{"id":2251,"date":"2019-12-10T01:28:17","date_gmt":"2019-12-10T01:28:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ourmadisonlife.com\/?p=2251"},"modified":"2021-11-04T17:57:27","modified_gmt":"2021-11-04T17:57:27","slug":"first-time-hosting-thanksgiving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ourmadisonlife.com\/first-time-hosting-thanksgiving\/","title":{"rendered":"FIRST TIME HOSTING THANKSGIVING!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2>How I planned and executed a stress-free Thanksgiving!<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Our family has started rotating where Thanksgiving is hosted. I decided to host this year. Our apartment hasn&#8217;t ever been big enough since moving to Madison. But, our current apartment has a clubhouse we can reserve. So I reserved it right away! I wanted to ensure it was a stress-free Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since then I was planning, making lists, and doing research! I freaking love to cook, so I was so excited! But, man was I nervous! As I haven&#8217;t cooked for that many people before!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Have you hosted and things went wrong or you were so stressed out? I am going to share how I kept it as stress-free as possible. Thanksgiving went off without a hitch, and there was only time I had the &#8220;Get out of my kitchen&#8221;! I call that a success! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1300\" height=\"1300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ourmadisonlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/MADISON-WISOCNSIN-PHOTOGRAPHER-APPLE-PIE-c-Natural-Intuition-Photography-25-of-25.jpg\" alt=\"Stress-free Thanksgiving, Madison Wisconsin Blogger, Thanksgiving Planning, \" class=\"wp-image-2252\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2>What did I do to ensure it was stress-free?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3>1. Made a Menu<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Turkey<\/li><li>Bread<\/li><li>Gluten-Free Stuffing<\/li><li>Corn Pudding &#8211; a MUST in our family!<\/li><li>Mashed Potatoes<\/li><li>Roasted Veggies (I always need something healthier!)<\/li><li>Pies &#8211; Apple &amp; Pumpkin<\/li><li>Homemade Whipped Cream<\/li><li>Cheese &amp; Meat Platter for Snacking<\/li><li>No Can Gluten-Free Green Bean Casserole <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3>2. Gave Everyone Something to Make &amp; Bring<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>This helped me ensure I wasn&#8217;t making EVERYTHING! It kept down what I was actually making! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3>3. Make a Facebook Event<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>This is where I invited everyone, posted our address and Airbnb links they could stay in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This majorly helped keep down the millions of texts I would have gotten or had to send! Also, kept the list of what people had to bring in one spot! So much more organized! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3>4. Once I had the final menu done &amp; I knew what I was making I, make my grocery lists!<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Have you noticed a theme? I like lists and like to be a little overly organized! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This helped me plan what I would get from<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ourmadisonlife.com\/imperfect-produce-product-review\/\"> Imperfect Produce<\/a>! Our all-time favorite place to get our produce! Save me so much time at the store, and money on the Gluten-Free Stuffing! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3>5. Planning the days leading up to Thanksgiving.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Wednesday <\/strong>&#8211; Order my Imperfect Produce! Got my gluten-free pie crust from Hyvee! Starting cleaning the apartment!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Thursday <\/strong>&#8211; Finalize the grocery list!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Friday <\/strong>&#8211; Go grocery shopping! Best to do this ASAP as the turkeys were sold out just 2 days later!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Saturday &#8211; Monday<\/strong> I was working on finalizing my Black Friday Specials for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.naturalintuitionphoto.com\/\">Natural Intuition Photography<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Tuesday <\/strong>&#8211; Take the turkey out of the freezer and put it in a cooler to thaw! <em>(wouldn&#8217;t fit in our fridge)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Wednesday <\/strong>&#8211; I made the pies, organized everything. I made sure I had enough plates, cups and so forth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>THANKSGIVING THURSDAY <\/strong>&#8211; Woke up at 7 am to get the turkey in the oven by 8 am! We were eating around 1230! When the turkey was done at 1130 I put in the green bean casserole and started the stuffing! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Everything was ready and over in the clubhouse by 1230! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1300\" height=\"1947\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ourmadisonlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Stress-Free-Thanksgiving-Dinner-Thanksgiving-Planning_0002.jpg\" alt=\"Stress-free Thanksgiving, Madison Wisconsin Blogger, Thanksgiving Planning, \" class=\"wp-image-2249\"\/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How I planned and executed a stress-free Thanksgiving! Our family has started rotating where Thanksgiving is hosted. I decided to host this year. Our apartment hasn&#8217;t ever been big enough since moving to Madison. But, our current apartment has a clubhouse we can reserve. So I reserved it right away! I wanted to ensure it [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2248,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[1062,1061,450],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.13 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How I hosted my first Stress-Free Thanksgiving - Party Planning<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How I hosted my first stress-free thanksgiving, Hosting stress-free, Thanksgiving Planning, How to plan the Best Thanksgiving Dinner!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ourmadisonlife.com\/first-time-hosting-thanksgiving\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How I hosted my first Stress-Free Thanksgiving - Party Planning\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How I hosted my first stress-free thanksgiving, Hosting stress-free, Thanksgiving Planning, How to plan the Best Thanksgiving Dinner!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ourmadisonlife.com\/first-time-hosting-thanksgiving\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Our Madison Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ourmadisonlife\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-12-10T01:28:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-11-04T17:57:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ourmadisonlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Stress-Free-Thanksgiving-Dinner-Thanksgiving-Planning_0001.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"868\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Christine Dopp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Christine Dopp\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ourmadisonlife.com\/first-time-hosting-thanksgiving\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ourmadisonlife.com\/first-time-hosting-thanksgiving\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Christine Dopp\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ourmadisonlife.com\/#\/schema\/person\/811f24adeab50947be07e81d0dd96fe9\"},\"headline\":\"FIRST TIME HOSTING THANKSGIVING!\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-12-10T01:28:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-04T17:57:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ourmadisonlife.com\/first-time-hosting-thanksgiving\/\"},\"wordCount\":497,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ourmadisonlife.com\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Holiday Planning\",\"Party Planning\",\"Personal\"],\"articleSection\":[\"LIFESTYLE\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ourmadisonlife.com\/first-time-hosting-thanksgiving\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ourmadisonlife.com\/first-time-hosting-thanksgiving\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ourmadisonlife.com\/first-time-hosting-thanksgiving\/\",\"name\":\"How I hosted my first Stress-Free Thanksgiving - 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