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Holiday Special: Tackling Turkey Day
11/17/2011
by Lauren Conrad

Holiday Special: Tackling Turkey Day

Is it your first year hosting Thanksgiving dinner? Or are you simply helping the folks prepare? Here are a few tips to make Thanksgiving dinner easy breezy and stress-free:

  • Confirm your guest list before you go shopping.
  • Figure out what size turkey you need for your group. Figure 2 pounds per person. For instance, 10 people = 20 pound turkey.
  • Pick your recipes and prepare your shopping lists ASAP.
  • Go shopping for all non-perishable goods this weekend and buy the turkey too.
  • Start defrosting the turkey three to four days ahead of time depending on the weight.
  • It’s a good idea to set the table a few days before. Check out the photos I included below for place setting inspiration.
  • The day before Thanksgiving: Go shopping for all perishable goods. Prepare all sauces, soups and vegetable plates too. If you have time, prep dessert as well.
  • On the day of Thanksgiving: Cook the turkey, make the stuffing and finish preparing all plates. Things may (and most likely will) go wrong so be prepared for slipups and take it all with a grain of salt. Mistakes will happen and it’s up to you to make the best of them.

If you’re in need of some Thanksgiving-themed table inspiration (that’s a mouth full), check out these beautiful place settings I found…

Holiday Special: Tackling Turkey Day

Holiday Special: Tackling Turkey Day

Holiday Special: Tackling Turkey Day

Holiday Special: Tackling Turkey Day

Holiday Special: Tackling Turkey Day

I hope you found these tips helpful. If you have any useful tips, share them in the comments below.

Ever had a Thanksgiving go fabulously awry? Share your funny story in the comments below. I’ll feature the best tale in a Member Spotlight post!

XO Lauren

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Photos: Itswrittenonthewalls, Brittanystiles, Mochatini, Mochatini, CountryLiving, Besthomeinteriordesign
 
Categories: Celebrate  

One year my aunt dropped the full gravy boat. Gravy was everywhere and on the ceiling for years after! It was a mess!

wow that looks fabulous. I wish we had thanksgiving in the UK! I absolutely love Christmas though and can't wait for the holidays. I want this outfit to wear on Xmas day :) xx

http://mediamarmalade.blogspot.com/2011/11/jadore.html

What great tips! Love the table settings... so pretty!

I remember one year my dad decided to fry a turkey but something went wrong and when the turkey was dropped into the fryer it literally shot up like 30 feet in the air... Luckily no one (aside from the turkey) was hurt. We ended up ordering pizza... : ) It was a Turkey Day for the books!

Hi Lauren!! I love your tips and specially your blog! 

This is my friend's blog, unfortunally it's in Portuguese but is really nice! 

She is a stylist too and her brand name is "Pera".

Check it out: http://delicinhasdepera.wordpress.com/ 

Thank you! 

soo cute. the bird cages=awesomness.

i cooked a dinner for 30 one year of my Husbands co workers the day before Thanksgiving as a Thank you for their hard work. Only problem was he did not tell everyone and thought everybody else did. This was before text and email.. I set table with tablescapes, put out the good silver and china and made a beauitful inviting home with candles and name cards. I worked for days on this dinner. So after he failed to tell everyone himself, many did not know- So only about 10 showed up. We ate Turkey for many many days. I made him do all the clean up.  His punishment was missing ALL his ball games. Ha Ha.

But I learned how to cook a big dinner on Thansgiving and have it all come out perfect. To this day I think its one of the most simple meals to make

These are beautiful.  I don't have a funny story to share, but i have a little secret for a moist turkey.  Marinate the turkey the day before in a citrus brine..

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/citrus-turkey-brine/detail.aspx  so, so yummy.

YES! Last year I made the most decadent and delicious  caramel-soaked pumpkin cupcakes, with homemade cream cheese frosting. and I painstakingly and meticulously created these fall leaves with fondant and topped it with toasted pecans.....

well I bring the two dozen or so to my in-laws party....and all of my MIL's siblings (8 in total) are diabetic.....so needless to say they were quite neglected! :(