Stress Free Holidays Part 6
More Steps For Planning Thanksgiving Day

Here are some more steps to take as part of planning Thanksgiving day to make it a stress free, enjoyable time for you and your family.

Week #6 of the Stress Free Holidays Challenge is all about planning Thanksgiving, with a little Christmas planning thrown in as well. It includes free printables and organizing tips {on Household Management 101}

This week we're still mainly in the mode of planning for Thanksgiving, although we will also deal with a little Christmas preparations too this week.

Thanksgiving Preparations For The Week - Decorating Your Home And Table

Photo by s13610

This week as part of planning Thanksgiving day, you should slowly begin decorating your home for Thanksgiving.

You don't need to get out all your decorations at once, but instead I suggest doing it slowly throughout the week.

Of course, many of the fall decorations you have around your house, even from Halloween, may also work for this time of year so it may not be too much trouble for you.

Just as with your Halloween decorations, do yourself a favor and give away or throw away any decorations you know you won't use anymore. If you don't use them they are just clutter and should leave your home. It will make putting things back away after the holiday is over easier as well.

Further, make sure you put away all the boxes and other storage containers that held your decorations once they're in place, so they don't stay out too long.

Prepare Your Table Decorations And Embellishments Ahead Of Time

This is also the week to think about the decorations and embellishments for your Thanksgiving table.

Do you use your fine table linens, and your best china and silverware, for example? Do you like to fold your napkins in a pretty shape for the table?

If so, now is the time to begin getting this stuff ready, so you are not in a mad dash trying to wash the china, iron the tablecloth, fold your napkins, and clean and polish the silver while trying to cook the Thanksgiving feast and entertain your out of town guests.

Think through what needs to be readied for the big day and write notes on your calendar about when you will prepare all these things. I suggest doing it all at least a week before the big day if you have a place to keep it out for a little while, so you can focus during the week of Thanksgiving on the food preparations and entertaining, only.

Here are some resources that may help you:

How To Polish Silver (on Stain Removal 101)
How To Fold A Napkin Several Fancy Ways (with multiple video instructions)
How To Fold A Rectangular And A Round Tablecloth (with videos)

Make Sure You Have Enough Chairs, Glasses, Plates, Etc. For Everyone Coming On Thanksgiving Day

Also, this is the week to think about whether you have all the place settings you need, chairs, glasses, and other things you may need for Thanksgiving day. If not, make arrangements to rent or borrow this stuff now, or have friends or family bring some folding chairs or other items with them that you can use on the day of Thanksgiving.

These little planning Thanksgiving sessions this week can make a real difference in lowering your stress level and raising your enjoyment level later on.

Make sure to consult your Thanksgiving countdown checklist to get the big picture of what you should do each week to prepare for the big day without stress!

Also, if you haven't created your Thanksgiving planner, go ahead and do it now.

Christmas Preparations For The Week - Order Your Christmas Cards

One of the most difficult things to do, without getting stressed out, is to actually take all the small steps needed throughout the holiday season to get your Christmas cards out on time.

That's why even though our big focus this week in on planning Thanksgiving day, we are also going to tackle this big step for planning Christmas -- actually ordering your Christmas cards.

Perhaps you've already done this, since I have reminded you a couple of times already during these weekly challenges, but here's yet another friendly reminder!

You can just go to a store and buy some generic cards, and send those out if you like. Or you can order personalized Christmas cards, it's your choice.

But, to make sure that you get them back in time to lesiurely fill them all out, and address and stamp them, you need to order now so you can take the next step regarding your Christmas cards as part of this Stress Free Holidays series when it rolls around.

Good luck with planning Thanksgiving this week, along with just a little bit of Christmas preparations thrown in there too! Remember, I'm doing all these things right along with you!

How Is Planning Thanksgiving Going So Far? Tell Me In The Comments, Plus Sneak Peek For Next Week!

I would love to know how you're doing on this week's challenge. You can share your successes and your setbacks below in the comments and maybe I or another reader can help you, or cheer you on with motivation and support!

In addition, I thought some of you might want to know briefly what we'll be working on next week, so I'll tell you:

Cleaning your home and kitchen to get ready for guests and lots of cooking
Creating freezer meals for upcoming busy holiday season

Previous Parts Of The Stress Free Holiday Series

If you missed the previous parts of this series, you can still jump in. There is always time to start.

Here is the previous challenges:

stress free holidays at household management 101

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