Hosting the Best Thanksgiving Dinner Ever - Tips from Event Planners

These tips from members of a national association of event planners will help you plan the best Thanksgiving celebration ever this year.

Guest List
Thanksgiving is a time for sharing, so don't worry about numbers when inviting guests. As any good event planner can tell you, the whole purpose of an event is to have guests. If you don't have enough, your event will be classified as a dismal failure. Too many? It's really not possible. You've heard the phrase "the more the merrier," right? It was first uttered by an event planner.

When it comes to inviting guests to your Thanksgiving dinner, there's no room for shyness. The Indians and Pilgrims weren't all bosom buddies. It was the act of preparing that meal together that made them friends. You don't have to go to the extreme of handing out flyers on the street, the event planners say, but you shouldn't hold back on inviting someone you only know casually or just met yesterday, either. You can't experience the best Thanksgiving ever if you refuse to take chances, the experts advise.

Be creative in your search for Thanksgiving guests. There are many immigrants in this country who have never experienced Thanksgiving. Rustle up a few and invite them. Encourage them to bring their own friends and family. If there is a college nearby, find out if there are students there who cannot afford to travel home for the holiday. Invite them too. Your local assisted living facility also might be a place to scare up some Thanksgiving guests, as well as the neighborhood homeless shelter. But don't rely solely on institutions for your guest gathering; they might be offering their own Thanksgiving dinners which will seriously deplete your potential guest list.