It’s less than two weeks until Thanksgiving Day! And if you’re cooking Thanksgiving Dinner For A Large Group, my Thanksgiving guide can help. If you haven’t already downloaded the grocery shopping list for Toni’s 12 Days of Thanksgiving, you can click on the link below.
click here to download grocery shopping list
Shop early to take advantage of pre-Thanksgiving Day sales at the grocery stores. But you’ll want to hold off on purchasing fresh produce like lettuce, fresh green beans and spinach until a few days before Thanksgiving.
This year we’ve teamed up with Jennifer from Bella Grey Designs to create some fabulous party decor for our Thanksgiving Dinner. This week you can win a customized set in our Manic Monday Giveaway and #mealplanning Twitter Party!
A customized menu to print and frame makes a fabulous focal point to decorate a hutch or side table.
Customized party circles can be used for napkin ring holders, cupcake toppers… or whatever your imagination can create- the possibilities are endless.
And, my most favorite pieces are the customized recipe tent cards marking each dish from our Thanksgiving Menu.
Jennifer has also designed seating tent cards for you to write in the name of each guest for assigned seating.
Manic Monday Giveaway from The Organized Cook
These party decorations ready for you to print from your computer are available from the Bella Grey Designs Etsy Shop but you can win a personalized set this week on Facebook as part of our Manic Monday Giveaway this week.
Entry options:
Thursdays Just Got More Organized
Be sure to join us this Thursday evening for our #mealplanning Twitter party. This week we want everyone to share a Thanksgiving Dinner cooking, shopping or preparation tip. That’s right, we’re “talking turkey” and we want to hear from you!
We’ll also be giving away another party set from Bella Grey Design during the party.
It’s Toni’s 12 Days of Thanksgiving where I break of the task of Cooking Thanksgiving Dinner For A Large Group into small daily “to-do’s”. By doing one or two things each for the 12 days leading up to Thanksgiving, you will take the hectic headache out of your holiday.
If you haven’t already downloaded my Thanksgiving 2011 Menu from Toni’s 12 Days of Thanksgiving, you can download and print here:
Personalized Thanksgiving Menu available at BellaGreyDesigns.com
Day 1
Have A Plan
It may seem rudimentary, but the first thing you’ll need to know is how many people you will be cooking for. No matter the fact that it’s mostly family attending my Thanksgiving Dinner each year, I make a written list of who will be coming. I write the number of adults and number of children so I know how to arrange my seating and what type of kids activities to plan.
Bring Some “Special” to Dinner
It may seem too formal to do written invitations, but Evite.com makes it simple and fun to send out an email invitation from their selection of adorable Thanksgiving themed “Evites”.
With Evite, you can even create your own “poll” like, “What Is Your Favorite Thanksgiving Pie?” or the classic, “What Are You Thankful For This Year?” It may not be necessary, but it brings more “special” to your Thanksgiving Dinner. Guests can view the answers to the poll online leading up to Thanksgiving and you can read the answers out loud during dinner.
Before You Head off to The Grocery Store
It’s that time of year. It’s time to clean out and reorganize the pantry and baking cupboards. I have one cupboard for my pantry, one baking supply cupboard and one cupboard for spices, seasonings, oils and vinegars.
By re-organizing your supplies, you can:
Throw out expired items
Make a list of staples needed from the store
Organize items so they’re easy to find Thanksgiving Day
Don’t be caught sending a relative to the store Thanksgiving Day because you didn’t realize you were out of brown sugar.
Thanksgiving Grocery Shopping- Find The Deal
It’s time to take advantage of all those pre-Thanksgiving Day sales. If you haven’t already downloaded my Grocery Shopping List, you can download it here:
Most everyone has Thanksgiving Day traditions. For over a decade our family tradition is for me to cook for our entire family. Our home celebrates Thanksgiving Day with anywhere from 20 to 35 people and I do all of the cooking.
Why? For starters I love it. And the fact I’ve made planning and organizing for this holiday into an almost exact science helps too. But it took many years before I finally got it right.
In fact, this morning I flipped through an old file folder housing a hodgepodge of plans, notes and recipes from Thanksgiving Days past, dating as far back as 1999.
My plans were always loosely the same: invitation lists and notes, kids activity ideas, menus, recipes, grocery shopping lists and suggestions scribbled on sticky notes for the following year.
Only a few years ago did I decide it was time to ditch the paper file folder and make it digital.
What I’ve Learned
The biggest lesson I’ve learned from cooking Thanksgiving Dinner For A Large Group is that I needed to figure a way to enjoy the day and spend more time with my family and less time running around like a turkey with my head chopped off.
It took a few years for me to realize that I missed relaxing and having any meaningful conversation with relatives that I may only get to see once or twice a year. I also realized that I really didn’t get to spend time with my kids on Thanksgiving Day because I never left the kitchen. I read somewhere the average American consumes nearly 5,000 calories on Thanksgiving Day. Personally, I was lucky to get in 500 calories over the course of the day because I was too busy to eat. By the time I got dinner on the table, I sat down for perhaps 5 minutes before jumping up to get coffee on and desserts prepped.
Toni’s 12-day guide breaks up the overwhelming job of preparing for Thanksgiving Dinner into small daily tasks, allowing busy moms to spend the holiday enjoying family and friends instead of slaving away at the stove. With daily tips, recipes and videos, Toni will help make this holiday less stressful. Sign up now for Toni’s weekly newsletters to receive “Toni’s 12 Days of Thanksgiving”. Sign up here.
Plan. Organize. Enjoy.
Toni’s 12 Days of Thanksgiving goes something like this: do one or two small tasks every day for 12 days before Thanksgiving. The result- stress-free holiday with lots of time to do what matters most to you by spending time with friends and family.
And now I’m sharing my plan with you. If you’re not signed up to receive our free weekly newsletter through our rss feed, sign up now and stay tuned to receive your daily plan beginning November 11th. This year I’m including menus, recipes, printables, activity ideas, grocery shopping lists, giveaways, videos, coupons and decorating tips each day for 12 days.
Family meals are important. Iʼll show you easy ways to spend less time and money at the grocery store, less time in the kitchen and more time with your family.
Three months of our most popular menus from The Organized Cook™ Weekly Meal Plan System including grocery shopping lists, cooking instructions and lots of time and money saving tips in one book that's easy to fit in your purse.
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