How to Have a Stress Free Thanksgiving Dinner

Thanksgiving dinner can be one of the most stressful entertaining events you will ever have. Try making a big dinner for a dozen people while working a full-time job, chauffeuring busy kids, and cleaning the house! You can't always expect everyone else to help so what, if anything, can you do?

The first order is to have good plan. Nothing will get accomplished if you rush.

Start with a picture of a table full of delicious food, family and friends, and merriment. Keep that image in your mind because if you're willing to work a little (and read this article) you can get there.

The secret is to start now. There are lots of things that can be done ahead of time so you don't need to wait for everything until the night before. Yes, some things will require you to be up late, or wake up early, but the less of that, the better for everyone.

In the week before you need to write out your guest list and sent the invitations, plan your menu (write everything down so you know what to buy), and make 2 shopping lists. The first shopping list is things you can get now, canned goods and that all important turkey. You can go shopping for those today if you like. The second list are those things that need to be bought just a day or two ahead; potatoes, cranberries, produce for salads and such. These things will probably go bad if you buy them too far ahead. But don't wait until the day before Thanksgiving either, the crowds are too hectic and everyone is in a bad mood because they didn't plan ahead. Oh, and most important, if you buy a frozen turkey you must to let it thaw on the bottom shelf of the fridge for about 3 days.

This week you can also start laundering your towels, tablecloths, napkins and other items needed at the thanksgiving table. Pull out your cooking equipment and see what more you may need, pans and pots and servers and such. Make sure you have enough flatware and cutlery for each guest with some to spare. No one wants to be relegated to plastic ware if everyone else is using the "good stuff." Finally, start cleaning now. If you can get all those little knick knacks dusted and the cobwebs out of the corner now they aren't likely to become overly dirty again in the next few days. Then the big day you know everything is ready to be cooked and you can vacuum and dust the day before in short time. Concentrate on cooking and entertaining your guests.