How To: Throw A Thanksgiving Party - Man-Style

By Nate Steere
Lifestyle Correspondent

Thanksgiving: a time to reflect on the past year, be thankful for how good we have it and share a meal with people who mean the most to us.

Sadly, despite these worthy reasons to come together and celebrate, you’ll often find yourself unable to make it to a traditional thanksgiving dinner. Whether you can't afford to travel to be with those you care about or you’re forced to work on Thanksgiving day, you may find that a traditional Thanksgiving isn't possible this year. This doesn't, however, mean you can't take time to celebrate with those around you. If Grandma's turkey dinner isn't in the cards this year, you can host a nontraditional Thanksgiving at your place. It's easy. Read on as we run down who to invite, what to serve, how to set up your house, and activities to keep the party lively. In general, we're telling you how to throw a Thanksgiving party - man-style.

Thanksgiving is a time to celebrate community, and you can't very well do that alone. So remember the more, the merrier, and consider inviting the following folks.

who to invite
Family
You may not be able to do a sit-down family meal, but be sure to invite any family members who live nearby. Sure, it's not the same as everybody gathered around the big table, but that isn't always a bad thing; if only two or three members of your family come, the odds of holiday drama from warring factions are much lower. Besides, those straggling family members will likely enjoy your nontraditional approach to throwing a Thanksgiving party - man-style.

Friends
This one's a no-brainer: you're having a party, and you want your good friends to be there. Just remember to get the word out early so they don't make plans or worse, do Thanksgiving at home alone.

Colleagues and neighbors
This might not be as obvious as the others, but consider inviting coworkers, or the cool couple who live in the apartment above yours. If you work in an industry that requires you to work on Thanksgiving (or Friday), it's likely that some of your coworkers are in the same boat as you, and don't have plans to travel for the holiday. Your neighbors will always appreciate an invitation, even if they aren't able to attend. As you'll see, the event we're planning really isn't that much work, so invite those around you -- it sounds like a cliché, but the holiday is all about opening your home to others.

what to serve
This is meant to be a party, so keep things simple. Ask each person to bring something. For a bigger party, you can leave it at that, but for a smaller group you'll want to assign something specific to each person: one person brings football food, another brings some bottles of wine, and so on. As for you, volunteer to handle the main course. The best way to do this is to prepare a turkey and some mashed potatoes. The potatoes will take a little bit of work, but after you set up the bird and put it in the oven, you’ll have a few hours while it cooks to prepare everything else.

In terms of drinks, you're going to want beer and wine of course, but try mixing it up on the cocktails side. It's the holidays, and while it might be a bit early for eggnog, a hard cider or hot rum punch is always in good taste.

Prepping the house
You have two separate goals in getting your house ready for company; you want the house to look manly, and also to look (and stay) clean. Unless you and your girlfriend are living together, you're probably not going to go overboard on decorations. However, get a few holiday scented candles and maybe some fresh cut flowers for the center of the table. You'll have a lot of people in your space, so while you don't need to change everything around, you at least want to put your best foot forward.

Secondly, get everything cleaned up and ready for company. Make sure the guest bathroom has soap and towels, and make sure there's space in the fridge for all the incoming food. Alongside this, set it up so your house will stay clean and organized: if you have extra wastebaskets or trash cans, set them out in areas people are going to be so you don't spend the next two days picking up discarded cups and plates.

Finally, if you don't want your stuff to get screwed up, plan for that too. If you have a home theater system that has more than three remotes (good for you), get it set up and running so people don't change your settings while trying to find the game.

party ideas
While the focal point of the party is going to be pigging out on some tasty food, you should also have a general idea of some other activities for the day. After all, people who've stuffed themselves are going to want to sit and relax. So, any high-energy activities should definitely be pre-meal. Here are some ideas:

Watch (and play) football
Unless you don't enjoy football, Thanksgiving day football games are the perfect decompression activities. Your guests get to sit and digest all the good food, and you get a chance to show off your home theater setup. You can extend the football theme before the food is served by going out in the yard to toss the pigskin, or even get a game going -- if the girls join in you can switch to two-hand touch.

Gamble
Set up a little gambling for your guests, and you're sure to keep them occupied. Obviously the football games are a perfect chance for a friendly bet or two. You can even organize a game of squares to raise the stakes. Consider breaking out your poker chips and a deck of cards. A few rounds of Hold'em after dinner is just the thing to keep the evening moving along.

Have a cigar walk after dinner
A good walk after dinner can help your aching stomach begin the long road to recovery. So, pick up a few cigars and break them out after dinner for a quick stroll around the neighborhood. You and the guys can take in the view, and a quality cigar and quiet contemplation is a great way to spend a few minutes enjoying one anothers' company.

Organize a Black Friday raid
If lots of people you know are taking Friday off to roll into the weekend, why not organize a Black Friday raid? Despite the weakened economy, Black Friday is still going strong, and you can have some fun with trying to score some crazy deals. Create a battle plan -- divide your troops to attack two or more stores in the same area, come up with a list of targets based on what everybody has their eyes on buying, and have fun with getting everybody involved in how you're going to maximize your loot. Provide supplies for your soldiers: if you're waiting outside a store, or worse, camping out, bring provisions. You can turn this into a poor man's tailgate party; it's not like you won't have tons of leftover food after Thursday, so why not make some hot open-faced turkey sandwiches to bring along?

start a new tradition
Thanksgiving is (for most Americans) a four-day weekend involving football, Black Friday, family and friends in town, and killer food. Even though you can't always have the picture-perfect holiday, that doesn't mean you need to skip Thanksgiving all together. From a full-blown feast to an intimate gathering with a few good friends, Thanksgiving can be a chance to get together with the people we care about. So don't let the logistics hold you back. Formulate a plan for your gathering, whatever the size, and get ready to enjoy the best the holiday has to offer.


source: askmen.com