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Home » Blog » Note to Self: Thanksgiving Planning Made Easy

in Habits for a Happy Mom· Holiday Habits

Note to Self: Thanksgiving Planning Made Easy

We have hosted our family’s Thanksgiving celebration for many years. Each year about this time, I start making lists. Guest lists. Menu lists. Grocery lists. To-do lists. And so on. And every year I find myself straining my already-strained brain trying to remember last Thanksgiving and what worked and what didn’t. That is, until I started the note to self habit. Here is how to make a note to self: Thanksgiving planning made easy.

Here is how to make a note to self: Thanksgiving planning made easy. Simple and practical habits for hosting an easy Thanksgiving celebration
photo by Amy Law

Note to Self: Thanksgiving Planning Made Easy

This year started out a bit different for me because I found the Thanksgiving planning list that I made last year on the computer. In five minutes, without any brain-strain whatsoever, I was able to review and update what we did last year from what we ate to the centerpieces on the table to which bowls/platters/pots & pans I used to prepare and serve each item. I had also included a few notes to my future self, like “filling for 6 pumpkin pies will just barely fit in the big yellow bowl.” An extremely helpful little tidbit, as that is one of the things I am always trying to re-remember.

How This Simple Thanksgiving Habit Helps Menu Planning and More

I was so excited to find the treasure of last year’s planning, that I decided to add to it this year. I typed up the menu, the shopping list and the guest list. During the preparing phase I’ll be adding more notes about what works and what doesn’t. After Thanksgiving I will add details about leftovers and anything that didn’t go quite far enough.  So next year I will be able to look at the number of people we had and say, “Hmmm, 5 pounds of potatoes didn’t go quite far enough for 18 people, so this year I should get the bigger bag,” or maybe, “whoa, I threw away a whole bowl of cranberry sauce last year – I should halve that recipe.”

If you don’t do something like this already, I highly encourage you to pick up this habit this year. It won’t make a huge difference in this year’s preparations, but next Thanksgiving will be a breeze. Thanksgiving planning made easy!

More Thanksgiving Helpful Habits

  • 10 Thanksgiving Habits for Your Homeschool
  • Hodgepodge Holiday Homeschool Celebrations
  • Thanksgiving Homeschool Activities You’ll Be Grateful For

-by Kendra, first published October 2010

Related

Filed Under: Habits for a Happy Mom, Holiday Habits Tagged With: Habits for a Happy Home, planning, Thanksgiving

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Tricia says

    November 16, 2009 at 9:47 AM

    I love less brain strain!! Great tip. Something we will be grateful to have every year. Thanks

    Reply
  2. Angie says

    November 16, 2009 at 10:27 AM

    Great idea!!!! Thanks!!!

    Reply
  3. Kerri says

    November 16, 2009 at 11:50 AM

    I love this idea since I am always straining to remember exactly what we did!

    Last Christmas, I had the thought to draw the layout of our village that goes on top of the kitchen cabinets. Now this year, I am not dreading putting it up because I won’t have to figure out how to set it up! So I can definitely see the benefit of doing this for everything else and the computer is a great place to keep it – no more lost lists!

    Reply
    • Kendra says

      November 16, 2009 at 2:08 PM

      I was just thinking as I was writing… “hmmm, this would be handy at Christmas too!”

      Reply
  4. Tricia says

    November 25, 2009 at 1:28 PM

    I’m keeping track of my notes on this day before Thanksgiving. What a blessing for next year. Thank you.

    Reply
  5. Vicki B says

    October 18, 2010 at 1:11 PM

    Thanks for the great tips! I also find it helpful to photograph the table layout. It helps me remember which serving pieces I used (what fits in what!), ideas for decorating, etc. And I keep my day’s schedule in the computer, so I don’t have to reinvent my cooking/prep timeline (developed it by working backwards from dinner time).

    Reply
    • Kendra says

      October 19, 2010 at 8:25 AM

      Love the idea of photographing the table! Thanks!

      Reply
      • Kendra says

        October 20, 2010 at 10:01 AM

        And thanks for the link on Everyday Homemaking!

        Reply
  6. Amy Waters says

    November 17, 2011 at 12:08 AM

    Wonderful, but don’t throw out that cranberry sauce. It makes wonderful holiday smoothies!

    Reply

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