By Lisa Freedman From The Kitchn

You can plan your menu and check your grocery list a million times, but you’re not truly prepared to host Thanksgiving until you’ve done this one thing.

The Party Problem: You’re worried you don’t have enough serving dishes for all the food you’re making.
The Party Trick: Lay out your dishes and label each one.
Pull out every serving dish you plan to use and put it on a table (any table will do). Then rip up pieces of paper and write each menu item on a separate slip. Don’t forget the small stuff like gravy, cranberry sauce, and olives! Got a slip of paper for everything you’re serving? Great!

Next, assign each piece of paper a vessel. The turkey goes on this platter, the stuffing will go in this dish, the Brussels sprouts can fit in this bowl, and so on. Make sure you’re realistic and that each dish will actually fit in the vessel you’ve picked. If you have an overflow of mashed potatoes and need to use two bowls, well, you’ve just made double work for yourself.

Do this as far in advance as you’d like. (Today would be good!) This way, you’ll have an actionable game plan and you’ll know what needs to go where as you make it. Plan ahead and you won’t have to serve the pickles on a Tupperware lid!

Bonus: It’s also worth putting this plan into action any time you’re throwing a larger-than-usual dinner party or event. It’s not just a Thanksgiving trick!

IMAGE: (Image credit: Rachel Joy Baransi)

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