One of the major attractions of Thanksgiving celebrations is the festive meal,
which is mainly centered on a huge roasted turkey, along with a number of side
dishes and desserts. Families start preparing for the big feast weeks in advance
and people wait in anticipation for the ‘big day’ to arrive. Most of these
dishes are traditional in nature, with the recipes being handed down from one
generation to the other. The few changes seen in the menu today are due to
modernization and the recent intermingling of cultures. Preparations for the
Thanksgiving feast start about two to three weeks beforehand and with the
passing days, the refrigerator gets stocked with delicious and mouth-watering
dishes. By now, you have an elaborate menu, all your dishes are ready; you have
polished and scrubbed your dinnerware well, bought new tablecloths and fabric
napkins and are ready to throw out a wonderful Thanksgiving feast. What about
setting the table? Here are some table setting tips and ideas that you can use
to make your Thanksgiving Dinner a huge success:
Arranging Thanksgiving Table
* The formal style of serving the meals is the one where someone serves each
plate in the kitchen and delivers it to the table. At the same time, there is
someone to wait on everybody at the table. If you are hosting a large gathering
or having a potluck dinner, you may also arrange for buffet-style serving.
* Make sure you have a serving dish and serving utensils for each of your dish
and that you have enough gravy ladles too.
* The dinner fork is kept closest to the plate on the left side and the salad
fork is farthest away from it, while knife is kept closes to the plate on the
right, with the blade facing towards the plate and spoon is further on the
right. The soup spoons are the furthest on the right, while tea spoon, if
present, is placed just after the knife.
* The host may sit on the head of the table, serve each plate there and pass it
down to the guests. Serving dishes are then left on the table, so that they can
be passed on for second and third helpings.
* While setting the holiday table, plan out on the positions of the serving
dishes too, along with table settings and always place the serving utensils next
to the serving dishes.
* You may serve in family style, where the table is already set with all the
dinnerware already arranged at each seating place and serving dishes placed at
the center of the table, from where they are passed down to all the guests, who
can then serve themselves.
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