Roundup: Holiday Entertaining Tips

Vintage Christmas Paper from Pinwhirls.com

If you're looking for tips and tricks to make your holiday entertaining a breeze, you're in luck. We've rounded up some of the best holiday entertaining tips the pros have to offer.


10 Holiday Entertaining Tips from Clinton Kelly

Clinton Kelly, host of the popular show "What Not to Wear" offers some great tips for planning your Christmas or New Year's celebration. He suggests that readers "think outside the dinner table" and plan for guests to be very hungry and thirsty! Also, he reminds us all that one of the biggest mistakes we can make is blocking the view (and the conversation!) with an oversized centerpiece.

Thanksgiving Appetizer Recipes 

Martha Stewart offers some absolutely delicious fall appetizers to share with your guest (or take with you) this Thanksgiving. From Winter Squash Dip to Baked Brie with Pecans, there are plenty of dishes on Martha's appetizer list that might just steal the turkey's thunder this year.

12 Tips for Holiday Entertaining Success

Sandra Lee offers advice for holiday decorating that you might not have thought of before. For example, she recommends renting fancy dinnerware rather than buying. We think that's a great idea for those who want to create a super special party or get-together but don't have the money (or storage) for all that extra dinnerware.

7 Tips for Easy Holiday Entertaining

Let's face it, the holiday parties are as much about the food as they are about spending time with the people you love. Eating Well has some great tips for preparing healthy cocktails and appetizers that won't send all of your guests reeling toward a food coma before the evening has even gotten started. Don't miss the related recipes section featuring Vegetable Satay and Pomegranate Cosmos.

Thanksgiving 2012: Party Ideas for Families and Friends

Stumped on what to do for your Thanksgiving party this year? Time is running out, but luckily we've found some great ideas from around the internet to help you find your party planning inspiration.

Thanksgiving Party Ideas for Kids

Kids make passing on your thanksgiving traditions a must. If you're look for some fun and entertaining party ideas for the younger crowd, you can't go wrong with these tips from Family Fun. You can find instructions for fun crafts and recipe ideas too!

Party Ideas for Thanksgiving

The Holiday Spot offers some great ideas for prepping your home for the perfect Thanksgiving party. We guarantee you'll find some new ideas on this page, from the crazy hat party to the collection party. There are also some great ideas here for showing your friends and family how thankful you are to have them in your life.

Thanksgiving Menus, Recipes and Turkey Help

Rachel Ray has pretty much everything covered on her Thanksgiving page. Whether you need help getting the turkey reader or planning your party menu, you're sure to get all of your questions answered here. This is a great site for those planning a very traditional thanksgiving celebration.

Host a Food Drive at Your Home

Thanksgiving is the perfect time of year to give back to those who might need a little help this holiday season. Turn your typical Thanksgiving party or family gather into a food drive for your local food back. As everyone that's coming to bring a non-perishable food item (or two or twenty!) to take to the food bank.

Thanksgiving Games

Finally, if your looking for some ideas to keep kids and adults entertained, you'll want to check out Divine Dinner Party's "Thanksgiving Party Games: Thanksgiving Fun for Kids & Adults, Too".

What are your plans for Thanksgiving?

Easy Thanksgiving Entertaining

Entertaining at Thanksgiving is always special, but if you don't plan ahead it can also be a stressful time. Below are some of our favorite tips for easier Thanksgiving entertaining. If you have tips or suggestions to share, please add them in the comments!

1. Ask for help. Just because you're the hostess doesn't mean you have to do everything on your own. Ask for friends and family to pitch in with different parts of the celebration. This can include menu planning, shopping, decorating, cooking and cleaning.
   


2. Shop early. Once you've planned the meal, you should start shopping early. You can use grocery apps to prepare a list of the items you'll need and pick them up all at once or over several different trips. Shopping early also means you have time to hunt for the best deals.
   


3. Cook ahead. While you might like the tradition of cooking the turkey on Thanksgiving Day, you could easily make side dishes and desserts the day before. You can also get a lot of the prep work out of the way by pre-measuring dry goods or cleaning and chopping fruits and veggies.
   


4. Make plans for the kiddos. Don't have enough high chairs? Need a children's table for all of those nieces and nephews? Make sure you figure out the logistics ahead of schedule and borrow or ask guests to bring any items you don't already have in your home.
   


5. Invite your guests early. If you don't invite your friends and family early you might find that someone else was planning to host the main event or that your guests made plans to celebrate Thanksgiving elsewhere. So, if you haven't done it already, send your invites or start making those phone calls.

By planning ahead and asking others to pitch in this Thanksgiving you can spend more time enjoying the company of your friends and family at the holidays!

Photo credit: alex27

Creative Thanksgiving Recipes for Special Diets

It's okay. You can say it. Sometimes you get bored with the same old mashed potatoes and gravy every year at Thanksgiving. Although you might be a little scared to try something new for a holiday firmly rooted in tradition, we're pretty sure no one in your family is going to stage a coup if you change up the menu a little this year.

If you want to try something a more creative, inspired, healthy or sustainable this year, there are so many resources available online. We've collected a list of some of our favorite alternative recipes, with a little help from everyone's favorite pin board—Pinterest! (Click the images for links to these pins.)

Source: eatingwell.com via Tracey on Pinterest

Vegetarian Recipes 

In some homes it's pretty impossible for a vegetarian to eat find something to eat at Thanksgiving.

The green beans have bacon in them. The stuffing is made with chicken broth. The list goes on.

If Cousin Jen's a vegetarian, we're guessing she'll be very thankful to see one of these yummy dishes on the buffet.

Source: godairyfree.org 

via Miranda on Pinterest

Dairy-Free Recipes

As lovers of dairy in general, we don't know what a world without dairy is like. But for those who are lactose intolerant or suffer from dairy allergies, the Thanksgiving menu can be a challenge.

Go Dairy Free has tons of recipes to choose from including breads, main dishes, vegetables, sides, and everyone's favorite—dessert!

In fact, the Pumpkin Soufflé is gluten-free and soy-free. Sounds like a winner on all counts.

Source: motherearthnews.com via Kristin on Pinterest

Sustainable Thanksgiving Recipes

Many of us are concerned about doing what we can to ensure that we take care of the earth for future generations. One we can do that is to implement greener, more sustainable living habits.

One place to start is with your Thanksgiving meal. This site features tips for preparing better birds from organic, pasteurized and heritage breed turkeys. Of course, going meatless for Thanksgiving is also a way to have a sustainable Thanksgiving.

You will even find sustainable drink recipes on this site. They key is to buy local and use fruits and vegetables from your own garden this year.

Are you changing up the Thanksgiving menu this year? 
What are you going to try?

Thanksgiving Crafts for Kids

Source: familyfun.go.com via Natalie on Pinterest

You can work on these Thanksgiving crafts for kids ahead of time to help decorate for the family feast, or you can set up a workstation for the kids while the adults work hard to prepare the meal.

Fun Crafts for Kids

Finger Stamp Place Cards: Your children's fingerprints make colorful turkey place cards for the dinner table. Get all the project details from the Disney Family Fun website.

Turkey Cupcakes: This treats will delight everyone at the kids' table this year--and probably some adults too! With cupcakes, frosting, candy corn and sandwich cookies, Linette Gerlach at Amazing Moms shows you how to make these scrumptious treats.

Paper Plate Pilgrims: The people of All Kids Network have come up with an adorable craft project—making girl and boy pilgrims from paper plates, paints, crayons, glue and construction paper. These would be perfect for the kitchen door or the fridge.

Toilet Paper Roll Turkeys: This is another great Thanksgiving craft from All Kids Network. Save those empty toilet paper rolls to make these happy turkeys. You'll also need some construction paper and googly eyes to complete this craft.

Thanksgiving Coloring Pages: Coloring is a long-time kids' favorite! At DLTK's site you will find several different Thanksgiving themed coloring pages. In fact, if the adults are feeling a little stressed, we recommend you sit down and take a few minutes to color a page too.

Thankful Tree: What is your family thankful for? With this handprint tree everyone in the family can work together to create a gorgeous fall-colored tree and share something you're thankful for.

Crafts are a great way to make this Thanksgiving a little more colorful and a lot more fun. What are some of your favorite Thanksgiving crafts for kids? Share your links in the comments.

Creating Thanksgiving Traditions

Fall Pinwhirls for the Thanksgiving Table

What makes Thanksgiving so special is its ability to bring extended families together year after year to celebrate and share our many blessings. Whether your Thanksgivings are formal or casual, they can always be extra special from the decorations right down to the tasty dinner.

If your family is young, you might want to brainstorm some new traditions that your children can look forward to and carry with them as they grow up. We've got some ideas to get you started.

Creating Thanksgiving Traditions for Your Family

1. Cook Together: No matter how young your children are, there are plenty of ways to get them involved with meal preparations. Ask them to help you wash veggies, peel potatoes, roll out pie dough or even help you plan the menu.
 
2. Share Stories About Your Childhood Thanksgivings: This is particularly memorable if you have some physical object to tie to the cherished memory. For example, do you use your grandmother's gravy boat every Thanksgiving? Tell your children why that item is so precious to you.
 
3. Keep a Journal of Thanks: You and your children can keep a journal of thanks all month long, filling it up with something you are thankful for every day leading up to Thanksgiving. Turn the journal into a scrapbook and fill it with family photos from Thanksgiving day.
 
4. Share Your Blessings: Volunteer as a family to serve a Thanksgiving meal at your local soup kitchen or place of worship. Taking time to serve others is a great way to spend time as a family, and it could become a family tradition that endures for many more generations.
 
5. Use Black Friday to Shop for a Needy Family: If shopping is your thing, spend Black Friday buying gifts for a needy family or a charity like Toys for Tots. You can still experience the thrill of the holiday shopping season while doing something good for someone else.
 
6. Make a Wish: Don't forget to break the wishbone! The person who gets the longest piece of the wishbone gets to make a wish. This Thanksgiving tradition actually dates back all the way to the Etruscans of 322 B.C.! Now that's a long-standing tradition.
 
7. Watch TV: Spending a little time together in front of the TV is okay too. You can cheer on your favorite football teams or pick your favorite balloons in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

What family traditions have you started at Thanksgiving?