How to Plan a Small Family Thanksgiving Dinner

Despite the fact that many Thanksgiving dishes are designed to serve big groups, preparing the holiday feast for a table of six or less may be a very unique experience. Here are our greatest tips for reducing the menu size.

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Everyone’s Thanksgiving is unique. To accommodate all of their visitors, some people have lengthy tables that must be put up down corridors or in the garage. There are homes with not just a children’s table, but also a teen table.

 If you wish, you can spend on organic produce. Stuffing with black truffles and Piedmontese chestnuts? Sure, if you’re only cooking one little pan of it! Get the higher-quality wine or craft beer, add a bottle of Madeira, sherry, or port to serve with dessert, and spoil yourself.

Here are some suggestions and tricks to make things go more smoothly.

Plan Your Menu

Consider an elaborate dinner party and create a menu, especially for your thanksgiving audience.

A basic appetizer, a protein main dish with three to four sides including sauces, some type of bread on the table, and one or two desserts.

If your guests are up for it, choose a theme—whether it’s really retro-traditional or globally influenced, a themed dinner is always a good time.



If you’re wondering where to start, then use the online thanksgiving menu maker tool to create a stunning thanksgiving menu in minutes.

Choose Your Sides

Plan on one big or two little potatoes worth of mashed potatoes per person, or one medium sweet potato. Most stuffing recipes may be halved without sacrificing quality.

If you discover recipes that cannot be changed numerically (the chemistry of baking is too intricate for this), you can typically freeze half of the batch of rolls and other breadstuffs.

And, in certain cases, you may even freeze the uncooked dough for later use in fresh baking. This is absolutely true with pie crust. Assume a quarter pound of vegetable sides, such as roasted Brussels sprouts or seasoned carrots, per person.

A Slightly Sweet Finish

Desserts are a particularly delightful part of Thanksgiving, even for a small party, so don’t scrimp, but if you want to give more than one thing, think smaller.

Many pie recipes may be halved and baked in 6-inch pie plates or tins rather than 9- or 10-inch pie plates or tins.

A two-layer, 9-inch cake recipe yields three 6-inch cakes, and you may bake a one-layer cake for the meal and freeze the remaining two layers for a future dinner gathering.

Make one very spectacular dessert that may be served with a variety of extras, such as an apple pie with your choice of cheddar cheese, butter pecan ice cream, cinnamon whipped cream, caramel sauce, and praline nuts.

Taking Care of Leftovers

Pre-packing leftovers is a terrific tip, especially if you’ve picked meals that feed double the amount of guests and cannot be decreased.

When everything is done cooking, either immediately pack half of it into big containers for yourself, or if your guests are not living with you, split into deli container halves so that every one of your visitors has a carefully packed bag of leftovers to take home.

Last Words

What’s the nicest part about a little Thanksgiving? You may have a genuine, meaningful relationship with everyone there, and you can have one discussion at the table rather than a dozen.

There will be plenty of elbow space, no one will have to sit on the crooked folding chair or piano stool, and you will be able to dine on the fine china. Good food and drink, excellent company, good discussion, and plenty of thanks are all that are required for a perfect day.