This year élan and I decided to host our first Thanksgiving at our home in Las Vegas. I come from a very large family back home in Hawaii, and our annual Family Thanksgiving dinners rotated between three of my relative’s homes and it was always potluck. So, to host our first Thanksgiving seemed like a daunting task, but we were excited and up for the challenge.
We found out a few months ago that élan’s family from Arizona would be visiting us for Thanksgiving this year. Originally we thought about ordering a “Thanksgiving To Go” meal from a restaurant, but since élan was inspired to cook lately, he said suggested we just make it ourselves. We assigned a few dishes to élan’s Mom and Dad, and we would take care of the rest.
élan and I rarely host fancy dinner parties at our home and we are very proud to say that Thanksgiving at the Markos Home was a success! However, we did learn a lot from this experience. Here are 8 things we learned from hosting our first Thanksgiving and hopefully from our experience you can use some of these tips for your next Thanksgiving dinner.
- Make a plan
Write a plan down on paper or in “Notes” on your phone. Here are some things to consider: What is the headcount? Will you have any Thanksgiving décor? Start make shopping, grocery and to do lists. - Decide on a menu
Assign dishes if potuck. Will you have any guests with dietary restrictions or allergies? We had a simple menu appetizers, main courses, classic side dishes and desserts. - Shop for groceries
Shop for your groceries a few days ahead of time and don’t forget that shopping list you made. That way you can prep dishes that can be made in advance and it gives you some time to figure out if you need to go back to the store for things you missed or need more of. Trust me, you don’t want to be heading back the morning of Thanksgiving frantically looking for last minute ingredients. - Defrost the frozen turkey
élan and I forgot to take into consideration how long it would take to defrost the frozen turkey and were crossing our fingers that it would thaw in time. It’s a good thing we went grocery shopping two days in advance and it was only a 12 lb turkey. As a rule of thumb, when thawing a turkey in the refrigerator, allow 24 hours for every 4 to 5 lbs. - Set the table
Decide how formal you want your tableware and utensils to be. For our Thanksgiving dinner, we were hosting eight adults total, which included the two of us, plus Lyric and London. We went to Ikea earlier in the week and bought two sets of white dinnerware for our party of 8. We borrowed cloth dinner napkins from élan’s Mom because it was still in our Amazon cart and I forgot to click order.
It’s definitely a good idea to set the table ahead of time, maybe even the night before. That way it’s one less thing you have to do on the day of Thanksgiving and you can figure out everything you need to, like proper table setting and how to fold fancy napkins all fancy. In our case, élan and I had to figure out how to extend our dining table since we’ve never done it before.
And if your children are old enough not to break the dishes, let them set the table. Lyric and London loved helping make the table look pretty. We used minimum décor, just a table runner, place mats and candles. Next time we will have Lyric and London write out place cards for a personal touch and to designate seating arrangements. - Prep what you can earlier in the week
This includes cleaning the house and making it presentable. Pick your outfits ahead of time so you’re not frantically trying to dress your children, make them look cute and while still trying to get dolled up yourself if that’s important to you, (which it is to me). - Stock the beverage center and bar
Have a variety of drinks available and in our case a well-stocked bar. For Lyric and London we always have Zero Sugar Kool-Aid, orange and apple juice on hand. Other non-alcoholic drinks to include would be water and a nice selection of soda, regular and diet. We definitely had all the well drinks covered – vodka, gin, rum, tequila, and whiskey. élan even brought out the Louis the XIII, which he only does on special occasions. - Have festive music playing
Since music is a big part of our family, it’s important for us to set the tone with music playing that our guests will enjoy. For Thanksgiving, élan had the “Frank Sinatra Christmas” playlist from Spotify playing softly from a Bluetooth speaker in the background.
Here was the final menu and home chef:
élan – Turkey and Beef Wellington
Marlene – Green bean casserole, cranberry sauce and biscuits
Mom Nina – Stuffing
Dad Tom – Garlic mashed potatoes, kiwi mousse and pumpkin cheesecake
The bar menu included:
Champagne, wine, vodka and Louis the XIII
We had an amazing time hosting our first Thanksgiving. But even if everything went wrong, it would’ve been a success because we got to make memories and spend time with family who we don’t get to see often. More importantly we hope to make this a family tradition of spending Thanksgiving at our home.
I would love to hear if you have your own special tips on hosting Thanksgiving.
Live EMpowered,
Marlene
