Party Season Starts Now! Easy Entertaining

12 Musicians strumming
11 Champagne corks flying
10 All Jello shoting
9 Ladies laughing
8 Maids a drinking
7 Twins a playing
6 Geese a foieing
5 Stove Rings
4 French men
3 Crazy Brits
2 juicy turks
and a Happy Thanksgiving!
and a Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is a holiday I didn’t grow up with so I have none of the usual hang ups about sticking to tradition. It’s a great time to relax and enjoy but it’s also a time that can be fraught with stress if you don’t get it right. As with all entertaining you need to focus on making your guests feel comfortable. From the moment they walk through the door and you hand them a glass of champagne to the time they say their good byes and leave with lots of leftovers. The focus of the holiday is all about gathering with family and friends to eat – yes it’s the ultimate eating holiday.

Thank you to professional photographer extraordinaire Lionel Deluy for capturing all the shenanigans of our Thanksgiving shindig. Such fun – the key to a happy Thanksgiving and easy entertaining – lots and lots of delicious food washed down by vintage Veuve Cliquot Champagne, white burgundy and Château Calon-Ségur.

From the foie gras flown in from Aix en Provence with my homemade bread to the golden roasted turkies to the giant wheel of French D’Affinoise cheese to the crunchy roast potatoes kept warm in the outside grill with the garlicky parsnips to the mountain of pies, including Yasmin’s knockout key lime pie, and let’s not forget the Jello shots after dark as we enjoyed in Rosé corner… oh yes, we know how to party like it’s 1999!

A couple of tips for creating an enjoyable Thanksgiving

Ask guests to bring a dish or two to share the cooking.
Make homemade bread.
Serve lots of ice cold champagne, get a glass into guests hands as they arrive.
Invite someone to be official photographer for the day – they don’t have to be a professional photographer but it certainly helps!
Lay the table early – add flowers, placement, crayons and paper for the kids…
I like to use paper placemats that you can customize with rubber stamps.
Decorate everyone’s place setting with a Turkey shaped cookie – you can buy these to save time.
Create a playlist beforehand and have looped on Sonos.
Have lots of tupperware/plastic bags so everyone gets to take home leftovers.