A
feast awaits you just around the corner.
If the title of host or hostess is one you wear proudly, you may enjoy
the concept of adding fun party elements to your traditional Thanksgiving
dinner.
Listing
things you’re thankful for as you sit down around the table is very sweet. If you want to give your guests more time to
ponder their answers, set up Mason jars or a punch bowl with plenty of slips of
paper, pens, and a sign with instructions so answers can be written down
throughout the day. When you serve up
the pie slices for dessert, take turns drawing a slip out, reading the answer
aloud, and trying to guess who the author is.
The
Super Bowl may be a few months away, but you could turn part of your
Thanksgiving Day at home into a true football fan event. If being gathered around the big screen
sounds more appealing than the floury work around the kitchen island, turn your
turkey dinner into a more appetizer based menu to enjoy bite by bite. Traditional menu items – green bean casserole,
sweet potato soufflé, dressing with gravy – can all be made more
appetizer-sized when cooked in muffin tins to make individual portions. Set out your trays with single serve
portions, and root for your team, turkey sandwich in tow.
I
can’t take credit for this one, but it is certainly worth mentioning. I’m sure we’ve all seen the commercial this
season that shows a fall photo backdrop scene set up beside the dinner table with
smiling family members taking silly pictures, paper mustaches on sticks in
hand. With a little creativity (and
craft paper), you could set up your own photo backdrop complete with props and
have table guests pose again and again.
Your theme could be anything you choose, and the props could be simple
and homemade. If you use a tripod or set
your digital camera in one spot, like on a medium height piece of furniture or
half wall, your pictures would have a background that doesn’t move between shots,
making the end result a flip book style series of funny and memorable
photos.
As
the day is winding down, you start to feel the excitement of Christmas
coming. Some families have the tradition
of taking down their fall decorations that night and starting in on their
Christmas décor. You could finish out
the night with some hot chocolate or apple cider as you marvel at your freshly
strung twinkly lights. Or you could take
the more laidback road and all snuggle up on the coach with your favorite Christmas
movie and some caramel popcorn to kick off the next phase of the holiday
season.
Any
little something extra you stir into the mix this Thanksgiving Day, you’ll be
sure to have them all just gobble-gobble it up.
DesignInMind column; appeared in the Valley Morning Star November 17th.
