, however, by the end of the day, I was exhausted. Many of Thanksgiving morning we were searching the house for the recipe cards for the traditional Jell-O, stuffing, or cranberry sauce. Several thanksgivings we ended up at Walmart just to get an essential item I had forgotten to purchase.

#THANKSGIVING MEAL PLANNER HOW TO#

Not have a complete plan made it hard to tell anyone who is visiting how to help with the dinner setup. As we were stuffing the bird, blurry-eyed, Jim and I would frantically scratch out a schedule of what needed to be done and when. Each year we tried to have the turkey in the oven at 6:00 AM. I didn’t have a cohesive grocery list which meant there were multiple trips to the grocery store. Not having a cohesive plan in one place made the week of Thanksgiving dinner very stressful. I spent many November days and nights worrying if I was prepared and ready for the big dinner. This is an example of very unorganized meal planning. I soon ended up with multiple notebooks scattered around the house with ideas, menus, and decoration plans. This did not work well as each year I didn’t know where that notebook was and started a new notebook. I had a plan, I took a notebook from one of the kid’s school supply stashes, and jotted down a menu, recipes, and notes. My first years of hosting the Thanksgiving dinner were unplanned and chaotic. It was a mutual decision to relieve Jim’s mom of the pressure of preparation, cooking, and hosting a Thanksgiving dinner. The Thanksgiving before Jim and I decided to take on the family traditional dinner, the food at Jim’s mother’s house for Thanksgiving dinner with somewhat undercooked. All of our parents at that time had reach 65 and were settling into retirement.

Regardless of your dinner party is small or 25 people having a plan thought out and written down will keep you on track for the Best Thanksgiving Ever! Get you Free! Printable PDF.įairly early in our marriage, Jim’s mother, Grace, decided that she no longer wanted to host Thanksgiving dinner.

Stay organized and reduce your stress as you plan your family’s Thanksgiving Dinner. This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience (which means if you make a purchase after clicking a link I will earn a small commission which helps keep my blog up and running but it won’t cost you a penny more)! Click here to read my full disclosure policy.

Thanksgiving meal planner