Tag: Coworkers

Why You Should Host a Thanksgiving Party

When it comes to Thanksgiving, a fairly large amount of focus is placed on families. While you are always urged to spend the holidays with your family, whenever you have the chance, you may not necessarily be able to. Each year, millions of Americans spend Thanksgiving alone. Whether you may end up spending the Thanksgiving holiday alone or some of your friends might, you dont necessarily have to. If you want to make it so you are not alone on Thanksgiving or those that you know and love arent alone, you could make the decision to host a Thanksgiving party at your home.

As previously mentioned, the greatest reasons why you may want to host a Thanksgiving party is so that no one will be alone for the holidays. Whether you choose to invite your friends, family members, coworkers, or neighbors, there is a good chance that you may, literally, be making someones holiday. In addition to party guests that have no other plans or family in the area, you may also find that even those that do have other plans will try and stop by your Thanksgiving party. There is just something about the holiday season, as well as a party, that makes everyone want to socialize, even with those that they may not personally know well.

Another reason why you may be interested in hosting a Thanksgiving party is to create a social network of friends, family members, neighbors, or coworkers. Whether you are new to the neighborhood, the family, or even work, you may want to think about hosting a Thanksgiving party and inviting your new friends or acquaintances. If you are new to the area, you may find that hosting a Thanksgiving party is one of the best ways to familiarize yourself with those that you may end up interacting with, as well as make new friends. Even if you are not new to the workplace, area, or family, it may be good idea to host a Thanksgiving party and invite someone who may be. You may help make it easier for that individual to feel more comfortable in their new setting.

If you are a parent, it may also be a good idea to for you to host a Thanksgiving party. No matter what the age of your child or children, one thing is for sure, kids love parties. In fact, you may even want to think about hosting a kids only Thanksgiving party. Your child would likely enjoy the fact that you are willing to plan a party just for them and their friends. If you would prefer to host a Thanksgiving party that you, as well as your children would enjoy, you may want to think about hosting an all ages Thanksgiving party. An all ages Thanksgiving party would make it so your child or children could invite their friends, but so you would also invite your own guests as well.

Another one of the many reasons why you should, at least, think about hosting a Thanksgiving party is because they are relatively easy to host. Of course, you will find that some planning and preparation is involved, but what is nice about planning your own Thanksgiving party is that you could, literally, make your party anything that you want it to be. For instance, if you would like to go all out and plan the ultimate party of the year, you may want to think about hosting a formal Thanksgiving party. If you are interested in hosting a Thanksgiving party, but you dont want all of the hassle that goes along with planning one, you may want to host a casual Thanksgiving party. The type of Thanksgiving party that you choose to host will have a direct impact on exactly how easy it is to host your own party.

Whether you are looking to please your children, avoid spending the holidays alone, or if you just want to have a party, you may want to seriously consider hosting your own Thanksgiving party. If you would like to, you are urged to act fast. You will want to invite your guests before they make other plans or someone else decides to host their own Thanksgiving party.

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Preparing Your Home for Your Thanksgiving Party

Have you officially made the decision to host a Thanksgiving party this year? If so, congratulations! Although it can be exciting to plan a Thanksgiving party, it can also be a stressful time. That is why you are advised to start your planning as early as you possibly can; it will help to ensure that you get everything done on time. As important as it is to prepare for your party in advance, there are some things that you just cant do early. One of those things is preparing your home for your party. In many cases, you will find that you may want to or need to wait till the day or two before your party to start officially preparing your home.

As you likely already know, there are a number of different things that you will need to do, to prepare your home for your Thanksgiving party. One of those things would be the cleaning of your home. When attending a party, whether your guests be close friends, family members, neighbors, or coworkers, everyone expects to arrive at a clean house. That is why it may be a good idea for you to clean all the glass in your home, dust everything, as well as vacuum your home or sweep your floors. You will want to place a focus on the rooms that your guests will be using the most, such as the kitchen, bathroom, dining room, or living room.

There is also a good chance that you will have decorations that you need to hang up; what is a good Thanksgiving party without Thanksgiving decorations? Whether you have Thanksgiving streamers, balloons, or just table centerpiece decorations, you may want to set them up the day or two before your Thanksgiving party. Setting them up early, but not too early, will ensure that all of your decorations are up in enough time, but not enough time for them to get dirty or ruined.

It is also extremely important that you make sure you have enough furniture to accommodate all of your guests. If your party guests will also be eating dinner at your Thanksgiving party, you will need to make sure that you have enough seating arrangements. For a large dinner party, it may be a good idea to purchase or rent additional table and chairs. If you need to rent table and chairs, it may be a good idea to put in your rental request early, just in case. Even if you are only having a Thanksgiving party with snacks and drinks, it is still important to make sure that you have enough chairs for all of your guests; however, extra tables may not necessarily be needed.

In addition to preparing the inside of your home, it may also be a good idea to prepare the outside of it as well. If you have any garbage or debris around the entranceway to your home, it may be a good idea to remove it. Depending on where you live, your weather may include snow. If your walkways are covered with snow or ice, it may be a good idea to clean them, particularly right before your guests are about to arrive. You may also want to think about the parking arrangements, especially if you are planning on having a big party. You may want to clear as many spots in your driveway or in your yard as you can.

By keeping the above mentioned points in mind, your home should be clean and ready for when your guests arrive. That is when the fun can really begin!

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Cooking for Sunday Dinner

From as far back as I can remember there have been special church occasions when dinner on the church grounds was the order for the day. Far too many times I watched as person after person walked in with store purchased fried chicken. Whether the reason for this was lack of time, lack of planning, or lack of ideas I was never quite certain. I was certain however, that this was not isolated to my church alone.

It may seem odd but I have traveled all over the country and lived in many different areas of the culture. One thing that seems constant no matter where I live is that someone inevitably brings fried chicken from a local restaurant or deli as his or her potluck offering. There is nothing wrong with this of course, but there are so many great recipes available for Sunday dinner cooking that it seems odd that so many would resort to this tired old tradition rather than spicing things up with a spicy taco casserole or sweetening the deal with some delightfully delicious and simple to make dessert.

Sunday dinners obviously aren’t the only time when cooking a casserole or making a dessert is a good decision for the day. They are, however, the most common from my childhood, which is why I often refer to them. There are also ‘pitch ins’ at work that require a contribution and these are an excellent opportunity to make coworkers envy your culinary talents. Even for those who are health conscious however, there are many wonderful types of salads that can be prepared for occasions such as this that will provide you with a guilt free entre at the event for which you are preparing your offering.

You do not have to choose calorie or fat filled dishes for your Sunday dinner cooking. In fact, when you are doing the cooking you should cook the things you enjoy eating. Most of us are much more likely to put our best efforts into preparing the foods we enjoy rather than those that feel as though they are a chore for us to make. The same holds true when cooking for potlucks and such. Just be careful that you do not prepare the exact same dish every time or people will think that it is the only dish you can prepare.

I recommend checking out casserole recipes online and in your favorite magazines. Even magazines that offer healthier eating options often have a casserole, large salad, or even a healthy dessert you can prepare for these events. My personal solution has always been to collect recipes over time that I would like to try out and use the potluck audience as my recipe guinea pigs. This way if my family or I do not like it, we won’t be stuck with leftovers for a week and if we do like it, we can put it into our rotation of recipes for use at home.

Sunday dinner cooking doesn’t have to be nearly as stressful as many of us make it out to be. Many wonderful crock-pot recipes can actually be prepared while you sleep. Just load your slow cooker with the proper ingredients and turn it on before turning in. You should awaken to the wonderful aroma of whatever delightful dish you have prepared and still manage to get ready for church in record time. This tried and true technique is a great way to make Sunday dinner cooking quick and easy.

Even if you are one of the many who have very limited culinary talents it is quite possible to wow your friends, relatives, and fellow church members with the correct ‘simple to make’ recipe. Desserts are by far the best way to go in this effort and can also be made the night before (in many cases) and stored in the refrigerator. Desserts are almost always a good bet and very few people ever complain about them regardless. The Kraft foods website offers some fabulously easy to make and delicious desserts if you are in need. The next time it is your turn to join in on the potluck preparation don’t resort to fried chicken. Dish up something that will truly turn heads instead.

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