How to Plan a Thanksgiving Celebration on a Budget

Coming from very small families, my husband and I place a lot of emphasis on spending time with our loved ones, and we really value bringing friends and family together for occasions like Thanksgiving. As much as these moments are highly anticipated, they can also be quite challenging to plan for, especially considering how many mouths need feeding.

This year we’re starting to plan well in advance so we can have a big celebratory day together while sticking to a budget. Here’s how we plan to do that:

BUYING INGREDIENTS FOR THE BIG MEAL

Thanksgiving for us is first and foremost about the big meal. Most years, we’ve opted to go potluck style and have everyone bring a component so the responsibility and cost doesn’t fall on one or two people alone. We will provide the turkey, my mother-in-law will do the pumpkin pie, my husband’s aunt will bring the salad, and my parents have got the wine. For us, special occasions like this are never a show-up-and-dinner-is-served kind of affair. We will always gather to cook together on the day and split the provision of ingredients between all of us.

We save money on big items like the turkey by buying them on sale and keeping them frozen until we need them. We also make use of our Costco membership which is a great option for buying in bulk when you’re feeding more people.

I know there are super easy Thanksgiving meal kits you can buy these days, but we prefer to cook things from scratch. We also choose simple, seasonal accompaniments like green beans and potatoes which keep costs down and allow us to turn the cooking into a fun activity we can enjoy together. When you’re cooking from scratch, investing in some nice fresh herbs and spices goes a long way. I always keep cinnamon and nutmeg (great in a sweet potato mash) in the pantry for this time of year. It definitely takes more time to prepare the full meal from scratch but it’s time we’re spending with family so we consider it well spent.

GIFTING

To me, Thanksgiving isn’t about giving gifts, which can get a little stressful and expensive. If we do give something, we tend to stick to small, personal gestures like a handwritten card. These thoughtful messages are a good way to express gratitude for someone in your life, and they always go a lot further than any gift you can buy in a store. When I want to keep the cost of giving down even further, I often make my own cards at home. I have a stack of card stock paper, some different coloured papers and fun textiles and a set of nice pens ready to go when I’m feeling in a creative mood. The added bit of effort is always deeply appreciated by the person I’m giving to.

If we do give a gift, it’s more often than not something small, silly, homemade, or something we turn into a game. One year my mum bought everyone the same thing, it looked a bit like a tiny yellow mesh shower cap. The game was to be the first to figure out what it was for. It was actually to strain the pips while squeezing a lemon. Nobody got it, but we were on the floor laughing with all the crazy suggestions!

SETTING THE SCENE

Decorating the house and the table for a nice meal is something I really love to do. I find it adds such warmth and a sense of specialty to the occasion, and it doesn’t have to cost a lot. 

I love going to garden centres at this time of year because the prices are lower and you can often score some great end-of-season deals. Late-blooming flowers in pots, like chrysanthemums, are a great way to dress up your garden, porch or balcony. I also like bringing the outdoors in, taking some clippings of dried grasses and colourful leaves to decorate the table. Mini gourds in bright colours and knobbly shapes, which you can typically find at the grocery store, are another fun and inexpensive addition.

Certain staple items like table runners and napkins we use over and over again every year. While it’s typically more expensive to buy reusable items than disposable ones, over many years of use the cost can work out comparable and even cheaper, not to mention kinder to our planet!

ACTIVITIES

Our plans for the day or the weekend always revolve around being outside, if the weather is good. When the leaves are in full colour we will go for a walk or a hike together at a provincial park, cameras at the ready.

Even if the weather isn’t so good, we still bundle up, grab the umbrellas and go for a drive to a small town, always with an eye out for any antique shops! If we’re feeling extra ambitious we’ll try for an apple or berry picking adventure and make a nice crumble for dessert. This is a great option if you’ve got young kids too. Later on it’s nice to cozy up for a movie on Netflix with some warm apple cider and blankets, or puzzles and board games by the fire. 

Planning activities is also a great opportunity to get creative. When I visited Saskatchewan in the Fall we had so much fun rolling pumpkins down a hill to try and hit a target—it’s harder than it sounds!  All you need is a small, roundish pumpkin for everyone to mark or decorate as their own, access to a hill (this could be at a park nearby), and a target (another pumpkin, or a few empty water or wine bottles, for example). You can even draw and cut out your own 1st 2nd and 3rd badges from colourful card paper if you want to go the extra mile. We had hours of fun rolling pumpkins. It’s all about the simple pleasures!

I find the simpler, more inexpensive activities always work out better, especially when you’ve got larger groups gathered. It gives people time to talk to those they may not see so often, and that always brings us closer together. The best part for us is that no matter what we’re doing we’re doing it together with family and friends, and that’s where the most fun comes from.

Over the years, what we’ve learned about gathering for a big occasion on a budget is that if you make a plan in advance and get everyone involved in contributing to the day, you can have a big celebration with all the fixings that everyone will enjoy without overspending. It allows us to celebrate on more occasions more often, and the more chances we have to spend time with friends and family the better.