With our regular Wednesday feature, Cackleberries.com has another expert article to help parents solve those tough child rearing dilemmas.  The Cackleberries How-to feature provides great parenting tips, tricks, and techniques to help you deal with any sort of situation that may arise throughout the process of parenthood.  You can view all of our expert articles on the right side of the page under the “Expert Articles” category.  If you have a topic you’d like us to cover, feel free to let us know at info@cackleberries.com

With American Thanksgiving closing in, we have a mini 2 part feature to make sure you have the most successful thanksgiving dinner ever!  Read on for part 1 and be sure to check back next Wednesday as we release the conclusion of Cackleberries Guide to Thanksgiving!

How to Host a Successful Thanksgiving Dinner – Part 1 of 2

Cackleberries has compiled an 8-step guide to pulling of a highly successful Thanksgiving Dinner. Today, we will share with you, the first half…..

1 – Have Entertainment For The Kids

If you have children in the family, you’ll need to take steps to make sure they’re entertained, especially if you’re going to be preparing food all day. Ideally, you could have the young ones running around outside and playing in the yard but with the late date of thanksgiving and the likelihood of inclement weather, you’ll need to have an indoor alternative. A room full of toys, video games, board games, or books would go along way in providing the children with something to do. Snacks are also key since dinner may not be served on the same schedule that the children are used to.

2 – Have Entertainment For The Adults 

Most people think that things will take care of themselves. While this may be the case for some, it may not be for others. If you’re hosting a thanksgiving get-together, you’ll want to make sure you have activities that people can participate in. Whether it’s board games, movies, football on TV, or even house duties such as serving or bartending, people will want some form of entertainment. Be sure to provide options.

3 – Prepare As Much As You Can The Day Before

No one wants to have a family gathering and not get to participate themselves. Well, that’s what will happen if you don’t head this advice. Cooking a Thanksgiving feast is a massive undertaking. Anything that you can prepare ahead of time should be. Peel potatoes and leave them in a bucket of water, make pies, prep dishes for baking ahead of time, etc. The more prep you do, the more time you’ll have to enjoy your thanksgiving.

4 – Plan Your Menu And Get All Your Ingredients Early

Nothing is worse than a last minute trip to the grocery store, only to find that they’re all out of cranberry sauce. Plan your menu ahead of time and make sure you have everything on hand for the meal. This includes appetizers and beverages. You don’t want to be caught running out of anything. Also, be careful to ask your guests ahead of time about any allergies they may suffer from. Depending on what you find out, you may need to prepare alternative food options.

Stay tuned for the completion to Cackleberries Guide to Thanksgiving next week!