To an attending guest, Thanksgiving may seem to only include eating turkey and pumpkin pie, watching the Thanksgiving parade and saying what you’re thankful for.

However, to a host it’s way more complicated than that. Days of cleaning, cooking and shopping go into preparing for the holiday feast, which can cause unnecessary anxiety during the already stressful holiday season. If you’re hosting Thanksgiving this year and already feeling the pressure, here are 5 tips to smoothly prepare for the holiday.

1. Get Organized

As Halloween passes, it’s time for a host to begin preparing for Thanksgiving.

Getting organized early in November will help reduce stress later in the month. With the use of the web and social media, organizing for Thanksgiving has never been easier. At the beginning of the month, send out an “e-vite” or create a Facebook event for Thanksgiving. Make sure your online event page is set up like a forum so you can track not only the number of guests attending, but also what dish everyone is bringing. The forum will also let everyone attending see this information, helping to reduce repeat-desserts and ensure that everyone brings enough portions. This also reduces the amount of phone calls, texts and e-mails you need to make to plan the day.

Also, you can use a website like Pinterest to keep an online file of the place settings, centerpieces and recipes you want to use. Organize your online Thanksgiving planner into subheadings (like appetizers, side dishes and desserts) so you can easily find your recipes and ideas.

2. Prepare Your Kitchen

As a host, your kitchen will be the Grand Central Station of your home on Thanksgiving. Guests will be heating dishes and desserts in the oven, washing dishes, and looking for a wine opener simultaneously, so your kitchen needs to be clean and organized. A week before Thanksgiving, take a few hours to clean and organize your kitchen. Get rid of leftovers or forgotten items in the fridge and make room for the extra dishes that will be filling it.

Also, clear your counter spaces and organize cabinets and drawers so the items you will be using most are easily accessible. During your cleaning, take inventory of the cooking items and ingredients you already have so you don’t buy extra and can write down what you will need to buy or borrow.

3. Review Your Recipes

One or two weeks before the holiday, look back into the Pinterest folder you made of recipes and examine each closely. Write down the ingredients you already have for each, and exactly how much you will need to buy. There’s a chance that multiple dishes will require the same ingredient so you can double-up when shopping. Also, don’t forget to look in sales ads and use coupons to reduce your cost.

4. Don’t Forget to Clean-Up

Since you hosted and prepared the Thanksgiving meal, hopefully you won’t be stuck washing dishes too. With that being said, your clean-up crew will still need to be equipped with the tools to get the job done. When shopping, buy extra trash bags, sponges, dish soap, rubber gloves and towels so everyone can pitch in.

Depending on where you live, it might be a worthwhile investment to grab animal repellents to avoid the headaches caused by waking up to a family of raccoons enjoying your Turkey-day leftovers in your driveway. In the same vein, deer can actually be one of the most frustrating animals to rumage through your trash, especially during Winter – which is why deer control might be one of your priorities depending on where you live.

Also, it’s a good idea to buy some containers (cheap tin-foil containers work well) your guests can use to take home leftovers without taking your Tupperware. This will also reduce the amount of dishes left at your house you will eventually have to attempt to return to their owners.

5. Delegate and De-Stress

Putting together a Thanksgiving meal entirely on your own is a huge task. To get the job done with less worry and time wasted, delegate the tasks. If one of your guests offers to make a side dish, or better yet the turkey, let them. If another guest offers to come over early to help you, don’t say no.

Throughout the days before the holiday, keep a to-do list in sight for your family members and assign chores like vacuuming or setting up extra tables and chairs. With all of these details taken care of, you can have a little time to relax. To keep your stress level down during the holiday, make time for yourself before the craziness ensues. On the morning of Thanksgiving, go for a jog, do yoga, read an article, or whatever helps you stay calm so you can start preparing for the feast un-frazzled. A glass of wine never hurts either!

With all of the work that goes into hosting Thanksgiving, it’s hard to keep the focus on the holiday’s true meaning. To make sure that you’re concerned more with togetherness and less with table settings, be organized, prepared and calm.

Author: Jesse Aaron is a professional blogger with a passion for homebrewing and recommends York furnaces to ensure proper heating during the upcoming Winter.