Welcome back! Did you catch our casual tablescape yesterday and the dressier setting on Monday? Hopefully you are inspired with new ideas for Thanksgiving décor! Today and tomorrow we are switching gears to prepping your home and dinner so you are ready to put the focus where it belongs: on giving thanks with your loved ones.
I personally love having people in my home. I love hosting parties, but I always end up putting more pressure on myself than necessary. I worry about all the food being ready and perfect at exactly the right moment. And because I’m so very easily distracted, I want all the grunt work to be done before my guests start arriving and my attention is whisked away from what’s in the oven or what dips need to be dished or where I can help someone find a spoon or cutting board.
So today we are showing you how to set up stations ahead of time to get done as much as possible before Go-Time!
Beverages
Utilize a beverage cart. I like to keep my beverage station away from the main food as much as possible for a couple of reasons. For one, people tend to linger around appetizers, which makes it difficult to cut in and mix yourself a drink. Secondly, it is pointless to put them close to the food line if you are serving a buffet because it’s tough at best to mix and carry a drink with your plate full of food in one hand.
Here we have laid out everything ahead of time – this can even be done the day before. Shortly before guests arrive, fill your ice bucket and place any garnishes such as lemons and limes. This cart (free plans here!) gives plenty of space for various drinks, and the bottom shelf would be a great place to add a beverage bucket with juice boxes for the younger ones (or, depending on your crowd, some beers). Hooks keep a bottle opener and towel conveniently at hand. Its wheels make it even easier to load and refresh as needed, and then wheel back into place. Some cut nandina branches, a raw edge cutting board tray, and pumpkins perk up the top and add to the festive feel.
Table Setting
Set up your table the day before, bringing in any extra tables and chairs or adding leaves and extentions. Don’t be afraid to call upon one or two of your guests to come over to help you set up tables and chairs. Ok, maybe not great-grandmom, but I’m sure you have at least a couple of guests who would be happy to help.
Once you’ve set up your tables, go ahead and set out your plates, glasses and utensils the day before. This is a no-brainer if you are serving a sit down meal, but it makes great sense even when serving a buffet. Why? Well for starters, it creates room on your buffet line for food rather than plates and utensils. Secondly, it’s difficult to carry utensils along the line with you as you dish up food. And lastly, it helps people figure out where they are sitting before they have food in their hands. This may sound silly, but we have a large family and at my parent’s house, we sit in several different rooms. It can be tough to have a place to sit to take care of your little one, for example, or if you wish to sit with your spouse. And if you’re the last through the line… well forget about being picky! Drawing everyone together to the table before meal time gives them a place to set their drinks, and there isn’t any seat or moving around when we’ve already begun eating.This is also the perfect time to say grace, and for our family tradition, where we go around the room and say what we are thankful for. It never fails that tears are shed, especially the year 3 of us were pregnant!
Coffee and Dessert
Set up a coffee station. Here we created a coffee and tea station with fresh lemons and old fashioned sugar cubes! I love the idea of sugar cubes because they are easy to measure out, and you don’t have to worry about someone sticking the sugar tongs into their coffee. They also bring back sweet memories for me of the horse stable 🙂Here, we used a cake plate to not only add height but to also add more room. Tiered servers also work wonderfully in creating room where you are short.
If you have a place to do so, set out all of your desserts ahead of time, and leave room for those that will be coming out later. This ensures you have room for everything, and that you have appropriate serving utensils. Don’t forget napkins, dishes and forks/ spoons as needed.
Carry-Out
Don’t forget the leftovers! Set up a stash of containers that can be filled with leftovers for your guests to take home. Or better yet, remind them to bring their own!
I hope these tips help you this Thanksgiving to focus on what is really important this holiday. Tomorrow, Hallie will be back to give you some tips on food prep to pull it all together. Don’t miss it!
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