Reply to How to better manage hosting big family for holiday visit?

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[quote=Anonymous]I hosted Thanksgiving this past year at my elderly mother's home.  We had 9 people staying at the house and then an additional 6 neighbors for dinner.  So, we had less people in the house for an extended time but I had the added challenge of not being in my home.  When the idea to do this was tossed around my husband just laughed and said "Just Project Manage the hell out of it!"  And he was absolutely correct. I put together a spreadsheet of every meal that needed to be handled from the time the first person would arrive. I made a binder with recopies for everything that needed to be made, even the things I know how to make because this way others could help.  Included in the spreadsheet were tasks like adding inserts into the table, finding linens and what each Thanksgiving food would be served in. Then came the assignments. Everyone got assigned tasks. I checked in with people ahead of time to see what they would like to help with and also paid attention to things like "Aunt Mary can't stand for a long time" No problem, she can sit at the kitchen table and peel the apples for the pie while Aunt Joan sits at the table and chops the carrots and celery for the stuffing.

Everyone laughed at how I tackled the event like a project from work. But it worked.  Everyone pitched in. Some people swapped tasks, but they understood they needed to figure it out. And everyone had a great time. It wasn't perfect. The green beans were so bad and Aunt Larla will never be in charge of those again!! The best part was putting it all down in writing made me relax and gave me a chance to enjoy the time with our family and friends.

For the OP: I would do some planning ahead and find activities outside of the house for people to go do. Also figure out some activities to do in the house but that don't involve the kitchen so that those helping with food prep have a little space to work.[/quote]

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