Thanksgiving Dinner: Cook, Cater or Potluck?

Thanksgiving Dinner: Cook, Cater or Potluck?

Let’s face it, Thanksgiving dinner is about friends, family and food, right? It’s a great time to gather around the table, share laughs, memories and a feast! So how do you manage to get it on the table? Well, there are 3 popular options for Thanksgiving dinner: cook, cater or potluck?

Cooking: You enjoy cooking and have the time to fix a meal

• Pros:
  • Complete control – Menu, time, theme, decorations and more are all up to you
  • Budget – Middle of the road, up to you but of course has to be enough to include all related expenses
  • Pride and pleasure – Provide a meal for your family’s holiday
• Cons:
  • Clean up duty – The kitchen will need cleaning, and probably more than once through the day, depending on the meal and size of your kitchen
  • Time – It’s not just about cooking for hours, but also menu planning, shopping and prepping the food
  • Family time – Instead of enjoying the game or a glass of wine, you’ll be busy in the kitchen to make sure dinner will be ready

Catering: You aren’t a natural chef and have the budget to hire a professional

• Pros:
  • Quality – This meal is handled by a professional, so it should be outstanding
  • Family time – While the chef cooks, you can relax with your loved ones
  • Clean up duty – Completely up to the caterer, saving you time and energy
• Cons:
  • Control – Since you aren’t cooking, you have to trust the professional to get it done and done well
  • Budget – Definitely a higher cost; you’ll definitely be paying more per person than the other options

Potluck: You’re on a budget and enjoy other’s cooking

• Pros:
  • Budget – This choice is definitely the least expensive as the cost is shared by everyone
  • Time – You only have the time involved for your part of the meal
  • Involvement – Everyone is responsible and shares in a job well done (and you may get new recipe ideas too!)
• Cons:
  • Clean up duty – Middle of the road, as you only have to clean up after your own portion of the Thanksgiving dinner dish
  • Space – There may be too many folks trying to use the same oven, microwave and stove to get their dishes ready to serve
  • Control – You have very limited control over what dishes are brought, and what they taste like

Whether you decide to cook the entire Thanksgiving dinner yourself, hire a caterer to take care of the entire affair, or ask everyone to bring a dish or two, the important thing is you are together around the table. Those memories made and shared is what folks will remember, not who did all the cooking; unless someone really messes up and that will be told year after year going forward!