West Chester Dish

A holiday that revolves entirely around food and giving thanks? Sign me up. Unless, of course, I have to host. Luckily, my mother is hosting for this year’s festivities, so I don’t have to do anything but show up. For those of you who are opening up your home for Thanksgiving, I thought I’d put together a few WC Dish tips on what to do when you play host.

1. Appearance is Everything:

You know the old saying, “Don’t air your dirty laundry?” Well, that applies for Thanksgiving — especially if the in-laws are in town! Avoid any awkward moments by tucking away personal items, like prescribed medications for only the “rough days,” parking tickets and/or court summons documents that are for things that clearly weren’t your fault and notes from teachers about your children biting other children.

2. Picture Perfect:

Make sure to display your happy family photos on the mantel and update them to ensure you come across as the well-adjusted family that you are.

3. Give Thanks, but Ask for Help:

Make life easy on yourself and have a Thanksgiving pot luck meal. Have each guest bring a side dish or dessert. Yes, even the relatives from North Carolina must bring something. This way, your vegetarian or dieting guests will have something they are happy with… because they made it themselves. And, you are only responsible for the turkey.

4. Get Real:

Replace the artificial air fresheners with actual flowers and/or candles. To look insanely cool and polished, stop by Katimac Florals to get a centerpiece or a few smaller arrangements to scatter throughout your home.

5. Hidden Tracks:

Hide all traces of poor taste in music from your music collection. Guests always peruse through personal belongings; including your cds. This means put Cher, Micheal Bolton and Paris Hilton’s single (whatever it was) in the closet with the court documents, prescription meds and teacher’s notes.

6. Fluff it Up:

Buy a new fluffy hand towel for the restroom. This is the one room that everyone will be using during the day, so make sure to make it appears clean and comfortable. Maybe buy one with an embroidered turkey on it and, if the wine encourages you to do so, claim that in your free time you thought you’d practice your embroidery skills.

7. Apps:

Provide easy to prepare appetizers for people to enjoy as you work very hard at unwrapping the foil from the side items that everyone else brought. Stop by Carlino’s and get some fantastic cheeses, breads and dips to put out.

8. Leftovers:

Because everyone else will be doing the cooking, spend your time in the kitchen matching tupperware containers with their lids so that you can easily fill and keep leftovers in your fridge for the few days afterwards.

9. Wine Snob?:

Attend a wine tasting prior to hosting. Splurge on one expensive bottle and buy a few less expensive but not bad wines. Start the meal out with the best bottle of wine and, as the meal progresses, start degrading in quality of wine. By the second or third glass your guests will be none the wiser and they will only remember the first tastes of the expensive bottle.

10. Memories:

Charge the camera. Take pictures of everyone having a great time during the meal. Catch shots of your guests laughing (at your turkey or at the discovery of your hidden cds in the closet) and make sure each shot implys that all are having a fabulous time. Send these shots to your guests a week after the meal. Any mediocre memories will be quickly erased and images of their smiling faces will have them thinking that you were the host with the most for years to come.