Before all your various family and friends descend upon you, put their kids' pictures BACK on the fridge, and the flamingo pitcher back on the side board. No one else will notice, but THEY will.
I PROMISE I don't do this!!!!!!!!!!!! (REALLY, A, I don’t. THOSE pictures are on my fridge all year long.)
Keep Last Minute Panicking Down To A Minimum
Put out the hors d'oeuvres 30 minutes before the first guest arrives. It makes you APPEAR more ready than you actually are.
Have a bar area set up AWAY from where you’re cooking. Place cans, bottles and pitchers on one tray, glasses on another. It keeps the area tidy (I hate that word.)
Clean the guest bathroom at least 2 or 3 hours before the guests are supposed to arrive. If possible, ban family members, especially males, from that room (until the guests arrive).
Other Stuff
Tape the recipes that you'll be using to the inside of your kitchen cupboards. They'll be handy, but off the counter. (Actually, I keep my most-used recipes there all year long.)
Buy more paper towels and toilet paper than you ever think you could need.
Lay in cleaning supplies - garbage bags, at least 2 bottles of dishwasher soap, extra sponges, scrubbies, plastic wrap and foil.
Get one box of extra long heavy duty foil and keep it only for Thanksgiving (and lining cookie sheets).
5 comments:
There's one other thing I think I'm going to do this year. I have a ton of those plastic Glad containers and I spend 15 minutes looking for lids from the Everest in the cabinet whenever I'm trying to store something or pack leftovers. So, I think I'm going to put them all in the recycle bin this weekend and just buy new ones.
Maybe some of those plate ones too - here's to organizing the holidays - like herding cats.
Hi Heather,
What a good idea. Thanks for reminding me that I have to do that. My in-laws brought me millions of Chinese food containers one year (that you or I would have thrown out) and for about 4 years I used those for giving out Thanksgiving leftovers.
Frankly, I think people are so grateful for leftovers that they'd take them home in a paper towel.
Scrubbies...heh heh. I like that word.
Bar area sounds good. I'LL be in charge of that this year.
My mom gave me permission to make the pecan pie. I'm going to make one other, but I don't know what yet. I got shot down on the pumpkin, though.
Keeping recipes off of the counter is a good idea. Why didn't I think of that?
Want to hear something totally anal? I compiled all of my shopping lists, recipes, and day-by-day game plan into a book that I covered and bound. I wanted everything I needed in one place.
Thanks for the reminder that I'm going to need to buy more paper towels. I'm glad I realized in time that I will have to buy more cloth napkins. I don't have nearly enough. Some good scrubbers would be great too.
Making a trip to Crate & Barrel tonight for some table necessities (I lucked out and got $150 worth of gift certs for my anniversary in October.)
Em,
Good that you're in charge of the bar, then you can put my martini plan into effect and hijack the meal from your mother. Think of it, you could put M & M's into the stuffing. Sorry noone's going for the pumpkin pie.
Shortie,
So THAT'S what you've been doing at work? The only thing is I hope you allow yourself to make notes AFTER THE MEAL on your beautifully bound pages. You make a soup, for example, and you note that you really didn't need to double it or maybe you should have. Or you write that 3 bottles of champagne really didn't do it. Or that next year, you have to remember to take out the butter for the rolls. Whatever it may be...because I'm assuming you're going to do such a great job that Thanksgiving will be at your house from now on.
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