Thanksgiving is just around the corner. Here are five ideas to help you get ready and create the best Thanksgiving ever! Plus there are free printables for you to download and use!
Make your lists now
Early organization is key to planning a stress free holiday gathering. And I can help! I created these free printable shopping and prep lists for you to download and use. They are useful and cute! Get the Thanksgiving Shopping printable and the Thanksgiving Prep printable here and here.
This post contains affiliate links. Additionally, some product was provided for this post. All opinions, thoughts and silly comments are my own. I promise.
Roaster Oven
If you are lucky enough to have two ovens in your kitchen, then skip this part. (I totally envy you, by the way.) My roaster oven has saved the day on more than one holiday now. The turkey cooks on the counter, and my oven is freed up for the really important things like mashed potatoes, mac and cheese or pie. Yes, we are having mac and cheese with Thanksgiving. And it will be awesome. You can come over if you want.
Yummly
Have you joined Yummly yet? It’s kind of like Pinterest, but just for recipes. It’s like creating your own virtual recipe book. Plus it will create a shopping list for you that you can keep in your phone. Check out my collection of Thanksgiving recipes on Yummly.
Prepare A Cooking Schedule
Think about what dishes can be prepared earlier in the week and put into the oven on Thanksgiving day. I think my mashed potatoes taste better when they are prepared the night before. The pies and treats can be made ahead of time, so can the dough for rolls.
And don’t forget the turkey. I often hear about people buying a frozen turkey and not giving it enough time to thaw all the way through. Here’s a link to a frozen turkey thawing calculator from Butterball. Definitely useful!
Label Everything
Start thinking about doggy bags or boxes for leftovers. The best part about the Thanksgiving meal is the leftovers. Your guest will love it if you send them home with a fun to-go box with a pretty label. These free printable Thanksgiving labels and recipe labels from FreezerLabels.net. You can print them at home for free or purchase them on specialty freezer label material. These labels will be perfect for neighbor gifts of cookies or jam in mason jars or boxes of other fun homemade treats!
Do you have great ideas on getting ready for Thanksgiving dinner? Please share in the comments!
Linked to these awesome parties!
Those freezer labels are adorable! Thanks for sharing!
Cuteness! Great tips!
Wow, your printables will make planning for Thanksgiving so much easier. Thanks so much for sharing your printable on MM. Pinned and I’ve included this in a fall printable roundup.
Hi Jessa, love your post. I have a new blog party and would like to invite you to come join us on the CLASSY FLAMINGOS BLOG PARTY held each Tuesday evening thru Friday. You’ll get large picture exposure and shout outs. You may get PINKED and you’ll get even more exposure! I hope you’ll come by. poinsettiadr.com
Great ideas. Thanks for sharing at the To Grandma’s House We Go DIY, Crafts, Recipes and More Link Party. I pinned this! Hope to see you again next Wednesday.
I haven’t seen Yummly. Looks good! Thanks for sharing at Home Sweet Home!
Great tips – Thanksgiving will be here before we know it! I featured your post at Best of the Weekend this week. Thanks for joining us with your inspiration!
Shelley
Thank you for the feature! I’ll be swinging by!
The labels are so smart! Thanks for sharing the free printables! I’ll be including these in my Merry Monday Features this week. Happy Thanksgiving!