I think you could have the kids choose what they would like to eat on that day, then prepare it.
Make sure you have all the ingredients on the day of.

Or perhaps frozen pizza?
And for dessert 🍨 you can do “do-it-yourself” hot fudge sundaes. 😋

Afterward you can do a game night where the four of you enjoy playing a table game.
Or two.
Or just kick back w/an Uno deck!!

Or you can rent a movie (stream it) & make it a family movie night!
Complete w/hot, buttery popcorn + sodas too!

If it was just going to be the four of us, we’d sleep in, then have brunch while we watched the parade. Then we’d go for a walk/hike somewhere beautiful. Then we’d play games. In the evening, we’d watch a movie together while we ate a snacky dinner that doesn’t involve cooking: charcuterie, baking a few frozen apps, veggies and dip. Late in the evening we’d have pie.

Wegmans is amazing

Anonymous wrote:Each family member can pick a recipe or dessert to make and share, can be as simple or elaborate as you want.

OP here. This actually sounds so fun! Thanks for this suggestion!

Each family member can pick a recipe or dessert to make and share, can be as simple or elaborate as you want.

Definitely Thai takeout with fun adult cocktails.

Anonymous wrote:Neither of you want to cook yet you don't want to get take-out, but you also want to make it special?

I don't know about you, OP, but for me, as we get closer to a special day, the urge to cook that wasn't there before suddenly emerges. I don't like turkey, so we've done other things. DH has done roasted duck or duck comfit. We've done goose and pheasant. In my home country, the easiest but yummiest fowl to roast is capon. It's like a juicier, larger chicken. I have not found it here, sadly, otherwise we'd have it at every Thanksgiving. On various occasions, we've also made sushi.

But it's all time consuming. Maybe quiche? Lasagna? Stew?

OP here! Definitely not opposed to takeout, just don’t want to go out to eat. Also, don’t mind cooking something lite, but don’t want to fool around with a bird and all of the traditional accoutrements.

Chinese takeout.

Neither of you want to cook yet you don't want to get take-out, but you also want to make it special?

I don't know about you, OP, but for me, as we get closer to a special day, the urge to cook that wasn't there before suddenly emerges. I don't like turkey, so we've done other things. DH has done roasted duck or duck comfit. We've done goose and pheasant. In my home country, the easiest but yummiest fowl to roast is capon. It's like a juicier, larger chicken. I have not found it here, sadly, otherwise we'd have it at every Thanksgiving. On various occasions, we've also made sushi.

But it's all time consuming. Maybe quiche? Lasagna? Stew?

We flew solo a couple years ago. We really enjoy cooking dishes from various countries so we cooked up a feast of various traditional holiday dishes from around the world

Get a Thanksgiving dinner from honey baked ham. They have a 4 person one.

Why can't you host?

We get Korean takeout on Thanksgiving or Christmas when we don't want to cook. We don't do it often other than that so it feels special and fun, and it's a bit of a splurge because we go all out with some fun dishes to share that we wouldn't normally do. Sort of potluck / everyone shares everything style.

What about home made pizza? That was my "need something to do" pandemic project. Everyone can pick their own toppings.

Just found out that our local-ish Thanksgiving has been canceled due to some unexpected medical issues the host is experiencing. Everyone has decided to just do their own thing this year, so it’ll be DH, myself, and our 13 and 15yo. I cooked last year and have no desire to do it again this year, especially for only four people. I asked DH if he wanted to cook the turkey and I’d tackle the sides, and he doesn’t want to, either. The kids don’t mind at all that we won’t have a “traditional” Thanksgiving, so it’s settled, but I’d still like to do something fun and unique. We also don’t want to out if we can help it, so I’m only looking for ideas for things we can do/eat at home.

I’m curious what you’d do, what you’d eat, etc, if you were suddenly in our shoes!