Keeping Your Sanity: Tips for Thanksgiving Hosting

For many people who have moved, whether it was last month or even a few months ago, the hosting of Thanksgiving is going to fall to them. With this being said, Thanksgiving may be different this year than it was years ago due to COVID. Many families are opting to not have that big family dinner in order to protect the health of everyone. Other families are opting to have a dinner but with immediate family only and they are keeping the numbers low to avoid so many people being in the home. So, how do you prepare for Thanksgiving this year? We have a few tips to help!

1. Keep it simple! When it comes to what you are cooking or ordering, keep it simple. The more complex the dinner, the more that you are going to have to do. Consider giving some of your local eateries some extra business around the holidays and order a lot of the food to be cooked for you. For example, if you have a bakery nearby, why not order pies and cakes from them? That is one less thing off your list and you are helping a local small business.
2. Make sure that you have hand sanitizer, soap and paper towels nearby for everyone to wash their hands when they enter. This is just a precaution to ensure that germs are not being spread around.
3. Encourage those who do not feel well to avoid coming to the dinner so that everyone in the family is not infected.
4. Consider video chatting with those who could not make it or decided against it due to the virus. Pass around the tablet and make sure that everyone has a turn in talking with them!

Remember, this is a great holiday that is all about celebrating with your family. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself to make it perfect. Let’s face it, Thanksgiving in 2020 is going to be one for the record books in that this is not going to be normal. So our best advice: enjoy it despite how different it may be!