As Thanksgiving approaches, you might be thinking about gathering your loved ones and soul mates together to celebrate the positive things in your life, praise your higher power, pay homage to Indigenous people, or just stuff your face and fall asleep in front of the television. at the traditional Thanksgiving after-party: the football game.

Thinking back to my childhood, I remember the wonderful smells coming from the kitchen. The elegant formal dining room table was adorned with a crisp white tablecloth, “good china”, sterling silver cutlery, a variety of serving platters for the next bounty, and a room. cornucopia centerpiece containing dried fruits and vegetables.

My dad, Ozzie, was carving the turkey and my mom, Harriet, brought out the pecan and ground meat pies for dessert… wait a minute… did I really grow up in a 1950s sitcom? Yeah, I did, even though Ozzie was Don and Harriet was Grayce.

Sometimes we would visit my maternal grandparents in Maine, whose formal dining room was less formal – an extended part of the living room in the 1940s version of an open floor plan in their three-bedroom apartment. rooms above the general store and gas station that my grandfather owned.

Occasionally we would go to Massachusetts to spend a day or two with my paternal grandmother and her extended clan. There was nothing “formal” about the dining room there. Dinner took place on a litany of card tables set up on the jealous kitchen porch.

At the end of dinner, my grandmother would get up from the end of the table and say, “I’ve made dinner. Now you do the dishes. My father and his sisters were rushing like chicks to accede to his request.

As I grew older, I rarely lived near my family. Every once in a while, I was invited to dinner as an obligatory guest – the girlfriend of the young man I was seeing at the time. Later, I would be part of the vacation restaurant crowd.

For several years, I had a date with a good friend for dinner and a movie on Thanksgiving Day. We would choose restaurants that advertised dishes like thermador lobster, champagne ravioli, or beef bourguignon, but would invariably choose the traditional turkey dinner with vinaigrette and all the trimmings from the prix fixe menu.

Fast forward to 2020 and we might not have gathered at all, happy to see Whole Foods or Door Dash deliver Thanksgiving dinner to eat in front of the TV while watching Hallmark movies.

Now we are there. The formal dining room took the path of fine china and sterling silver. For most of us, they are simply not necessities in our lives anymore. So how do you organize a dinner party when there is no specially designated room for dinner?

First of all, you don’t need to buy things that you don’t have room to store later. While “rent” might be a four-letter word for a realtor, a party rental company’s website allows you to select items online and have them delivered and picked up at a fraction of the cost.

Are you trying to seat a large group for dinner? Let’s start with the premise that not all of your guests need to be at a banquet table. Consider having several tables for two or four arranged around the room. It will give you the ambiance of your favorite bistro while allowing conversation between your guests.

You can also rent folding chairs, sheets, cutlery and stemware. Once your order arrives, simply set the tables and add candles or your favorite centerpieces to complete a festive look.

If you don’t have room for a seated event, you can order standing cocktail tables. Your breakfast bar or kitchen counter will make a perfect buffet line.

Better yet, have an open house, inviting guests at slightly different times so you can see everyone without feeling like you’re in the middle of a crowded concert.

Is your style even more relaxed? Rather than worrying about recycling plastic cups and spoons, pick up a bunch of Oftast dinner or dessert plates for 79 cents apiece at Ikea. Add a pack of 6 Svalka wine glasses and a cutlery set for four from the Mopsig collection for $ 5 each. Get out of the pillows and eat while sitting cross-legged on the floor, surrounded by family and friends.

Some of us may have a hard time getting up, but we will be in a perfect position to fall asleep during the football game.

Valerie M. Blake is a licensed associate broker in DC, Maryland & Virginia with RLAH Real Estate. Call or text her at 202-246-8602, email her through DCHomeQuest.com, or follow her on Facebook at TheRealst8ofAffairs.