Main Dish Alternatives

There are a variety of different options available to create an amazing turkey-alternative dish. Popular Thanksgiving meals, besides cooking a turkey, include cranberry pork roast, honey baked ham, prime rib, beef tenderloin, duck breasts, and leg of lamb. Cooking up individual whole Cornish hens is another great alternative that is similar to a turkey, yet different. Think of what your family’s favorite meal is and maybe use that as the main dish at this year’s Thanksgiving feast.

Thanksgiving Themes

Some families have even themed Thanksgiving dinner around Italian, offering up a Thanksgiving Lasagna. A Mexican-theme is also a popular option, featuring a Thanksgiving Taco Bar. Other fun international themes may also include Moroccan, Middle Eastern, or Asian. All offer unique menu items for celebrations and offer an opportunity to learn about other cultures, as well as learn how to cook something new. Another themed idea is to host a Vegetarian Thanksgiving, featuring a variety of vegetarian dishes.

Picnic

Apartment living can often feel cramped. So, instead of staying home for Thanksgiving, get out of the apartment, enjoy some fresh air while having a picnic. Visit a local state park or neighborhood park. Items to pack include cucumber sandwiches, Italian subs, apples with caramel dipping sauce, and crackers with cheese. If the weather is not cooperating, bring the picnic inside. Lay a tablecloth or blanket on the floor in the living room and enjoy. You can easily turn a Thanksgiving holiday celebration into one large indoor picnic, featuring everyone’s favorite picnic foods spread out to enjoy.

Host a Cocktail Party

Instead of hosting a traditional sit-down Thanksgiving dinner with a turkey and all the fixings, host a cocktail party. The party does not have to be elaborate. Create a menu filled with easy to make finger foods, such as cheese, crackers, grapes, and finger sandwiches. You can also set up a mini buffet with hot hors d’oeuvres, including spinach and artichoke dip, bacon wrapped asparagus, baked brie, bruschetta, fried olives, and stuffed mushrooms. Since it is a cocktail party, create some Thanksgiving themed beverages that can be made up in advance in pitchers or banquet beverage servers.

Dessert Party

Dessert…yummy! Most people love dessert, especially desserts around the holidays. Take advantage of this and instead of a dinner party, host a dessert party in your apartment for Thanksgiving. Let everyone else worry about what they will be eating for dinner and gather later in the day to share some mouth-watering desserts. Suggest everyone chip in and bring their favorite dessert to share. Some popular fall desserts include apple pie, pumpkin bread, pecan pie, pumpkin spice cereal treats, mini turtle cheesecakes, shortbread cookies, and cranberry crumble bars.

Breakfast for Dinner

A home-cooked breakfast is something many look forward to on the holidays. However, this year, instead of making breakfast in the morning, make it for Thanksgiving dinner. Have everyone get in their pajamas and enjoy a home-cooked breakfast. Breakfast items to serve up include pancakes, omelets, french toast, bacon, sausage, hash browns and fun, festive orange juice cocktails. Those with kids, make the pancakes in the shape of turkeys and have the entire family join in on the cooking fun.

No matter what you do to celebrate Thanksgiving, give yourself permission to celebrate it how you want to. It is completely okay to not want to serve a turkey or to host a non-traditional holiday gathering. Be creative, be you, and have fun.

The post Alternate Thanksgiving Dinners…Besides the Traditional Turkey appeared first on Sorrento at Deer Creek Blog.

Select a Platform

There are many different platforms available to host a virtual Thanksgiving. The most popular and easiest to use is Zoom, which allows everyone to interact with one another. Skype and Google Hangouts are other popular platforms for hosting virtual gatherings. Social media platforms are great too, but generally only offer the opportunity to post photos and for one person to go live at a time. Talk with others in your family and determine which method works best for you.

Send Out Invitations

Once the platform has been selected, it’s time to pick a date (if not on Thanksgiving), plan an itinerary, and send out cute invitations. Invitations can be emailed or mailed. It is up to you and how much time you have to make and send the invites. Ask everyone to RSVP so you know who to send the links to for the virtual gathering.

Create a Menu

Work on creating a fun, festive, and easy to make menu. Make a list of all ingredients and include recipes for those new to cooking. This way, you can all share the same meal during Thanksgiving dinner. If your family is not into cooking, consider ordering a meal kit or take out dinner.

Host a Virtual Cooking Session

Some members of your family may not know how to cook a turkey because they never had to. Either the morning of Thanksgiving or a few days before, host a virtual cooking class. Have members of your family who usually prepare the holiday meal show how to cook everything from the turkey to vegetables and gravy to grandma’s secret pecan pie recipe. Planning to host this a few days before Thanksgiving will give everyone time to learn and ensure they are ready to get cooking. This is also a good opportunity to try out and share new recipes with one another.

Host a Cupcake/Cookie Decorating Competition

On Thanksgiving, host a holiday-themed cupcake or cookie decorating competition and have other members of the family vote of their favorite. About a week or so before, get a list of everyone who is participating, select the judges, and set a time to virtually meet to show off everyone’s creations. Prizes can be anything from the winner hosts next year’s virtual Thanksgiving or have everyone donate $5 for a VISA gift card to go to the winner. Don’t want to host a food-based competition? Host a centerpiece or wreath decorating contest instead.

Host a Kids’ Table

Plan a separate time of the day where the younger kids in the family can gather virtually for crafts, cupcake decorating, pint-sized snacks and their turkey dinner. End the gathering with a storytime or plan to have kids come back after dinner in their pajamas for storytime.

Share Dinner Together

Just because no one is in the same location for Thanksgiving, it doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy dinner together. Set up a camera where everyone is gathering in your apartment home. This can be in the kitchen while making plates and then move the camera to the dining room. Or set up a Thanksgiving feast in the dining room and have the camera there. Family members can talk about what they are eating, share what they are thankful for this year and enjoy dinner together…virtually. This is also a good time to do a group toast.

Share Family History & Stories

Thanksgiving is a great time to honor your ancestors by taking a look into the history of the family. This is a great way to show gratitude for ancestors and learn more about where your family came from. Some ideas include having family elders share stories, taking a look at an online ancestry tracking website, or creating a family slideshow with photos of everyone throughout the years.

Plan a Game Night

Plan a family game night after Thanksgiving dinner. There are many different games that can be played or adapted to be played virtually, including Scattergories, Yahtzee, Bunco, Charades, Pictionary, and trivia. Don’t like the idea of a game night? Host a virtual talent show or costume contest instead.

Designate Tech Support

Select someone in the family who is confident using the virtual platform you will be using. This person will help lead the event and help others who are having issues. It may be a good idea to host a how-to session before to help those less tech-savvy get practice and learn how to use the virtual platform.

Tip: Virtual gatherings still require you to clean things up a bit. Make sure all areas that will be seen, including apartment living rooms, kitchens, and dining rooms are picked up and looking presentable. Don’t forget to decorate, too. Just because no one is coming over, it doesn’t mean you can skip on festively decorating your apartment.

Help keep the tradition of Thanksgiving alive by hosting a virtual Thanksgiving. Try some or all of the ideas above to have a happy and enjoyable holiday. It is the next best thing to getting together in person.

The post Tips for Hosting a Virtual Thanksgiving Gathering appeared first on Sorrento at Deer Creek Blog.

Fall Accents

As many know, apartment living has some obstacles when it comes to decorating. That is where adding fall accents throughout your space will spruce it up, making it feel like an entirely different apartment. Adding fall accents to your home allows you to scatter signs of fall throughout the apartment. Fall accents include pumpkins, leaves, and lots of fall colors, such as orange and brown. Dark berry garland is the perfect accent to use throughout the space. It adds a pop of color and can be hung over windows and door frames or draped over bookshelves. Other fun and unique fall accents include acorns and corn cobs.

Halloween

One of the first things that comes to mind when many think of fall is Halloween. This holiday offers a bunch of fall decorating ideas for your apartment home. With so many fall happenings in Kansas City, there are a variety of opportunities to pick up Halloween decorations and get ideas for fall decorating. When out and about, keep your eyes and mind open to the possibilities of adding some fall into your home.

For Halloween decorating add pumpkins, bats, skulls, ghosts, and spiders (webs too) to your existing decor. All of these can be added to bookshelves, over picture frames, on table tops, and over cabinets. Then, when Halloween is over and all the trick-or-treaters have gone home, swap out the bats, skulls, ghosts, and spiders with pinecones, corn husks, gourds, and other fall harvest-themed decorations. The best thing is, the pumpkins get to stay out for another month.

Colors

When it comes to decorating a space for any season, color is the key ingredient that can make or break a space. Classic fall colors include oranges, yellows, reds, and browns. Other fall-inspired colors that can be used to add a pop of color to a fall palette include dark blues, dark greens, and dark berry colors. These colors mixed with fall patterns such as plaid can help create the perfect space in your home.

Cozy Accents

For many, fall is time to cozy up under a throw blanket and relax. Adding cozy accents to offer an easy, fall-themed change in your apartment living room. Plus it is very easy to do. Swap out the throw blankets you are currently using with fall-themed and fall-colored ones. Other cozy accents to add to a room include fall-colored throw pillows, which can be set on couches and chairs. Want to make the space even cozier? Select oversized pillows to place on the floor for fall floor picnics and movie watching.

Centerpieces

Centerpieces are an easy way to add touches of fall throughout your apartment home’s existing decor. Fall-inspired centerpieces can be placed on coffee tables, mantels, countertops, and dining room tables. They can also be placed on outdoor patio tables to create a warm, welcoming space to enjoy the autumn weather. Sticking to a fall theme, select centerpieces filled with pumpkins, fall vegetables, gourds, dusty orange and blue tones, fall flowers and leaves, and candle sticks. The candles will add a warm glow, enhancing the look of the warm, fall colors used in your decor.

Fall Plants & Flowers

There are many different types of fall plants and flowers that are perfect for apartment living. Pots of fall foliage can be placed both inside an apartment or out on the patio. Pot plants and flowers such as ornamental kale, mums, violas, yellow daisies, wine-red coleus, golden Japanese forest grass, hydrangeas, and eucalyptus. Branches also make great accents when planting fall flowers and plants. Purple and burgundy colored foliage is another great addition to your fall decorating palette. Plant these items in rustic pots and urns for outdoor decorating and in simple vases to use in centerpieces. Don’t forget to add some pumpkins and fall vegetables to accent your fall planters.

Fall Vegetables & Nuts

In addition to fall plants and flowers, there are a variety of vegetables and nuts that help spruce up an apartment in the fall. Most common vegetables used to decorate in the fall include pumpkins, gourds, squash, and apples. Hypercium berries and pears make for fun accents to the more common fall vegetables. These items can be strung up, strategically placed, set in bowls, or mixed in with pumpkin piles on the patio. Top off autumn decorating by adding corn cobs with pigmented kernels.

Placing an assortment of nuts in a bowl not only makes for a great display on a table or countertop, it also makes a great snack too. Nuts can also be scattered in shelves with leaves to decorations throughout an apartment.

Fall-Inspired Wreaths

Wreaths are a simple way to add fall decor to an apartment home. Wreaths can be used to dress up doors, windows or empty spaces on the wall. The best fall-inspired wreaths are those with autumn leaves, corn cobs, mini pumpkins, fall vegetables, dark berry garlands and have splashes of brown, dark green, orange, red, and yellow. The fall season is upon us and many department stores have their fall wreaths out for purchase. Another option is check with a local florist to see what type of wreaths they have available and sometimes florists can make a customized wreath for your fall decorating needs.

Front Door

The front door to your apartment is the first impression friends, family and guests have before entering your home. This is also a usable decorating space that many who live in an apartment forget about. Use this valuable space to set the mood for a warm and cozy fall for your guests and anyone who walks by your front door. Hang a fall, pumpkin-themed wreath on the door that is filled with leaves, pumpkins, gourds, and fall-colored ribbons.

Patio

The patio is another area of an apartment that is often overlooked when it comes to decorating for the different seasons. Take advantage of this outdoor space creating a place you can go relax and enjoy the cooler autumn weather. Make a pile of pumpkins in one corner of your patio and accent it with corn stalks standing up behind the pile. Large corn stalks can also be placed on either side of the patio to frame it out.

For Halloween, display carved jack o'lanterns on the table of your patio and light up with a small electric lantern at night. Have fun and set out a skeleton on a chair and hang witch’s hats and bats from the ceiling of the patio. When Halloween is over, bring in the skeleton, hats and bats and replace with festive fall-colored plants and flowers. Don’t forget to add some playful textures, including pillows and rugs to the seating area of the patio.

Bathroom Decor

Bathrooms in apartments are often small spaces and do not leave a lot of room for decorating for each season. However, there are still fun ways to incorporate the fall with some simple changes and additions to your existing bathroom decor. Swap out towels, especially hand-towels, for those in harvest colors and add small pumpkins to a shelf or countertop. Fill your soap dispenser with fall-scented hand soap. Add finishing touches by hanging fall leaf garland around the mirror.

Fireplace Mantels

Not all apartment floor plans have mantels, but if yours does, take advantage of this bonus space. Fireplace mantels offer additional space to drape fall garland, scatter leaves, add pumpkins, and create a warm glow. Enhance the decoration by creating a fall scent filled room with candles laced on the mantel.

Fall Scents

Fill your apartment home with an aroma that screams “It’s FALL!” by adding some popular scents associated with fall throughout your apartment. Classic fall scents include cinnamon, apple, ginger, wild orange, sandalwood, fir, nutmeg, clove, and pumpkin spice. By adding one or a creative mixture of these scents to your space will help create the perfect fall oasis. Different ways to add fall scents to your apartment include using wax melts, spraying air fresheners, displaying herb bouquets, and using oil diffusers. There are also some do it yourself methods to add fall fragrance to your space.

Making your own fall potpourri is the perfect way to fill your apartment with fall scents. To make the potpourri grab a vase, glass jar or bowl and fill it with dried apple slices, dried orange slices, cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, juniper berries, dried roses, bay leaves, pine cones and a touch of essential oils. The best essential oils to use for a fall potpourri include cedarwood, clove, cinnamon, orange, and pine. Mix all of these items together, place in your display bowl, jar or vase and let it sit out on a table, bookshelf or countertop. The aroma from the ingredients will fill the air of your apartment home.

Now that you have decorated your space, go get some hot cocoa, curl up under your new throw blanket and read a good book. Or whatever you plan to do to enjoy autumn this year. At least you can enjoy it knowing you have a perfectly decorated fall-inspired apartment home.

All photos are from Canva.com

The post You Are Going To Fall In Love with These Autumn Apartment Decorating Tips appeared first on Sorrento at Deer Creek Blog.