Thanksgiving’s coming! For some people, this means eating delicious turkey and drinking with friends and family. But, if you’re hosting, you probably preparing mentally and physically for the challenges of shopping, cooking, cleaning and preparing the house for the guests.
Hopefully, there’s a lot of thanksgiving hacks you can put to practice to have a nice and smooth holiday. Check out our cleaning checklist for Thanksgiving dinner! Tips and hacks for before and after Thanksgiving.
CHECKLIST FOR THANKSGIVING DINNER
Do inventory in your kitchen
First of all, you better count all the crockery, pans, and stemware to make sure there’s enough for all your guests. You don't want someone to be excluded. Priorities!
Empty fridge and dishwasher
During Thanksgiving dinner, your kitchen will be a food parade, with lots of pans and containers. The fridge should have enough space to handle that, and the dishwasher must be clean and prepare for work.
Wash and iron tablecloths and cloth napkins
If your tablecloths and cloth napkins have been stored for most of the year, a good wash and iron will make the bad odors go away.
Clean all of your stemware, serveware, and silverware
Same goes to your stemware, serveware and silverware: If you barely use them, wash them. You don’t want your guests drinking wine in a stained or smelly cup.
Clean the oven and stove
Obviously, oven and stove are going to get really messy after Thanksgiving, but it’s better to have your entire kitchen in perfect conditions before you start cooking. Besides, a dirty oven can affect the turkey’s flavor.
TIPS FOR HOSTING
Prepare the guest’s rooms
Needlessly to say, perhaps, but if your guests are staying at your house, that needs an extra planning effort. How many rooms? Talk to your guests about it. You never know when last-minute guests are going to arrive.
Clear out space for clothes and baggage
The house will be full of luggage and you don't need uncomfortable obstacles in the hallways. De-clutter your guests' rooms and tell them where to put their stuff.
Clean and stock your bathrooms
Every bathroom has to be clean and fully stocked. Scrub messy toilets and sink, put enough towels and soap bars, and use some air freshener.
CLEANING HACKS
Plan a potluck
Share the fun with your guests and tell them to bring some of the food with them. The original Thanksgiving dinner was, in fact, a potluck. Your guests can bring some of the side dishes. That way, your kitchen will be less full of dirty dishes and you will have more time to clean.
Reduce the number of cookware
There’s cookware that can go from oven to table to freezer. One container, no more! Use those and you have less dishwashing to worry about. Or you can serve food in edible containers, such as bread bowls or hollowed-out winter squash.
Set up a soak station
An over-filled sink is very common on Thanksgiving. You can prevent this by making a soak station in a small trash can. Just put a bag and fill it with soapy water. You can soak pots and pans as soon as you transfer food to platters.
Make room in the fridge
Last but not least: make room in the fridge! That would make the after-dinner mess less awful. Leftovers and ingredients should fit right in. And don’t forget to fill your ice containers one day before Thanksgiving.
These quick tips and hacks should make your Thanksgiving dinner less stressful and more fun. After the holiday, if you want to clean your house more deeply, book our home cleaning service and don’t worry about it.
