As if your life was not hectic enough, juggling your work, personal, and children’s schedules can add up. Then add in hosting Thanksgiving and planning your dinner and holiday along with being a working mom. It’s enough to send any mother into a panic attack. Pro Tip: Remind yourself that you are a mom and that is the ultimate superpower (maybe take a pause and breathe too).
We recognize how much our supermoms really do, so this holiday season we put together some helpful tips to help! Read on this week for reminders and tips on remaining organized, calm, and more importantly, having more time to spend with your loved ones this Thanksgiving season.
Do Meal Plan
If your family is anything like mine, everyone has a different favorite dish, so you end up with 15 side dishes on your table for Thanksgiving (along with the star of the show, your Turkey). About a week ahead of the big day, sit down and write out what dishes you will be making and all the ingredients you will need (trust me this will make you feel accomplished). Get as detailed as possible, and check your list several times! This will help alleviate any extra runs the day of.
Digital Grocery Shopping
Open your friendly Instacart app or preferred grocery store app and order your groceries online AND have them delivered to your house. Cross off the items your shopper has grabbed as they are shopping so you know what items you will need to personally pick up yourself.
Also, if you are particular and want a shopper who is actually invested in your order and will communicate with you while they are shopping, try scheduling your order to be delivered in the middle of the work day, or first thing on Saturday or Sunday morning.
Prep, Prep, and Prep
Identify parts (or all) of each dish that you can prepare ahead of time. Whether it is grading all the cheese for your mac and cheese the night before, making your stuffing for the turkey, snipping the ends of your green beans, or peeling carrots. All of this prep work will save you an ample amount of time on Thanksgiving and will allow you to spend more time with your loved ones (and not be as stressed). Involve your children in this too! They love to snip green beans, peel carrots, and chop vegetables!
Do Involve Your Children
There are a couple of ways to involve your children in Thanksgiving. Let’s face it, they are going to be off of school and you are going to need to give them something to do! Almost all children are more than likely excited about the holiday and love to contribute to the big day. Make it exciting for them and have them be your little chefs. This is fun and teaches them a life skill or two. Below are a couple of ideas you can involve them in which will take up their time and add a cute touch to the day.
Dessert
That’s right, let them make a dessert. Not the pumpkin pie, but let them make something that is easy and they will be proud of. For example, Pilgram Hats! This little treat is simple, easy, hard to mess up, and something your children can be very proud of!
Placemats
A fun way for the kids to help decorate the Thanksgiving table is by making placemats. This can be something they color, paint, use items from outside, or all the above. Below is a link that lists different placemat ideas and directions.
Delegate
Listen, you do not have to do it all. Delegate appetizers, desserts, or other parts of the meal for others to do. Make assignments! It is okay to have help. Let people help you! By doing this, not only will it free up time, but it will also lessen your stress load and allow your guests to feel involved in the holiday.
Special Rewards
Once your kids have completed their project, they will more than likely want to help with something else. This is your opportunity to have them pick up and clean the house. They will more than likely complain and say they don’t want to do it, but sweeten the pot and tell them you have a little surprise for them or a reward if they do it (and do it to your liking). It can be a candy bar, a small toy, or maybe a movie and sweet! This will have them want to do it every year moving forward for awhile, or at least maybe until their teens.
Timeline
The night before the big day, write out each dish you are making, how long it takes to cook, what you are going to serve it in, and if it needs to go in the oven, and at what temperature. From there, write out a timeline of when you need to start each meal and when it needs to be in the oven. This will help you figure out what you need to work on first!
Conclusion
We hope you and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving, this day is meant to give thanks for all of the blessings you have in your life. By following these helpful tips, this will allow you to be able to enjoy the day with your family and friends, and make you feel more confident and less stress being the supermom you are.