How To Plan For Thanksgiving with Less Stress

Thanksgiving is a stressful time of year! If you are hosting Thanksgiving, you’ll end up spending your entire day rushing around the kitchen. What if Thanksgiving didn’t have to be stressful this year? In this guide, I’ve put together everything you need for a less stressful Thanksgiving holiday!

How To Plan For Thanksgiving with Less Stress

Preparing your home: 1 month before.

As Thanksgiving draws near, you will likely have people staying with you. Now is the perfect time to start preparing your home for guests, and preparing your home for a full house! Start by going through your holiday dishware. Make sure you have enough place settings for everyone and serving dishes. If you don’t, now is the time to get them before the Thanksgiving rush in stores. Next, give your home a good deep clean. Remember that your guests will be staying in rooms that don’t usually get a lot of foot traffic, so take one room at a time and scrub down your home! Change the sheets on the guest bed, and get things ready now so you won’t have to think about it when Thanksgiving gets closer.

Preparing your menu: 3 weeks before.

Start thinking about what you are going to prepare for your Thanksgiving feast. You want to keep things simple while also making sure that there is enough food for everyone. If you’re unsure what to make, stick with this setup: Turkey, three side dishes, one dessert. If you have a larger family, then you may need to add additional sides or desserts. If you want more variety, ask your guests to help out by bringing a dish.

Prepare your table setting and decorate your home: 2 weeks before.

If you want to prepare a table setting or decorate your home for Thanksgiving, go ahead and get that out of the way now. This will make your Thanksgiving holiday less stressful, and everything will already be in place! If you need to make something for your tablescape or home, you’ll have time to do it this week.

Start shopping for food: 1 week before

Now is the time to start gathering your food. Most Thanksgiving food can be stored and even cooked ahead of time! Take advantage of your freezer to start buying things ahead of time, so you don’t have to make any last-minute trips to the store. Start preparing your desserts and anything that can be made ahead of time.

The day before Thanksgiving prep.

Thanksgiving is tomorrow, and now is the time to start preparing your food! Start by getting anything out of the way that you can now! If all you have time to do is cut up your vegetables and prepare the gravy, do it now! This will save you tons of time in the morning!

Thanksgiving Day

It’s Thanksgiving Day, and it’s time to start cooking! Take out your prepared foods and make a note on the dishware when they need to go in the oven. Next, start preparing the food that will take the longest to cook. This will likely be the turkey. Get out a sheet of paper and write down a timeline for when things need to go in the oven and start preparing them as soon as you can within reason!

I hope this planner has helped you better prepare for Thanksgiving so you can enjoy a stress-free holiday with your friends and family.