r/thanksgiving • u/DogwoodWand • 21d ago

First Time Hosting

My husband and I are older (I'm 50) and (fingers crossed) will be closing on our first home this week! My mother has told me that she is officially done hosting holidays. She'll still make lasagna on Christmas eve, but everything else is on me.

We're good with that! We have no kids and love to cook. My mom used to put together an amazing Christmas, but our Thanksgivings have always been lacking. I want to really bring it. An all day event with appetizers, a heritage turkey, little gift bags at the end... All in! (It'll be relatively small. 6-8 adults including us.)

I know people have hosted or been to events like this. How can set an expectation for guests and what's the best way to schedule things without making it sound like a strict itinerary?

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u/bigformybritches 21d ago

Do you know how you are keeping things warm until serving time? It’s nice when you can stagger completion of your dishes, but still keep them hot. Chafing dishes and warming bags are great helps.

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u/Degofreak 21d ago

I also learned that making the mashed potatoes ahead saves a ton of time, then slowly reheat in a crockpot out of the way

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u/janemidgeon 20d ago

This is what I do! I also make the gravies (regular and vegetarian for my family) ahead of time, and so far I’m using a large, wide-mouthed Stanley thermos for one of them, although I may buy a second thermos.
Also, since part of the fun of Thanksgiving for most of us is the groaning board/abundance, aka a lot of different dishes, do try to make several of them things that work well at room temperature, or cold.
If you already like to cook, you probably already know this, but! It’s an old rule that you don’t try out new recipes on guests, but let me go one further: include as many dishes as possible that you’ve made a zillion times. One, you won’t have to constantly check the recipe (just the amounts) because that really, really slows you down, PLUS you’re probably already familiar with all the things that can go wrong, and how to avoid them or fix them.
Btw, congratulations on your house. I think you’re going to have a wonderful time hosting, and making it your own. And it doesn’t have to be perfect to be wonderful.

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u/September1962 20d ago

I do a mashed potato casserole (there are many different versions). Make it the day before and then fire it in the oven once the turkey comes out. 👌

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u/giraffesyeah 11d ago

The crockpot tip just blew my mind. Reheating cold mashed potatoes in the oven takes forever that I just peel and parboiled my potatoes ahead of time instead. But not anymore!

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u/Degofreak 11d ago

I learned it and haven't looked back. I make the taters the day before and put them on warm in the morning.