Thanksgiving Seating Options for Large Thanksgiving Dinners

Squishing too many guests into one dinner table is killer on a Thanksgiving celebration. So, do like my family does. Get an extra dining room table that is used as a giant storage space when it is not needed for family celebrations! OK, so our family is weird. But seriously, we got the extra table through inheritance and didn't know what else to do with it. Lugging it up and down the stairs every holiday does get old, but it also ensures that the entire family can be together and no one is left out.

Especially the children don't like to be left out, of course they get bored so quickly who knows what they really hear and what they don't at the dinner table. Want the kids to stay happy? Take a page from the Macaroni Grill Restaurants. They cover their tables in butcher paper instead of a traditional tablecloth. Then you are encouraged to write all over it! If you don't have room for the kids at the table then put the paper out on the living room floor. This way the kids have plenty of room to work, and eat, and the adults are not annoyed by the kids' boredom. Just make sure you have plenty of old rags and warn your guests to bring a change of clothes. There is bound to be at least one food fight when one child starts to color on in the space of another child.

What if the kids are all grown up and there are no kids of their own? Try putting most of your dishes on side tables. This way there is less on the actual table to take up room. Also, remember that left handed guests need to go on the left end of the table, this way they are not constantly bumping elbows with your right handed guests.

Teenagers are kids too; they just don't want to admit they are kids. Trust me they don't want to sit at the "big people" table either. Let them wander where they want, so long as they sit within earshot of the dining room and don't put in the ear buds. Yes folks, Thanksgiving dinner should be and iPod and Game console free zone. While you may not be able to get them to have a meaningful conversation with you, you can get them to at least pretend to participate. Remember to keep them involved by asking them to help out, like doing the dishes or making sure Aunt Ethel is comfortable enough.