Formal or Casual Thanksgiving?

[Christmas-A-Holic]

I am interested in how your Thanksgiving meal is served. Do you have a formal setting, with all the family seated at once and served on fine china or is it casual, buffet style on paper plates? Does everyone dress up for the occasion or everyone dresses casual.

Ours has always been very casual buffet style. We get a big table and fill it with all kinds of goodies and everyone helps themselves. I use decorated paper plates, napkins and cups. This seems to work best because my daughter has several homes to visit and they sometimes show up a little later and we still have the food out ready for them to help themselves. Clean up is much easier since we use paper plates, less dishes to wash! cheesy I have enough dishes to wash just preparing the food, lol. Everyone dresses casual as well.

Let us know how your Thanksgiving is. :family:

 

[Laney]

We have done every range of formal to VERY casual Thanksgivings. We just do what suits us best at the time. One TG it was just my mom, dad, DH and I, so we just grilled steaks. While I like the formal feeling with the china and all, I will admit it is just SO much easier to clean up afterwards if you use paper plates!

 

[Santa's Helper]

I always set a formal table but since I don't have an actual dining room table I have to use a folding table that I get from the fire hall. So it's pretty slender and I can't fit all of the food on the table. I use smaller dishes to put some of the food on the table and then I have a smaller table with warming stations on it so that all of the other food can stay warm. I use my regular plates and silverware even though I don't have a dish washer. I only do one big meal a year so I like to bring it all out. It's a lot of dishes but, my mom usually tackles that for me since I prepare everything. It works out but, the part that I think takes the longest is my mom likes to put everything into smaller containers for the refrigerator and that takes up a lot of time. I think this year I'm just gonna clean everything out of the fridge before dinner so that it's nearly empty and then just put stuff away in the containers that they are in for dinner. That way it will save time and as they empty I can just wash them instead of creating even more dishes by emptying them after dinner.

 

[Santa's Helper]

Oh and I forgot to say that we all dress casual. We used to dress nice when I was still living at home with my mom but, now we've loosened up a bit and go casually dressed. It's just easier that way.

 

[Wenceslaus]

We serve buffet style, which makes everybody happy (no one gets food that he or she doesn't want), but we always use the china and silverware and cloth napkins. The dishwasher and washing machine are happy to do the cleanup for us.

Dress is casual, but jeans, t-shirts, shorts, or sneakers would be too casual. There have got to be a few dinners per year where we look nice.

 

[joyful]

We are formal and everyone sits down at the table. Sometimes I do place cards (the kids get a kick out of it).
We have always dress-up for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. My husband and I started with our children and we are blessed to see them as adults doing the same. Now the grandchildren follow our example. To us it's just a form of discipline that always helps in different areas of life.

 

[Snow-in-Texas]

When I was a kid it was pretty formal, we each even got a glass of wine, even the kids, so I thought that was pretty cool. I don't remember actually having to dress up, but otherwise it was pretty formal. As my wife said here now it is very casual, so that actually too a little adjustment for me, but not a big deal, I still enjoy it very much.

 

[Christmas-A-Holic]

I always set a formal table but since I don't have an actual dining room table I have to use a folding table that I get from the fire hall. So it's pretty slender and I can't fit all of the food on the table. I use smaller dishes to put some of the food on the table and then I have a smaller table with warming stations on it so that all of the other food can stay warm. I use my regular plates and silverware even though I don't have a dish washer. I only do one big meal a year so I like to bring it all out. It's a lot of dishes but, my mom usually tackles that for me since I prepare everything. It works out but, the part that I think takes the longest is my mom likes to put everything into smaller containers for the refrigerator and that takes up a lot of time. I think this year I'm just gonna clean everything out of the fridge before dinner so that it's nearly empty and then just put stuff away in the containers that they are in for dinner. That way it will save time and as they empty I can just wash them instead of creating even more dishes by emptying them after dinner.

I try to do the same with clearing out the fridge for leftovers. I cook most of the meal but my parents usually bring a dish or two as well so it adds to the food that needs storing. We also have extra containers for everyone to take leftovers home.
Ahhh...Leftovers are the best! :stuffed:

 

[Santa's Helper]

I used to let people take home leftovers in my containers but, last year one of the things on my Christmas list was...Containers! Nobody would bring them back so now it's a requirement that everyone brings their own containers with them.

 

[Christmas-A-Holic]

I used to let people take home leftovers in my containers but, last year one of the things on my Christmas list was...Containers! Nobody would bring them back so now it's a requirement that everyone brings their own containers with them.

Ahh yes, that happened to me but I solved that by collecting empty butter tubs and other types of containers that they can keep.

I will keep that in mind for some to bring containers if I am low on them one year.

 

[Santa's Helper]

Ahh yes, that happened to me but I solved that by collecting empty butter tubs and other types of containers that they can keep.

I will keep that in mind for some to bring containers if I am low on them one year.

My mom does that. I don't use enough of those containers throughout the year to save up enough. My mom orders Chinese food and she keeps all the containers or the cool whip containers.

 

[made582]

We have always had a casual thanksgiving. We serve buffet style and use paper plates. My sister always saves butter and cool whip containers to send everyones leftovers home in. As far as cleaning up goes she has a dishwasher but we always wash everything by hand.

 

[ballcoach]

We only eat on China at Christmas....I dunno why....we really don't sit down and eat at one table....guess b/c we don't have a table big enough to fit 20 or 25...our extended family gets together on Thanksgiving so there are quite a few....now....we wear anything from dress pants and nice shirt to blue jeans and nice shirt....but we look respectable for sure....going back to the China....I don't know anyone who has enough China for all those people....Chistmas is much different....just wife, parents, brother, grandparents and aunt and uncle....great aunts, uncles and cousins do their closer family thing....we always visit....but Thanksgiving is the BIG family thing....Christmas is the more intimate setting....anybody else like that?

 

[ILuvChristmas]

Always has been buffet/ paper plates/nice casual style. But that is with my Mom and my brothers'families and their children on the eve of Thanksgiving. Same thing with Aunt and cousins on Thanksgiving day on my side of the family.

Husband's side is semi-formal buffet style. We eat off of fine China etc but we get to choose what we want to eat.

I've always wanted to set nice table for Thanksgiving and Christmas. So I am going to do so with my immediate family. Can't wait to do that this year!

 

[Mumof2]

nothing over the top,but we dress casual,table is nice,everyone serves themselves we all sit and eat.

 

[Sunshine73]

Depends on who we spend Thaksgiving with. If it's with my large, loud family full of kids...it's more casual with buffet style service on paper plates, etc. At my in-laws house it's far more formal with everyone seated around the dining table with the good china, etc.

 

[snowytree]

We have always been casual and everyone gets their own food. We do sit all together at a table in my dining room and if I have to I will use a little folding table and put it at the end of the dining room table. We definitely use paper plates!

 

[Chillywilly]

Formal Thanksgiving for my family this year. It depends on who is in charge that year. :family:

 

[Maureen]

We celebrate the Canadian Thanksgiving on the 2nd Monday of October, but that's only because I'm Canadian. Britain as a whole does not recognise this holiday, which is a shame as they are losing a SERIOUS amount of great food!!!!!

 

[ILuvChristmas]

We celebrate the Canadian Thanksgiving on the 2nd Monday of October, but that's only because I'm Canadian. Britain as a whole does not recognise this holiday, which is a shame as they are losing a SERIOUS amount of great food!!!!!

I actually share a Thanksgiving meal with a few Brits. My husband's cousin married a guy from England so his family alternates visiting between Christmas and Thanksgiving. It's so weird to hear southern accents along with British accents lol! I tell ya they sure LOVE the food!