Hosting Thanksgiving should be fun: what's not to like about feasting with family and friends? But the truth is, it's daunting, especially if you're entertaining a large group. Diane Morgan, author of The Thanksgiving Table and The New Thanksgiving Table, knows the challenges of hosting, and offers advice for taking the anxiety out of this hectic occasion. She combines a crowd-pleasing menu, including updated versions of holiday favorites—roast turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and apple pie—with a do-ahead plan to eliminate stress. Morgan also offers help for choosing wine, tips for setting a beautiful table, and two easy crafts for decorating your home. For recipes, ideas, a timeline, and more, read on.
Streamline Hors d'Oeuvres
Keep your hors d'oeuvres light and simple. In anticipation of a large meal, you really just need a few small bites to stave off hunger. Morgan likes an updated relish tray with several different olives and fresh and pickled vegetables. Seasonal crostini are another option—top the toasts with a prepared relish or chutney to minimize prep. Serving a soup course can be tricky with such a large group, but a hearty fall soup—think mushroom or butternut squash—can be made ahead, frozen, and then served in shot glasses or espresso cups as an appetizer.
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How Much to Make
To feed a large group, you may need to double or even triple standard recipes. Think about which dishes are most popular with your family and friends, as well as which ones will be appreciated as leftovers, and plan accordingly. Also consider who's coming to dinner and how much they eat: Men tend to eat more than women and are more likely to have seconds and thirds, while kids, especially younger ones, eat less than adults.
Buffets and Warm Plates
A buffet is the best and easiest way to serve a meal to a large group. Organize your buffet table one day in advance, setting out all the necessary platters, bowls, serving pieces, and trivets, then use sticky notes to label which dish goes in each. When you take a bowl or platter to the kitchen to be filled, place the note on the table to remind you where it goes. Morgan likes to take a few extra minutes to warm the plates and serving platters. If your dishwasher is free, plates and platters can be warmed on the dry cycle for five minutes. Alternatively, have a kitchen helper run plates under hot water and dry them before placing them on the buffet table.
The Drinks
"Because there is so much going on," Morgan says, "Thanksgiving is a tricky time to be mixing up co*cktails." With this in mind, she usually serves Champagne or its more affordable cousin, Prosecco, with the hors d'oeuvres because bubbly is festive and works with a variety of flavors. She then selects one red and one white to pour at dinner.
Living in Oregon, Morgan is partial to the state's Pinot Noirs, but she also recommends serving a Côtes du Rhône or a full-bodied Spanish red, such as a Rioja or Ribera del Duero. For whites, our story on turkey-friendly wines recommends Grenache Blanc and Pinot Gris.
Morgan also likes to offer one or two beer options. For this menu, she suggests a pale ale or a Hefeweizen. And be sure to have a few nonalcoholic options such as sparkling water or apple cider.
Include children in the festivities of the day by serving them sparkling cider in short-stemmed glasses. You can often find unique, inexpensive glasses at estate sales and secondhand shops or on ebay, and then if anything breaks, you won't be heartbroken.
