Thanksgiving Party Ideas and Planning Tips
The holidays can be a stressful time of the year for people who end up hosting, but it doesn’t have to be! If you’re asking yourself what a happy Thanksgiving, it’s a holiday where friends and family come together for a Thanksgiving dinner to celebrate what they are thankful for. This holiday is traditionally celebrated with turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and other staple sides.
How to Host a Thanksgiving Dinner?
1. Choose a Venue
The first thing you will need to cover when it comes to Thanksgiving party planning is choosing a venue. The venue should depend on how many people you’re hosting. For example, if you want something smaller and more intimate, you may want to host it at a local restaurant or someone’s home. If you want to host a larger get-together, then you may consider renting out an event space or a banquet hall.
2. Select a Theme
Once you choose a Thanksgiving dinner venue, you will want to decide on the theme for your event. Colors usually used for this holiday are auburns, browns, crimsons, marigolds, and oranges. However, if you’re looking for out-of-the-box ideas for Thanksgiving dinner, you can always put your own spin on a theme such as doing complete neutrals or one pop of color and keeping everything monochromatic. The theme should carry over to invitations, décor and so forth.
3. Create Guest List
Next, you will want to create your guest list based on the capacity of the venue and how many people you would like to host. This will help you start planning the rest of the details of your event and get the invitations sent out in a timely manner. Because this is such a popular time of year, we suggest sending your invites out 4-6 weeks in advance so people can add it to their calendar before the busy season is in full swing.
4. Build Your Menu
Now you will build out your menu. Traditionally, turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and other staple sides such as bread, green bean casserole, and cranberry sauce. However, in this day and age, you may want to consider additional options for guests who are dairy-free, gluten-free and vegan. You can always add fun twists to traditional foods to spice up the menu for guests.
5. Shop Early
You also want to make sure you shop early in order to beat the holiday rush at the stores. We suggest planning out your shopping lists ahead of time so you’re organized and can efficiently shop for various ingredients. This will help get your shopping done quickly and takes away additional stress from the days leading up to your event.
6. Table Décor
Next, you will want to plan out the main attraction of your Thanksgiving dinner, the table décor. If you’re renting out a venue, they may have an event planning and management team that can help you execute the design. If you’re doing the décor on your own, you will want to make sure it is consistent with your overall theme, and this will be the center of attention for your guests.
7. Entertainment
Finally, you will want to decide on entertainment for the evening. Will you be playing games to keep your guests entertained? Will you have photo opportunities throughout the night so guests can remember the evening? When booking the venue, you will want to make sure they have the right space for what you envision. Factor in the forms of entertainment you want to have so you know the right questions to ask. Event venue consulting can be so helpful when hosting an event like this.
At Ovation Square, we host a wide range of different events located right in the heart of downtown Long Beach. We would be more than happy to discuss your next event with you and bring your vision to life.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How early would you suggest shopping ahead of time?
A: We suggest getting all of your non-perishable items a couple of weeks in advance. Then you miss the rush of the holidays and only have to do minimal shopping for fresh ingredients as it gets closer to your event.
Q: If I don’t know where to start when it comes to the theme, can you help with that?
A: Of course. With an entire event planning team behind us, we can help you plan and design the entire event.
Q: If I’m not a fan of Turkey, do you have other suggestions on what to serve?
A: You can serve all sorts of spins on traditional meals these days. We suggest looking up different ideas and recipes to get you inspired and think outside of the box.