In this edition of The Gift, we’re setting you up for Thanksgiving success with gifts that’ll either help your host or just plain delight them.
Thanksgiving has long been my favorite holiday. Coming from a family of serious cooks, it’s a time of good food and good company. What more could you want?
What I don’t love, though, is the silly gifting advice in search of novelty that gets pumped out every year. Wine is boring. Never bring flowers. Everyone wants another dessert. And so on. This is absolutist nonsense.
There’s no Golden Rule when it comes to guesting thoughtfully on Thanksgiving, other than consider your hosts’ predilections, not your own. Below, we have a suite of strategies for teasing out what your hosts might actually welcome—and a bunch of delightfully diverse gifts once you do.
Float three specific contributions
Asking “What can I bring?” isn’t the worst way to extend a helping hand, but you can do one better. Instead of querying busy hosts for ideas, do the mental labor for them. Pick from three categories—dishes, drinks, decorations—and offer concrete options. “Can I bring the cheese plate, a flower arrangement, a rye whiskey, or something else?” That way, your host can react to specifics and voice their own preferences. “We’re all set with apps, but would love a bottle!”
Take care of other meals
Rather than adding a third pumpkin pie to an overladen spread, taking care of dinner the night before or breakfast the next day may be the real difference-maker—just be mindful of refrigerator and freezer space.
On Wednesday night, that could mean ordering in something quite different from Thanksgiving food, like Vietnamese. Or you could tote along this delectable, shelf-stable tapas sampler or a cold-packed box of Spanish delicacies featuring cheeses, meats, and more. For Friday morning, you could come ready with some delicious baked goods, such as a tangy, tender sour cream coffee cake or a chocolate-laced babka, and a pink-fleshed pineapple.
Be a camp counselor
If there are kids at the gathering and you’re not part of the cooking scrum, the most helpful move may just be keeping them entertained. Organize them for a game of kickball with a light-up soccer ball or an easy-to-learn family game. The cheeky card game Exploding Kittens is competitive fun for all ages. And several Wirecutter staffers, including me, have found that kids become newly-minted evangelists of Dixit after playing the storytelling board game for the first time.
Anticipate and solve common vexations
For hosts who are newer to tackling the holiday, you could save them from a major Thanksgiving stressor by getting them a fast, accurate instant-read thermometer for assessing when the turkey is fully cooked. And this colorful rechargeable, flameless lighter will take the annoyances of finger-burning matches and finicky buttons out of lighting dinner candles.
Even if they’re seasoned entertainers, one near-universal party nuisance is keeping track of whose glass is whose. My friends solved this by having their guests initial their glass with these washable chalk markers—a revelation! Slip your hosts a pack before the first glass of bubbly is poured.
Give an enjoy-this-later token
Instead of piling onto the holiday, consider treating your hosts with something savory after the madness has subsided. Packed in a delightful, ginormo tin, these excellent Spanish potato crisps are the ideal caviar chips. On that note, you could even palm them these gorgeous sea creature-shaped, mother-of-pearl spoons. Or this stunning box of French chocolate-enrobed shortbread sandwiches lasts for seven weeks.
If it comes down to the wire, no need to get kooky. Just grab the best bottle you can spring for, be it alcoholic or non. Like creamy mashed potatoes, classics reliably deliver good cheer. Someone around the table will be grateful for it—and that’s what it’s all about.
