Thanksgiving Menu & Tablescape for my 1st Thanksgiving I’m Hosting!

ICYMI, I’m hosting my very first Thanksgiving this year! Today I’m sharing my Thanksgiving menu, why I chose the dishes I did and how I’m making this holiday a team effort!

Making a menu for a dinner party is no small feat, but making a menu for Thanksgiving may be a bit more complicated. 

While you have all of the standard dishes, as a food blogger and food lover, I want to make sure we have some unique elements to our feast.

I polled my guests, scoured the internet, scrolled endlessly on Instagram, and even flipped through magazines (yes, real paper!), and finally decided upon my menu!

How do you go about making a Thanksgiving menu?

While I’m no expert (this is precisely my 1st time!), here’s the process I followed:

First, I set my guest list and confirmed RSVPs. 

In order to get your menu, you have to know how many people you’re serving! This is especially important for figuring out how big of a turkey you need.

Next, I wrote down everyone’s favorites & accounted for allergies/preferences.

While I cannot appease everyone, if I don’t have my mother-in-law’s stuffing my husband may disown me would be very disappointed.

Also, being allergic to nuts I was highly sensitive about allergies and preferences. Luckily, I’m the only one with allergies, but my dad is a vegan, so I will need to have some vegan fare too!

Last, I researched and picked my recipes!

Of course, we need a turkey. We need something potato. So I wrote down all the classics and then figured out what I wanted to tweak.

I found the recipes I’ll be following (or if I’m kind of inventing my own – not recommended, but I cook all the time so we’ll try it!).

As a bonus, I decided what I’ll be outsourcing (why yes, my mother-in-law, you can make said stuffing!).

My Guest List

We have 13 confirmed guests this Thanksgiving. Not a huge number, but not a small feat either, for the first time I’m entertaining that many people with home cooking.

We have both sets of our parents, my grandma, my husband’s cousin, husband and kids, plus my kids.

My Thanksgiving Menu

Now what you waited for, here’s my Thanksgiving menu…

The Appetizers on My Thanksgiving Menu

You have got to start the day with some appetizers, in my opinion! 

This year I decided on:

• Baked Honey Brie in a Pumpkin from @ foodmymuse
• Fall Charcuterie Board
• Vegan Quinoa Stuffed Mushrooms (still working on the recipe!)
• Pumpkin Hummus and Crudités

The second I saw the Baked Honey Brie that’s stuffed inside a pumpkin I knew it needed to grace my menu! What a cool presentation!

A fall charcuterie board is super simple and you can add ANYTHING! I’ll probably send my husband to Trader Joe’s and have him go wild! I’m using a long board, like this one, for the ultimate presentation!

I always like to have a vegan appetizer too (aside from veggies + dip), so I’ll do a quinoa-stuffed mushroom for that umami flavor!

Last, I’ll make a batch of Pumpkin Hummus because I can easily do that the night before (and we love any advance prep!).

The Classics on My Thanksgiving Menu

We’re going to feature many of the classics, including:

• Turkey and shallot gravy (I saw in Real Simple magazine)
• My mother-in-law’s stuffing
• My mom’s liver stuffing
• Mini sweet potato pies in oranges, like this from Weelicious!
• Green bean salad (instead of casserole) – I think it’ll go over better!
• Breads, including my mom’s pumpkin bread, cornbread (def using the box from Trader Joe’s) and maybe popovers?

Yes, for 13 people (4 kids) we’re having 2 stuffings, but I can’t host Thanksgiving with my grandma and not have my mom’s liver stuffing AND I can’t host Thanksgiving with my husband and not have my mother-in-law’s stuffing. So the only solution is to have both!

The best part is that I’m delegating both of these to the respective mother!

The Veggies on My Thanksgiving Menu

Traditional Thanksgiving feels a little too heavy to me, so I’m going to lighten it up (and help everyone’s digestion) with plenty of veggies, including:

• Roasted Beet & Citrus Salad with Israeli Cous Cous(with a base of peppery arugula and endive) – recipe coming soon!
• Maple-Bourbon Roasted Winter Vegetables (including Brussels sprouts, butternut squash, beets) – inspired from Better Homes & Gardens Holiday edition

I like that these can both be served at room temperature. Sure, roasted veggies are great warm, but they hold their own when they cool down a little, which is a major consideration on Thanksgiving (even though I do have a double oven).

The Desserts on My Thanksgiving Menu

My favorite part of the menu happens to be the desserts! I want to do something unique, but also a crowd-pleaser. 

We have a great farm near us, Young’s Farm, and our cousins volunteered to pick up their pies when they confirmed they were coming, so I’m going to DELEGATE THAT! WOOO! 

I’m also going to make something for my mom and grandma’s birthdays. Maybe a rice pudding and berry trifle? Pumpkin Bread Trifle? Chocolate pudding pie (my grandma loves)? 

I’m definitely making these Vegan Pumpkin Pie Bars (but without the pecan pie crust – I’ll do a traditional graham cracker crust!)

The Tablescape

While I’ll have to report the full tablescape after Thanksgiving, this is what I’m using as my inspo…

But think a lot more pumpkins closer together, crystal candlesticks, and all white!

Thanks for following along my journey to hosting my first Thanksgiving!
XO