Thanksgiving Dinner Ideas

We've hosted a few Thanksgiving dinners here and I really enjoy entertaining friends and family but I'm always looking for fun ways to spruce up the dinner and make it a little more memorable, meaningful or entertaining.

Here are a couple things I've done that have been successful:

One year I researched some of my family history. As it happens, my father's family has thick roots on the Mayflower with many direct lines coming across on that famous ship so I read up on our ancestors that were listed as passengers and then made folded 2 x 4 inch place cards with each guest's name on the front and the name of a corresponding Mayflower ancestor along with a short biography on the inside.

I matched husband and wife ancestors with husband and wife guests. For example, Francis and and Sarah Eaton would have been matched with my brother in law and my sister. The biography would have included any details about their life or history and where details were sketchy (as with many of the women) I painted a general picture of life for someone who would have been in their position. There may not have been details about the woman's individual history but there is plenty of information about what women did on the voyage in terms of cooking, cleaning, giving birth, etc.

You may not have such an easy family history to research, or one that relates so beautifully to Thanksgiving, but you could do this with your own ancestors. If there isn't much known about them, assign ancestors to the guests anyway and use it as dinner conversation. "What did you remember about Grandma Nelson?" and that kind of thing. It's a wonderful way to bring family closer together.

Another thing I did that wasn't nearly so beautifully historic and family-promoting was that I told each guest to come prepared to tell a joke. At first they thought I was a little batty but all agreed to it and it was a great part of the meal to stop and say, "Okay, tell us your joke." You'll never believe what Uncle Joe thinks is funny or how Grandma can't tell a joke without reading it off of her paper. I still remember Carinne's joke about "Why did the chicken cross the road?" and chuckle to myself about it.

Any ideas that you've had for spicing up the Thanksgiving dinner?



Technorati tags: Thanksgiving, holidays, entertaining