I get that you won't be with extended family, as you typically would be.

I also get that you aren't interested in the traditional turkey dinner.

So...how is this not just spending a Thursday at home as you normally would? That's what I'm not getting from your post. Like, now it's just a day at home together. Make pot roast, or order pizza, whatever you would do on a home day.

Like any home day, just look at your community calendar and pick an activity. I'm not getting how this is different from a normal home day, if you'll be at home and don't want to make a turkey dinner.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My small family (DH, me, toddler) decided not to travel to either family for Thanksgiving this year, and none of our local friends will be around for a "friendsgiving," so we're basically skipping the holiday. Any ideas what to do for the day? Our son is 21 months. I love the idea of doing some volunteer work somewhere, but I think he's too little.

Volunteering on Thanksgiving is more about you than those who need help. Organizations hate casual volunteers who perform on holidays.

Start your own Thanksgiving traditions but don't ignore the day if it's something you want your child to care about in the future.

+1

You're a family. Have a family Thanksgiving meal.

Skipping turkey and mashed potatoes won't make us less of a family, but thanks! Anyways, just looking for some fun ideas of how to spend the day.

Uh, the poster didn't say you had to have turkey. She just said have a Thanksgiving meal. That can mean spaghetti if that's what you like, you know.

Time spent with people you love doesn't have to be a huge meal BUT memories are made from Holiday meals.

I am a single mom and we are vegetarian. So every Thanksgiving I make a homemade veggie lasagna completely from scratch : I make the noodles, i make the sauce from our summer tomatoes that i have frozen or canned. It is an all-day "event" that i do just once a year. My daughter is now a teen and she loves learning to do it all, too. A couple of times we took a nice little vacation instead, but for the most part we love our all-day lasagna making! We also have green beans from our summer garden, and homemade pumpkin pie from our fall garden I make the crust the day prior. (We live in a teeny tiny house with a teeny tiny yard that is basically all garden.)

If the weather is nice we bicycle at some point during the day, or take a short local hike. We also pull out the Christmas decorations.

It's a lovely holiday that absolutely does not have to involve turkey, which many folks really don't like or won't eat.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Volunteer places are normally overrun on Thanksgiving. Maybe make signs and go cheer for people doing a turkey trot in the morning, go home and watch the parade and/or dog show, and then check out a museum while the crowds are thin? You could order takeout for dinner and have a fun but low-key day.

Love that idea about cheering on a Turkey Trot, thanks!

You can run in one. One of you runs, the other does the walk with kid in stroller. Then go out for family meal somewhere. DH and I did this one year--the S.O.M.E Turkey Trot. It was reall fun. I ran with our oldest, he walked with our youngest. Everyone had a good time.

OP, when it was just DH, me and young toddler at home one year, I roasted a chicken and did mashed potatoes and a couple vegetables. I think we bought a pumpkin pie. The chicken was so delicious and easy. I rubbed salt all over t a day or two before cooking and it’s still easily the best chicken-anything I’ve ever had. It still felt like a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, and we took the dog on a nice fall walk and pulled out the Christmas decorations and trimmed the tree. Now it’s become tradition even when we have family visiting for Thanksgiving that after dinner or sometime over the weekend, we decorate the tree.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why "skip it"? That's weird. I mean volunteering is good but there is no reason you need others around to make it special for you and your husband.

Maybe "skipping it" isn't quite the right phrase, but we don't really care about the meal itself and have no desire to roast a turkey and all the fixins, so we're not going to bother.

You can buy turkey parts. Just a thought.

Anonymous wrote:I am fully ready for DCUM to flip their shit but one year I had a hysterectomy the Tuesday before thanksgiving. I got home on Turkey day. DH ordered...get ready... a thanksgiving meal from BOB EVANS...and it was amazing!! We have ordered Whole Foods and even dined The Ritz Carlton for Thanksgiving and I swear up and down Bob had the better feast. My family asks for it every year. I can't bring myself to order it when I am able bodied but its tempting. SO my suggestion would be to order Bob Evans and put up your tree (if you do that!).

We had the almost the same experience. Every year we traveled miles in traffic to the family. But this one year I had an awful miscarriage (lots of tears) we went to the mountains went horseback riding and the guide invited us to a diner. He warned us it was a diner but the food was excellent, no stress and since then we have the thanksgiving that one person described with the kids our China and a prayer of thanks. So much more restful.

Anonymous wrote:It's always just our family of four on Thanksgiving and we love it that way. We do have the traditional meal because that's important to my husband and kids and I don't mind preparing it. But other than that, we watch the parade in the morning, set the table for dinner with the good dishes (you don't need to be eating turkey for that!), listen to Christmas music on the radio all day, and after dinner we haul the holiday decorations out of the basement closet and put them up. We've never done a Turkey Trot since when my kids were younger they did a 1 mile fun run the next morning, but given the age of your DS that might be a fun option too.

+1 we do this every year and it’s wonderful. Family is far away.

Anonymous wrote:Sorry for the nasty replies here, OP.
I posted something similar a little while ago when I found out my husband wasn’t going to be around much for Christmas/Christmas Eve, and we weren’t going to fly out to see extended family because I wanted to be here for the little time we could spend with him. I was looking for ideas on what to do with a small, nuclear family on the holiday, since I didn’t have a lot of experience with it. I got a lot of weird, negative responses as wel. Someone even posited that I must be estranged from my parents because they weren’t flying out here. But I also had many, many helpful suggestions.

I know its hard and a little shocking when you are used to spending a holiday a certain way with a large group of people, and then you are on your own with small kids who still want to celebrate the holiday.

You got some great suggestions here! Love the turkey trot idea! I hope the day turns out well!

I don't think there were nasty replies here. I posted early on that OP should have Thanksgiving with her DH and DC because they were a family. You don't need extended family for eating a thanksgiving meal.

When I was a new single mom, I felt that me and my kids were not a legit family. It took me a while to realize that we were 'complete' with just us. I love the holidays again now, for that reason. I was suggesting to the OP that she look at her, her DH and her DC as a family because it's hard to see yourself that way in the beginning.

Anyway, one of the best, best things about Thanksgiving is that everyone is doing it. Everyone is eating the same types of foods, regardless of income level, religion, region, martial status. Even the homeless participate. Even people brand new to this country participate. I love that aspect of it.

Sorry for the nasty replies here, OP.
I posted something similar a little while ago when I found out my husband wasn’t going to be around much for Christmas/Christmas Eve, and we weren’t going to fly out to see extended family because I wanted to be here for the little time we could spend with him. I was looking for ideas on what to do with a small, nuclear family on the holiday, since I didn’t have a lot of experience with it. I got a lot of weird, negative responses as wel. Someone even posited that I must be estranged from my parents because they weren’t flying out here. But I also had many, many helpful suggestions.

I know its hard and a little shocking when you are used to spending a holiday a certain way with a large group of people, and then you are on your own with small kids who still want to celebrate the holiday.

You got some great suggestions here! Love the turkey trot idea! I hope the day turns out well!

One year we (mom, dad, and six year old at the time) checked into a hotel downtown on Wednesday night. We had dinner that night at a cozy restaurant across the street, watched the parade with room service breakfast, and then walked to the zoo. It is my favorite Thanksgiving memory by far.

NP. So all of you people outraged about OP "skipping" Thanksgiving were also outraged in the thread about Jewish preschools not celebrating Halloween, right? What sad, closed little lives you have.

OP is asking for ideas of special activities people might do in the area, especially if they are not encumbered with a day of cooking or visiting with family.

OP, sorry I don't have any specific DC area ideas, DH and I don't eat turkey nor do we care for a lot of the traditional Thanksgiving foods, nor do we like to cook. When the kids were very little we would do a hike or go to a playground, and then either get our favorite takeout or make nachos, depending on where we were living and what the eat options were. Then we'd watch a movie (now it's football). As the kids got older we created the menu with them. One year it was very traditional because the kids were curious, but usually now it's a hodge podge of different favorite dishes. But the meal is a very small part of the day.

Anonymous wrote:We usually go to the botanic gardens, zoo or a museum in the morning. Then we cook a low key meal

This. Go to the Natural History museum or American History museum and DVR the Macy's parade. Then go home and cook a little meal during nap time. After nap, put on the parade while having a glass of wine, and then have dinner.

Personally I'd also make your favorite pie and eat it for breakfast before the museum .

Thanksgiving is the best day to do the Smithsonian museums. They’re usually nearly empty. Your toddler could run around on the Mall and burn off some energy, then you could duck into whatever museums you like with no lines or crowds.

Natural History is probably best for that age, but there are some fun interactive areas at the AmHist and AmIndian museums. You could even have a _really_ traditional Thanksgiving meal at the cafe in the American Indian museum.