Hosting a holiday is no small task. There's personalities to navigate, allergies to manage, loads of cleaning and decorating to be done. But I promise you, if you can follow a recipe and keep organized, you're 100% capable of hosting a fabulous family gathering.
Usually when I'm in the kitchen, I love to improvise and tinker with ingredients and seasonings when pulling together a weeknight meal. I have the luxury of time and space. The name of the game changes a bit when I have a house full of guests eagerly anticipating Thanksgiving turkey.
So let's get organized! I'm an engineer by background, so I work best in spreadsheets. Before each holiday, I create a template to collect recipes, grocery lists, and timelines to bring about some method to the madness. Open up my Holiday Handbook Template, and follow along!
Roughly three to four weeks in advance of the holiday party, I like to finalize my guestlist and draft a menu. At a minimum, I'd recommend planning on an app, one protein, two carbs, one veg, dessert, and a handful of beverages. Anything beyond that is just gravy (sometimes literally). As you create your menu, consider the following:
What's the capacity of your oven and stove-top?
Any allergies around the table?
What do I farm-out to guests or grocery stores?
What's the capacity of your oven and stove-top?
This is your limiting constraint. If you have the luxury of a double oven, kudos. I, however, do not. If you're in the same boat, I'd encourage you to consider deep frying or smoking your turkey. A) You'll free up tons of real estate in your oven. B) Who doesn't love the excuse to escape the family and deep fry a bird?
Alternatively, plan for a few stove-top recipes like garlic mashed potatoes and sauteed green beans. Or cook-ahead dishes like glazed ham and deviled eggs. Or even no-cook recipes like a kale salad.
As you start whittling down your menu, pull out your baking dishes and pans and assign to each of your recipes. Puzzle them together in your oven and close the door. Does everything fit? If not, considering swapping large 9x13in pans for deep 3qt baking dishes. You may need to adjust the cook time to ensure the center is heated through, but at least it will all have a home in your oven.
Any allergies around the table?
I've got a celiac and vegan in the family, so I'm all too familiar with dietary restrictions. And for those up against similar challenges, bless you.
For true "I will explode if I eat this" allergies, I prefer to exclude that ingredient from the buffet all together. Hard as you might try to have a dedicated serving utensil for each dish, someone will undoubtedly and absent-mindedly swap them. And while I could hover over the buffet micromanaging every last movement of all of my guests, I find most friends and family do not revel in my militant and anal behavior. Shocking, I know.
For those with dietary preferences, I like to ensure they are able to munch on a protein and side at the very least! Additionally, consider decoupling your dish so your guests can modify to their preference - serve creamy dressing on the side of the salad, serve bacon crumbles on the side of the brussel sprouts, etc.
What do I farm-out to guests or grocery stores?
Assuming your guests aren't freeloaders, they will undoubtedly ask "what can I bring?" Welcome their help, and play to their capacity in the kitchen. If you've got a closet baker in the family, off-load dessert. For the mildly competent, encourage them to bring a salad or fresh rolls. For the good intentioned, but culinarily useless, have them bring the wine.
Pro Tip: even if a guest or two are contributing drinks, I like to ensure I have at least one bottle of wine handy so I have something to offer guests as they walk in the door. Otherwise we're left to stand around awkwardly until Fashionably-Late Fred finally shows up with the libations.
Beyond the help from your guests, leverage the grocery store! There are loads of quality snacks, sauces, spreads, and sweets scattered about your neighborhood market. Rather than cooking up an appetizer on top of the main dish, I often fall back on charcuterie boards since they require little to no prep. Also these boards make a beautiful center piece for your kitchen island or coffee table.
Once I have the menu finalized, I draft the grocery list from soup to nuts. Track the quantity you need of each item for all of your recipes to avoid waste or emergency trips back to the grocery store. Make a note to yourself as you purchase the item (or locate it in your pantry or fridge) in the weeks leading up to your celebration. Also don't forget to jot down cook times and temperatures for each dish - trust me, you'll thank yourself later.
Two weeks before the big day I like to shop for shelf and freezer stable ingredients. The grocery stores are always jam-packed the week prior to any major holiday, so I prefer to limit my time at the store. Plus, I find common ingredients like chicken stock and canned pumpkin start to run dry. So beat the crowds and shop early where you can! This is also a great time to prep chutneys, gravies and pie crusts - anything you can easily stash in the freezer for the next couple of weeks.
T-5 days. Crunch time. Grab your grocery bags and hit the market. Gather all of your fresh veggies, meats, and dairy. If you're bringing home a large turkey, this is also a great time to start defrosting the bird in your fridge.
Over the next few days, I recommend developing a plan to prep each of your dishes in advance of your holiday meal so that you can spend more time with your guests rather than chained to the stove. Follow the recipe just up to the point where any final cooking takes place. For instance, for your stuffing, sautée your veggies and toss with herbs and bread cubes in a greased baking dish, but don't yet bake. Simply cover in plastic wrap and store in the fridge until your holiday dinner.
About 4 days in advance I clean and cut my veggies and prep my "salad kit." Stash any wet ingredients (such as mandarin oranges) separate from your lettuces, onions, nuts, cheeses. And of course, do not dress the salad until just before serving. This will help keep your veggies crisp!
I also find I can prep dishes such as potato gratin, green bean casserole, and corn pudding about 4 days in advance. These dishes are rich and frankly full of cream and cheese - they're stable in the fridge for a few days before baking off.
Pie fillings also keep well stored in plastic containers until ready to bake!
Three days prior to the dinner I'd prep the stuffings and whipped potato casseroles. These dishes are pretty low maintenance. I can usually pull together a pan after work one afternoon!
Two days out I start to defrost anything I stashed away a couple weeks back - cranberry sauce, pie dough, gravy. If you didn't quite get around to those whipped potatoes yesterday, now is the time!
The day before your holiday in the calm of the morning while sipping my coffee, I like to outline the "order of events" for the following day. What time do you want the food to hit the table? Define it, then work backwards. This is when that handy list of cook times and temperatures per recipe would come in handy. It's unlikely that all of your sides will cook at the same temperature, but keeping your oven temp around 350F is usually a safe bet. If a recipe calls for a higher temp, consider increasing the cook time by 10 minutes or so to ensure the casserole is heated through. Same applies to the reverse - lower temp, less time. Outline a schedule for yourself so you know exactly when each dish must hit the stove or oven. Don't forget to afford for time on the front end to bring the chilled casseroles to room temp before throwing in the oven.
This is also a great day to bake-off your desserts. Your oven is simply too full to be accommodating a pie while cooking dinner. Plus, do you really want to wake up early to bake a cake? No. So get to it the day before and everything will be fresh and ready for your holiday party.
If you're planning to serve a ham, I recommend glazing and baking the day before. Ham keeps well in the fridge, and frankly I prefer to serve it somewhere between chilled and room temp rather than hot from the oven.
If you're planning on turkey, be sure and get that bird in the brine!
Alright. We have arrived. THE DAY.
In theory, this day shouldn't consist of much more than arranging a charcuterie board, dressing a salad and moving pans from fridge to counter to oven. Keep your Holiday Handbook Day-Of Timeline handy and simply follow it. And of course, enjoy your guests, and the delicious dinner your managed to pull together!
You can do it! Happy Holidays!
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