Top Tips to Host an Outdoor Thanksgiving Dinner

When you live in an area as beautiful as Central Texas, the fall season can still be a wonderful time to dine outside under the clear blue skies. With Thanksgiving just a day away, our team at Ben & Annie’s Trees for Tomorrow wanted to share some of our top tips to help you host your Thanksgiving meal in your own backyard this year. 

Cozy up your outdoor space

Don’t throw out your pumpkins and gourds from Halloween just yet. With your entire yard before you, you have plenty of opportunities to flex your creative muscles and create a beautiful outdoor space to host all of your friends and family this year. Set up a few foldable tables for seating, throw out some cozy pillows and blankets and think about investing in a few outdoor heaters to keep any potential chill away. If the weather gets a little concerning, having a pop-up canopy or tent on standby is never a bad idea.  

Don’t be afraid to mix up the menu

If you haven’t already finalized your holiday menu, consider finding a few ways to take the cooking out of the kitchen and into the backyard. Fire up the grill for the turkey, round up a few slow cookers for all your favorite side dishes and add in a few extra Thanksgiving salads and tasty dessert pies for the perfect holiday meal. 

Break out the beverages

If your outdoor Thanksgiving lunch quickly turns into a late night under the stars, having a few options for some hot drinks will do wonders to help all of your guests stay warm. Your slow cookers will once again come in handy to keep your cocoa, hot apple cider or mulled wine nice and warm. Setting up a cocktail station is also a great idea for your adult guests to enjoy, and if you have extra add-ins such as cinnamon sticks, marshmallows or whipped cream, you can really kick your holiday party up a notch.

Set up some outdoor entertainment

Summertime isn’t the only season where you can break out your lawn games. Set up a variety of stations for bocce ball, cornhole, ladder toss and badminton and make a fun family tournament out of the occasion to help you work off some of your post-meal exhaustion. If your annual Thanksgiving plans also include having a football game constantly on in the background, don’t feel like you have to bring the party back inside. Set up an outdoor theater with a white bedsheet and video projector. 

The reason for the season

This holiday season is all about sharing what we’re grateful for, so enjoy the day spent with the people you love the most and make sure you take some time throughout the day to share what you’ve been thankful for over the past year. 

At Ben & Annie’s Trees for Tomorrow, we’re thankful for our incredible team and partners. We’re grateful to have the opportunity to better the lives of our neighbors and our community, and we can’t wait to see what the future holds for us. If you’d like to learn more about the work we do, or if you would like to donate to our cause, give us a call at (210) 670-5297 or fill out our online form today.