Planning a meaningful and stress-free holiday gathering is easier than you might think! By implementing these five basic steps, you can savor the process and your guests.

Whether it is Thanksgiving, Christmas or some other special day, holiday meal success is almost all in the planning. Here are five simple steps to ensure you have a delightful holiday gathering!

Plan Your Menu

Brainstorm what to serve by looking through your recipes, cookbooks, magazines, and online recipe collections. Take into consideration family traditions, individual favorite foods, guests' food allergies, and the amount of time you have to prepare.

Next, narrow down your menu by choosing foods that complement each other in color, texture, temperature and taste. Aim to have a colorful plate with a variety of sensory experiences. Offering a selection of choices helps ensure that everyone can find several foods they enjoy.

If any of your guests have offered to bring a specific dish, accept their kindness. If guests offer to bring something in general, ask them to prepare an item that will be well-suited considering their time, traveling distance, and budget. Consider asking guests to bring a dish that is easily replaced rather than one of the primary foods. Have a Plan B in case a guest is not able to come at the last minute.

Put a photocopy of each recipe in a folder so they will all be in one place. This way you will only have one folder to keep track of instead of a dozen or more cookbooks, recipes cards and magazine clippings.

Compile Your Shopping List

Once you have planned your menu, compile your shopping list. First, take an inventory of what you have on hand. Check expiration dates and physically check each ingredient in your pantry. Planning a special holiday meal is too important to go by memory! If anything you need is past dated, buy another one. This isn’t the time to take a chance on an old ingredient.

As you check each item, decide if it is something that can be purchased right away and stored or if it must be purchased closer to the actual holiday. Make one list of things to buy immediately and another list for the few days before the holiday.

Don’t forget to include any special items such as decorations, holiday napkins, wine, flowers, etc. Add these to the appropriate list.

Write Out Your Timetable

Using a calendar, decide when to prepare each item. If anything can be made ahead and frozen, by all means do so!

After making a general timetable for the month, make a timetable for each of the several days before the actual holiday. Make notes as to which foods to prepare each day, when to take the foods out to thaw (such as a turkey), and any other specific tasks such as polishing silver, unpacking special dishes, etc.

Finally, make a timetable for the holiday. Write down the times you need to prepare dishes in order for all of them to be done at the appropriate time. If you will need help in the kitchen, determine in advance who you would like to help and what you would like them to do. Make a note of it.

Prepare Your Meal

By the holiday morning you should be in great shape since you have already mapped out all the details ahead of time! Follow the timetable you prepared and troubleshoot any unexpected developments. Although little glitches may arise, remember that your guests will probably never even notice unless you make a big deal out of it. A happy and relaxed hostess makes everything taste better!

Enjoy Your Family and Friends

You’ve made it! Your reward for all of your planning is the ability to savor the special day and make some great new holiday memories! Enjoy!

Source: http://www.suite101.com