I’m going to have to buy the mother of all turkeys…
Congratulations! My record for Thanksgiving dinner was 22, and we all survived! The key for me was making everything ahead that could be made ahead (and having my brother come help about two hours before dinnertime, but I don’t think I can volunteer him to come help you).
What else are you serving besides turkey?
Do yourself a favor and get the punkin’ pie from the store. Nobody can tell the difference!
Mmmmmm…punkin’ pie.
Make it 17, hubby and I can make it 
Ok, I’m kidding…
Congratulations! You’ll do fine. Just prepare what you can the day before. Every year, we have no less than 15 people here, and the record was 20. I’m a cookin’/bakin’ fool 2 or 3 days before, as that is when I make the homemade noodles, pies, cakes, breads, rolls, etc. ANYTHING that can be made beforehand, MAKE IT. It’s so much easier that way! Good luck to you!
You’ll do fine! Last big bash I had was Thanksgiving 2002. I had about 20 people (I’d have to look at the picture for an exact count) and it was the day after my wedding. Some honeymoon.
The most I’ve had was 15.
And we had chinese.
It was the best Thanksgiving on record for me evar.
We do six every year and I have a hard enough time with that. If my brother comes in this year, it’ll be eight.
I never did it until my mom died seven years ago. I’m finally starting to get comfortable with taking over her job. So much of it is memories and smells and textures…the first year, everything was just wrong. But we’re getting the hang of it now. Either that, or our memories are fading and being replaced with the New Generation Holiday Meal ™.
My folks report that their lives got substantially easier when they learned to prepare the turkey ahead of time. Sure, your house doesn’t have that thanksgiving smell (which is an added bonus for me, for whom that thanksgiving turkey smell inspires not nostalgia but nausea), but it’s waaaaaay easier. Cook it, carve it, throw it in the fridge. Then on the big day you just need to heat it up again.
Roast a pig.
I second cooking ahead of time. We have regularly had 10-12 for Christmas and it saves so much trouble if you do. Also, don’t just stick to turkey or you really DO have to get a huge one. We tend to do a large turkey and also a roast beef (or other meat). That way there’s plenty for all and everyone can have a bit of each.
Oh yeah and make the kids help with the fetching and carrying and serving. Even if they are your guests they are still kids and there to be used
You know, if Domino’s made a turkey pizza, they would have money than Yoko Ono around Thanksgiving!
My mother’s freaking out because we might have as many as 12 when we usually have 4-5. I’m glad Thanksgiving’s her gig and not mine!
I’m envious. I love cooking for crowds!
One note: if you have the oven space, two small turkeys (10-12 lb each) will serve you better than one huge one, OR one 12-15 pound turkey plus a large (about 9 lb) turkey breast (hotel style if you can find one, since it includes the wings (pretty!) and the giblets (gravy!) ).
The smaller turkeys cook faster & don’t dry out as much, in my experience.
Fun stuff. We’ve never cooked for more than a dozen people, I think but it’s honestly not that much more work to scale up a bit.
Turkey size: a pound a person, I think (specially if you want any leftovers) (yum).
Do it the easy way: you do the turkey, the stuffing, the drinks, the plates etc., and have everyone else bring a side dish and/or dessert. Allows you to relax and enjoy the day.
Do as much prepwork the night before as possible. Now that we brine our turkey, we don’t even have to deal with stuffing it on the Big Day (we do the stuffing separately), so we can do that the night before. We just dump out the brine, toss the turkey into the roasting pan, and pop it into the oven.
Set the table the night before, or early the morning of. That way it’s out of the way, and you get to enjoy looking at the festive table all day.
Set out any serving dishes the night before. Label them with what you plan on putting into them. Saves the scramble for serving dishes right when you need 'em (BTDT). Also the proliferation of unneeded dishes because you pulled every one you own out of storage, and didn’t need half of them (BTDT also).
Plan your fridge space carefully. If it’s cold enough where you are, you can store things on the back porch or the garage. We kept the stuffing in our car in the parking lot one year 
Plan your oven usage carefully. If you have only a single oven, do the turkey earlier; that’ll free up the oven for other things like casseroles, rolls etc. that need to be cooked/warmed just before the meal.
Draft people to help. If someone offers help with the dishes, take it!
Considering using nice disposables for plates, if you think that’ll fly with your guests - nobody I know owns 22 dinner plates! And it’ll reduce the dish-washage afterward.
Triple the stuffing recipe. Then make more. Can’t have enough stuffing
I second the do the turkey, dressing (that’s southern for stuffing), and drinks and have everybody else bring sides ideas. A group of us do this every year on Thanksgiving. The host(s) provide the turkey, dressing and drinks. Everyone else is assigned side dishes and desserts. It makes for a lot more fun, lot more relaxed day. Last year I hosted and did two fried turkeys. It was a hit. Plus my dressing just cannot be beat.
So are you saying you had “a Thanksgiving dinner that couldn’t be beat?”
I’ll throw in my support for the communal effort idea. It’s always worked out well at my house. Turkey, stuffing and drinks. Just make sure plenty of people are assigned to bring pie.
Ok, the menu, so far:
A behemoth of a turkey (probably 15 lbs - that should do, right?)
A monolithic sweet potato pie.
A vat of stuffing - some done in the bird, some done out of the bird.
A gross of mashed potatoes with gravy.
A yummy jelled salad (it’s green!)
A tub of homemade cranberry sauce (which I’m having my brother bring).
2 pumpkin pies (homemade - I could tell the difference, because I’m a pumpkin pie aficionado)
2 lemon meringue pies
So - I’m going to have someone bring a veg of some sort, and someone else bring a salad of some sort, and probably I’ll have someone bring a bread type product.
Do I need anything else?
It’s easier if you designate someone to bring the drinks, someone to bring the dessert, someone to bring the plates, etc.
Save yourself some dishwashing, and buy nice paper/cardboard plates. If the food is good people won’t care that it’s not on china.
I had 14 people last year. I was so excited about cooking that I got up at 5:30a. I had everything planned down to the second, so I’m pacing around waiting for it to be the right time to start brining the turkey.
Plan your cooking. My MIL, bless her heart, will cook all the veggies first, then it’s a mad rush to zap everything in the microwave to get them hot enough to eat when the turkey is done.
Brining the turkey was the best way I’ve ever cooked it. My greatest compliment is that hardly anyone talked during dinner…they were too busy stuffing their faces with my juicy juicy turkey. My MIL was rather :dubious: when she saw what I was doing (dunking it in ice water and salt? Putting it in the oven for 30 minutes at 500? Horrors!) but it turned out wonderful.