Questions to Help You Plan Holiday Meals

Last week, I mentioned that I was drawing a line in the mashed potatoes over the excess associated with Thanksgiving meals.  In the comments, Ann noted that it is intimidating to have people over when we feel like everything has to be perfect.  With this in mind, I came up with this list of questions (adapted from Home Entertaining: A Complete Guide by Charlotte Adams, 1950) to ask ourselves when we plan our holiday meals.

1. How much money can/will I spend? Have you ever suffered from sticker shock when buying holiday food?  I know I have!  That is because I was backwards in my meal planning.  If you have an unlimited budget, you can afford to offer food with expensive ingredients in them.  If not, then this might not be the best year to try that delicious sounding recipe you found in a gourmet magazine.  Holiday food does not need to be expensive.  It just needs careful planning to stay within budget.
2. Will I have help? Let’s be honest here.  If you are just starting out as a cook, you will need to have help (and perhaps some mentoring) to pull off a lavish holiday meal.  In my family, help comes in the form of everyone bringing an assigned dish.  But there have been times that I’ve been the sole cook for a Thanksgiving meal.  When it has been “just me,” the menu has been scaled back to ensure that I am not too exhausted to enjoy myself (and to make sure that everything arrives at the table at the same time).
3. How many children will be attending and what are their ages?  How many older folks? One size does not fit all.  Even with stretchy pants.  Children can become bored or start “showing off” to the distress of adults trying to prepare the meal or have conversations.  Older folks may become tired and need a place to rest.  In both cases, plan ahead for childrens’ activities and prepare a quiet place for older guests.
4. How much space do I have to entertain? Sometimes the best place to have the meal is not in the dining room.  Perhaps it would be better to set up a buffet in the dining room and set up card tables for eating in the living and family rooms.
5. Given my space, how many people can I realistically entertain at one time? Perhaps an “open house” would be a more realistic idea for entertaining 20 family members than trying to feed them all at once if you have an apartment or small house.  You still get the benefit of family time without the stress of trying to figure out where everyone is going to sit.
6. What do your guests like to do? My poor mother used to try to get my siblings and me involved in a game when we would get together for the holidays.  But the truth of the matter was that we just wanted to talk and catch up with each other while watching ball games.  Perhaps your family is one that loves party games.  If so, have the needed supplies on hand so that you don’t have to race around your home trying to gather them at the last minute.
7. What time will you be serving? Make sure your communication is absolutely clear regarding when you want guests to arrive and when you will be serving your meal.  This is where the old-fashioned notion of snail mailed invitations comes in handy.  The information is all right there on the invitation.  Also, take into account your family’s “time habits.”  If you have family members with their own sense of time, let them know that you will begin serving at  such and such a time with or without them (and tell them an earlier serving time).  I have served cold Thanksgiving meals because everything was ready at the appointed time but my guests “were just leaving” their houses at the time they had written down on a notepad.

What other questions should we be asking to ensure that our holiday meal planning and preparation is a smooth one (and that we’re not giving thanks at the end of the day that it is all finally over)?