Thanksgiving Day Preparation and Decorations

Host Bee on Sunday, November 25th, 2007

Thanksgiving Day Recap – Tips for Next Year!

Well, the good news is that I survived the first Thanksgiving dinner served at my home! It took me four days to clean, set up, decorate, shop and cook, and it looks like the clean up will last just as long! With Busy Bee readers in mind, I took a lot of photos, persuaded my relatives to film a short video, enlisted my sister’s help with the creation of a Busy Bee slogan, and put my own suggestions into practice! Here are a few of the highlights of our evening, along with my newly acquired Thanksgiving wisdom!

Setting Up Your Tables!

I live in a traditional Cape Cod style home, and so the living room is on the main floor and the family room is in a finished basement. You may wonder why I’m offering you this information, but this arrangement made seating 30 people quite a challenge!

I ended up emptying most of the furniture out of the family room and adjacent play room, allowing me to set up three round tables in the main area for the adults and a rectangular table in the play area for the kids! The turkey and side dishes were set up as a buffet on the dining room table!

Thanksgiving Table Decorations

True to my suggestion to Busy Bee readers, I spray painted pumpkins, gourds and Dollar Store candle holders for days! The children’s table was decorated with a centerpiece made by my son with fresh Fall leaves and branches and each place setting sported an “ice cream cone” cornucopia, assembled by my daughters! I also added little baskets of toys to amuse each child during dinner!

The “grown up” tables (pictured at top of page) had gold pumpkin centerpieces and gold gourd place cards. Simple white linens, candles and dishes allowed the golden accents to shine! Both kids and adults enjoyed the faux wishbones from Lucky Break and everyone managed to sign my tablecloth at the end of the night! Now on to how to have the names embroidered!

Thanksgiving Dinner Menu

So here’s what I served, with a star next to the winners!

Autumn Salad with Grapes and Cranberry Cinnamon Boursin Cheese (this sounded fabulous, but I found out that salad isn’t a big hit on Turkey Day!)
Traditional Turkey and Gravy*
Turducken (from cajungrocer.com)*
Portobello Mushroom Gravy (super easy)*
Duchess Mashed Potatoes (this is a long time family favorite)*
Herbed Stuffing with Sausage (delicious)*
Creamed Spinach with Pearl Onions (too complicated!)
Fresh Green Bean Casserole with Goat Cheese, Red Peppers and Mushrooms (updated take on the traditional green bean dish!)*
Cranberry Relish (this was cooked with red wine and the taste was too strong!)
Indiana Corn Casserole (with onion, red and green peppers, bacon and sour cream, this tasted terrific!)*
Rolls and butter
Pies of all kinds (8 pies compliments of my family, each with only one or two slices eaten!)

Look for some of these recipes to be posted soon on Busy Bee! Perhaps you can whip up some of these dishes for your Christmas Dinner!

Thanksgiving Day Wrap Up!

The hardest part of the dinner was keeping everything hot!

My mother had a great suggestion that did help a bit on this front! Cleverly, she suggested that I fill a large cooler with very hot water, close the lid and let it sit for a few hours. I did this in my bath tub and after heating the cooler, I poured out the water and stacked the hot, freshly cooked dishes in the cooler, keeping the lid tightly shut.
My cousin suggested renting a warming cabinet from a party supply store and I think that this would be a fantastic improvement for next year!

I hope that all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration! For me, every last bit of preparation and hard work were amply rewarded as I listened to each member of my family share what they were most grateful for during this past year! And to be honest, I was most thankful for Busy Bee Lifestyle!

Do you have a Thanksgiving Day tip you’d like to share? I’d love to hear!

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Shannon Martin says:

December 20, 2007 at 7:22 pm

Hi,
I also made the Autumn Salad with Grapes and Cranberry Cinnamon Boursin Cheese for Thanksgiving but my family really enjoyed it. I’d like to make it again for Christmas Eve but I can’t seem to locate the recipe. Do you happen to still have it? I tried a Google search but yours is the only website I could find. Thanks so much and Happy Holidays!
Host Bee says:

January 14, 2008 at 2:33 pm

The Autumn Salad recipe I made was from Woman’s Day Magazine. You can find the recipe at http://www.womansday.com/default.asp?section_id=165&recipeid=1069.