Tuesday Talk Turkey Part II
Welcome friends today we continue our series on Thanksgiving preparation as we share top tips for planning every Tuesday in November. If you missed Part I please check here for the post.
Week two Part II has us finalizing the menu, staging your buffet and finishing the grocery list.
1) Finalize the Menu
By now you have established your guest list and invited them-yay! Following that you either assigned dishes, asked them to bring a specific item or neither. Now that you have your menu and who is responsible for each dish you can fill in or setup a Plan B for each category. I’m a Type A person so I will always have a Plan B, but if you are not inclined to do so that’s perfectly fine too! However, if Aunt Bertha is driving in from Toledo with her family famous pumpkin pie you might want to grab a frozen Mrs Smith’s at the grocery store just in case. The worst thing that can happen is you have extra pie in December and how can that be a bad thing?
TIP: With the final menu write the name of the person responsible and the serving dish (or if they are bringing it ready to serve). This will give you the number of platters, bowls, etc you will need ready.
2) Stage Your Buffet
This week you should layout your entertaining plan for Thanksgiving Day. Where will you put the table(s) based on the number in your guest list? If this is just a few guests than most likely that will be at your kitchen or dining room table and you will serve family style. If you list is greater than 6 I would layout my table/seating and take a count of any extra tables and chairs you might need for the day in order to locate those in your house (which is a husband ask at my house) or request your guest to bring their card table, chairs etc to borrow. Will you have a children’s table? Will you serve your appetizers or desserts in another room or set them up on a side board in the dining room? Those additional stations will need tables (or in my case clearing off tables) to use for Thanksgiving Day.
TIP: Staging appetizers, drinks and desserts in separate rooms from the kitchen and dining room invites your guests to enjoy more areas of your beautiful home and helps traffic flow within the kitchen. Small card tables, side tables and even entry tables are great for this because it doesn’t take much square footage.
On the buffet table or dining table if you are serving family style go ahead and layout the serving trays, dishes and bowls along with their serving utensils. This lets you see how everything will fit and also if you are using any china, silver or crystal it will give you time to inspect them to confirm they are clean, undamaged and don’t need a polish.
TIP: I put a post it note or scrap of paper on each dish so I know their job for day of and then a note on the location of the dishes your guests are bringing.
3) Finish Your Grocery List
Finally we need to finish your grocery list this week. Remember we’re doing 2 lists one consisting or pantry stable items and one of fresh items because we’re making 2 trips to the store. I put at the top or bottom of my lists the items I’m picking up from the meat butcher, bakery etc and the date and time I ordered those last week as a reminder. I keep both my grocery lists separate from my weekly shopping because it’s always to confusing for me to try and do both. When my children were younger this also helped me hide/mark/sepertate party foods from regular foods so my teen did not get the great idea to eat the entire pie for a snack one evening!
TIP: Add items onto your grocery list you will need Thanksgiving Day outside the menu such as lemons, sugar packets, extra whipped cream, toothpicks, containers or ziplocks for leftovers, etc. Don’t forget to add your garnish items too like fresh herbs, grapes and greens for your turkey platter, fruit for your desserts ~you will be glad you have these washed and prepped day of and can add them to the serving platters right before presentation!
Please join me next Tuesday for Part III of our series. I am so exciting for your Thanksgiving! You are going to be a great host and everyone will have a Beeutiful time!
