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Thanksgiving is one of the most popular American holidays of all time. It is the part of the year when people prepare and enjoy some traditional American dishes, especially the Thanksgiving turkey and Apple Pie.
The best thing about Thanksgiving this year is that you can host an amazing Thanksgiving feast, invite your friends and family, and meet them in person. Unlike the previous years, when people used to host online Thanksgiving celebrations and interact with each other online because of the global pandemic.
All you need to do is relax and not get overwhelmed with all the logistics, planning, and making arrangements for the event. You can make this year’s Thanksgiving stress-free, and fun-filled by using a few tips and tricks and a little help from technology as well. For instance, you can use different apps to shop for a wide range of items online and use grocery and food management apps to make sure the ingredients you have in your pantry are not wasted.
This can help you save a lot of money too. Apart from that, you can have a look at the following ways to make your Thanksgiving less stressful.
Plan Your Meals Ahead
It is always wise to plan your meals ahead of time so you do not find yourself short of an important ingredient or other important Thanksgiving items. When you set out to plan your meals, you might find that somebody on your list has a dietary restriction. You can look for recipes that cater to their needs and plan your grocery list accordingly. This way, you can minimize the risk of wasting ingredients and preparing something that your guests might not like.
You can also consider test-running a few dishes before the actual day of Thanksgiving. This way you will get feedback on different sidelines, desserts, and the main course you might want to try for the first time and decide what you want to prepare for the feast.
Allow Considerable Time to Defrost Your Turkey
Turkey is the main attraction of the entire feast for many families. Also, people commit a common mistake and realize too late that the turkey must be defrosted before cooking. It is a fact that defrosting the turkey takes a longer time. So, it is a good idea to reserve 24 hours to defrost the turkey in the fridge. This is the best method to defrost it and get it ready for cooking.
Start Your Day with Some “Me-Time.”
It might seem to be a bit tempting to start with your meal preparations as soon as the alarm goes off in the morning. But it is a better approach to kickstart the day with a bit of self-care. For this, you can get done with getting yourself a calm state of mind and applying a cool face mask to remove the puffiness of your face.
You can also use this time to get dressed or at least select a suitable outfit for yourself. This will prevent you from rushing to the shower and getting dressed when the guests will arrive at your doorstep.
Delegate Different Tasks
You might be having friends and people in the family who would love to do something to help you. You can plan to give a few guests small assignments and get a few tasks off your plate. Also, you can avoid bigger responsibilities like baking something or cooking something.
Instead, you can ask them to chop herbs, select a movie for the Thanksgiving movie night, cut the bread, pour the drinks in glasses, etc. Guests often feel appreciated if they are given a small task and asked for help.
Create a Kid’s Table
The kids might not care much to have their Thanksgiving dinner in fine dinnerware or use an expensive tablecloth. Still, you can reserve a special space dedicated to the kids in the family that can keep them entertained and safe.
To get this done, you can set up a turkey or pumpkin-based theme and cover the kid’s table with kraft paper so that no spills and stains become a problem. You can also use plastic plates, glasses, and utensils so that they can dine and enjoy their meal.
If you are a Spectrum Cable TV user, you can also keep them engaged by showing an animated movie selected from one of the movie channels. In the meantime, their parents can enjoy a movie or watch their favorite sports using Spectrum Sports Channel.
Conclusion
In the end, one can say that preparing for Thanksgiving might seem to be a roller coaster ride. However, with the right strategy and planning, you can minimize the stress of preparations and managing the occasion. You can also take help from technology and use apps and gadgets to manage your grocery lists, the food items and even allocate tasks for guests as well.