<p>Zoosermom has a great decadent mash potato recipe. <a href=“Should I go to THIS wedding? - #191 by zoosermom - Parent Cafe - College Confidential Forums”>Should I go to THIS wedding? - #191 by zoosermom - Parent Cafe - College Confidential Forums;
<p>YDS - eating a Thanksgiving meal outside is a dream. 
You are such a great mom for “adopting” these “orphans”.</p>
<p>I think you should keep it as simple as it gets, given the size of the crowd! Staples such as turkey and ham, mashed and sweet potatoes, maybe some veggie dishes that do not need to be served hot… A green salad may not be a traditional T-giving dish, but it is always well received at my house. Buy some pre-made pies? And almost everything served buffet style! :)</p>
<p>You are a great mom. Costco has very sturdy plastic nice plates that we’ve used for large family reunions - no leaks, no breaks. My pumpkin pie is better than Costco’s, but their pumpkin pies get gobbled up and one of them easily serves 12-15 people. Apple Crisp can be made ahead and re-heated gently – darned close to pie.</p>
<p>We heated a spiral ham on our gas bbq years ago when I didn’t have oven space available – used a disposable aluminum pan, covered the ham with foil, and put it on the left burner (turned off) with the right burner turned on to a medium/low heat. Turned the pan around a couple times – it heated up great. </p>
<p>If you want to make a big pan of stuffing, the onions/celery can be softened/sauteed hands-free in the oven several days ahead if you put them in a Le Creuset or similar heavy pan. (You don’t have to keep them in that pan after that part – you just don’t want them to burn.)</p>
<p>What fun it will be! So jealous here in Northern Michigan, never have we dined outsided lol!</p>
<p>One idea I have is decide what you will provide and have your S send a mass email of what you are providing. Ask them to bring something and to reply all what you will be bringing. That way you don’t get five broccoli salads and no stuffing. Ask them if they have a family speciality to please bring that. My SIL’s mother always thinks macaroni and cheese is traditional. Or maybe their family speciality is beans and rice (I love beans and rice and there are always vegetarians). Suggest if they are not cooks to bring 2 bottles of wine or a 24 pack of beer. That way they know what is expected. You always get stories of the bachelor uncle who said he was going to bring beer and brought 2 lol!</p>
<p>Just remember these are kids and may not know what is appriiate to bring so don’t feel bad to give them an idea. I went to a family thanksgiving once where the hostess didnt have any idea what anyone was bringing and it was a bit of a mess actually. We had lots of beans and no vegetables for instance. And nothing really for the vegetarians. Kids are good with email. And unlike my friends 
they know how to reply all. </p>
<p>I always bring a big green salad and its a big hit. Something lighter is alway appreciated. </p>
<p>“Suggest if they are not cooks to bring 2 bottles of wine or a 24 pack of beer”</p>
<p>Be careful - if these are single guys, chances are you might end up with lots of booze! </p>
<p>One suggestion in the giving thanks vein–ask if everyone can bring something extra to donate to a food pantry, and if maybe one or more guests can volunteer to bring it over. </p>
<p>It sounds like a lot of fun, but being a control freak I would cook all of the food and ask people just to brink something to drink. :)</p>
<p>If you ARE going to make it semi-potluck, I would provide the turkeys, the stuffing, cranberry sauce, and the gravy, and ask guests to bring other sides and desserts and drinks. No way would I count on a guest to bring a turkey. (Well, unless someone like me is among your guests, and agres to do it in advance!) And I agree with Deb922 that you should provide lists and it can all be done by email. </p>
<p>I actually would suggest setting up a list that has “slots” they can fill, so that, for example, there are 4 pumpkin pie slots and 3 fruit pie slots and 3 salad slots and so forth. There has to be a free package out there to facilitate this along the lines of Survey Monkey or Doodle. Your son can set it up.</p>
<p>BTW, I have organized Thanksgiving potlucks for 40-120 people, and we ALWAYS provide the turkeys, gravy, cranberry sauce, and stuffing at the very least. Guests bring sides, drinks, and desserts. Similarly, when I organize an annual seder for 40+, we always provide brisket, cold poached salmon with a cucumber dill sauce, and matzoh ball soup, as well as the ceremonial foods and drinks. Guests bring sides and desserts. I learned this from bitter experience: at our first potluck seder, with 40+ attendees, I brought about 6 pounds of brisket, one couple brought a roast chicken, and those were the ONLY meat contributions. It was my ultimate nightmare: not enough food.</p>
<p>Personally, I like the idea of gratitude statements. I do not want to be subjected to someone else’s prayers.</p>
<p>ETA: I once heard a horror story from someone who organized an extended family Tgiving potluck style. An uncle said he would bring the turkey, and he did: FROZEN!!! :)</p>
<p>What a nice thing to do. My oldest is often a Thanksgiving orphan. One year she was invited to a potluck and she really thought out what she would contribute. She got picked up by a male friend. His contribution was a big bag of chips.
My S would be the one with the bag of chips. For this reason I would make all the turkey. It would be hard to transport a cooked turkey. You also want to make sure the bird was cooked correctly. Or have some clueless young person showing up with a uncooked bird planning to just put it in the oven. If you want to spread the cost of expensive items let them bring the spiral ham.</p>
<p>We don’t say grace. My dil’s family does to prayers blessing the wine and other things…nice. Other people who are coming aren’t Jewish…but have offered prayers. The one thing that I like is sharing why we are grateful. Our dinner may have 25 people…an amazing amount considering that I have no cousins. or siblings. </p>
<p>My sister was asked to bring mashed potatoes one year, you guessed it she brought a bag of potatoes! My mom then tried to put the peels down my garbage disposal and my H spent dinner unclogging the drain. Potato peels are a pain to unstop! That I think was the last year I invited my sister to thanksgiving ;)</p>
<p>@consolation…or anyone who needs a free sign up service, try volunteerspot.com. Easy, and will even send reminders to participants a day or two before. I’ve not noticed any discernible increase in spam/ads since I began using it last year </p>
<p>These stories are hilarious! Can you imagine showing up at a Thanksgiving feast with two beers?</p>
<p>Y’all are nice to say that I am a good mom, but for me it’s a no-brainer. One, we are the only family in this group of kids who live in town. Several kids have family in state, but that can still be hours and hours away. Two, one of the only things I didn’t like about ds going so far away for college is that I didn’t get up there much and so never knew his friends. I like being able to meet these co-workers. We had three over for a BBQ in August, and they wrote me the sweetest thank-you note! There are some real planners in this group so I don’t think I’ll have any trouble in terms of making sure people pull their weight. But, yeah, I’ll make sure the turkey-bringers know to bring it cooked!!! lol</p>
<p>And, yes, I am naturally a Type A person and so just not doing it all myself is tough, but, really, I can’t afford to do a whole meal for 40 people! </p>
<p>Costco’s apple pie is the best store bought apple pie I’ve had and I’m sure their pecan and pumpkin are fine too. Definitely worth considering. I think the traditional way to do potluck thanksgiving is for the host to provide bird and dressing/stuffing and the guests most of the rest of the stuff. But if you need extra birds because the crowd has gotten so big, it certainly wouldn’t hurt to see if you can outsource that.</p>
<p>Or, if you wanted some folks to share in providing the meat dishes, folks could bring some Costco roasted chickens instead of a turkey that may or may not be sufficiently cooked.</p>
<p>My FIL made turkey one year that he considered “done.” He started cooking it that morning from frozen. After five hours, it was still raw inside. DH, BIL and I headed out to a diner in New Rochelle as soon as we could get away.</p>
<p>FWIW - the last few years I’ve been buying a precooked turkey from the grocery. I have to order it in advance. It only has to be heated up that morning. They have been as good as what we’ve cooked ourselves and much easier. None of my guests know this, so shush…</p>
<p>one year I ordered all the sides, too. One guest keeps asking me to make one of those sides again. </p>
<p>I’m not sure it was all that much more expensive than cooking it myself. This wasn’t the gourmet grocery. not whole foods.</p>
<p>I think this is a great idea! I also would make sure I had the basics in my control, even if you order pre-cooked turkeys from the grocery store to free up oven space. ***20-something’s can not be trusted to bring important food!! So, turkeys, ham, pre cooked- easy on you. Mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce- also cheap and easy on you. If for some reason, all the young guests flake out all you need to add are rolls and a few cans of corn and dinner will be fine. Oh, Costco also has the best pumpkin pie and at a very reasonable price. Have fun! </p>
<p>Consolation, I too am a control freak when it comes to Thanksgiving. I have had some people bring some oddball / inedible things in the past ( like the horrendous potatoes soaked in a bottled italian salad dressing that didn’t cook , in the place of mashed potatoes ) I am a little jealous of the OP, since ours will be a quiet Tday</p>
<p>I would love to have a crowd for Thanksgiving, but usually it is only three or four of us. Of course, that meant I could go wild on the vegetables (5 kinds) and pies (3 or 4 kinds). Of course, now that I have to eat low carb I can’t eat much stuffing, or at least not the kind I like, and I can’t eat pie, and worst of all I can’t eat mashed potatoes! , Garlic mashed potatoes with gravy are, for me, the best part of the whole thing. And pie for breakfast the next day. I adore Thanksgiving leftovers.</p>
<p>We are probably going down to CT for Thanksgiving this year. If so, we will have dinner with a crowd of family at my niece’s house. Last time we did this I helped by bringing all the vegetables except the mashed potatoes, and a low carb pumpkin cheesecake which has become my go-to dessert.</p>
<p>@Youdon’tsay if you want to save money, I would skip the spiral ham, or have someone else bring it.</p>
<p>Low carb pumpkin cheesecake? Please share! </p>
<p>Yes. Low carb pumpkin cheesecake recipe please!</p>