Thanksgiving on a Shoestring Budget

Stay in the City

This will be the second time I don’t go home to Pittsburgh for Thanksgiving, choosing to stay put in New York and have the ‘rents come to us! I don’t have to tell you how horrendous Thanksgiving traveling can be, as pretty much everyone is doing it over the same 36-hour period each way and airports have become the sites of frequent anxiety attacks and sleepover layovers. Um, it sucks!
It’s far worse than staying in the city, even if you have to forego seeing family. (Well, that may be a good thing for some of you always). This year more than ever, a lot of your friends will probably even be around for T[of]urkey Day, so you don’t even have to eat Chinese take-out by yourself and watch the parade on TV!

Dare I say it? Go to the parade!

What New Yorker goes to the Thanksgiving Day Parade?!? Oh come on, you only live once. So what if you pee your pants while stuck in the crowd and you can’t see a thing—it’s free! Last year, the first year (ever?) my parents spent away from Pittsburgh, they decided the morning of Thanksgiving to go to the parade. And they LOVED it. I stayed home and cooked all day, but remember that the day BEFORE the parade, they do all the float blowing-up, which is something to see! 

What is Thanksgiving reeeeealllly about?

Pilgrims and Indians sitting down happily shared meal of course! Ha. All of the too-good-to-be-true sappy stories turned out to be just that, myths that were either entirely untrue or embellished upon. 
Oh also, the original Thanksgiving was on August 9. So much for keeping with tradition. We should be barbecuing up turkey legs and foil-wrapped potatoes, but the whole Black Friday-Christmas magic would be lost and that would be just…devastating.

Black Friday...

is a horrible tradition, but it will be interesting to see how it goes this year. Of course, it’s traditionally about steals and deals, which the current economy has motivated us to love even more now. I did the early-morning sale thing with my fam. when I was younger, and looking back, I ask myself, was it really worth it? Being all bleary-eyed at 6am just to get a free hokey ornament or tube of bubble gum chapstick? I mean, really???
You’d think in New York that the prospect of getting the most for your money would really appeal. But, I’ve made a dinner out of Whole Foods and Trader Joes samples plus free wine tastings. A little pretentious perhaps, but entirely FREE too. Just today I was walking along and thought to myself, “Man I am hungry.” Sure I had money, but there was Trader Joe’s. I had me some pumpkin spice bread and went on my merry way. Ah America. Gotta love it. But Black Friday? Not my cup of tea at all.

Decorating for Thanksgiving Au Naturelle

No, I do not mean decorate while nude! Though, whatever floats your boat because Thanksgiving does have that back to the land/basics feel going. Okay, so you’re cooking dinner and you don’t want the folding chairs and makeshift tables (read: desks) to look as ghetto as they really are. Kick it up a notch, but without spending too many of those turkey dollars. Suggestions:

• collect fall leaves and have them strewn over end tables, buffet, mantle, etc.
• fill clear glasses and vases with thawed cranberries (see below drink recipe for using them)
• do some leaf rubbings on paper in different colors and then make a garland from them 
• make pilgrim hats from construction paper JUST like in elementary school and have everyone wear them 
• have extra wrapping paper that you hate? Turn it over to the white side, cover your tables with it, dab your hands in paint and smack some turkeys down on the paper! Draw in eyes and other features. 

Cooking Dinner Frugally

Holidays, especially Thanksgiving, are all about eating a lot of meat and carbs, watching football and not saying no to any desserts put in front of you. In other words, just another day being American. Oh zing! Usually, we don’t really think about the cost that goes into Thanksgiving because the meal is tradition and even though it’s about giving thanks, we like to give thanks without counting pennies or cutting coupons.
Well, this year is different. But you know what? Thanksgiving fare isn’t really fancy when you think about it. There’s no filet mignon, saffron rice, truffles or silver tequila margaritas. It’s turkey, potatoes, green beans and some weird combination of ingredients called “stuffing” that I have yet to comprehend/eat/enjoy. 

Drink Your Dinner

Too poor to make a whole dinner? Just have a couple drinks, “fall asleep” until Black Friday is over and, WOW, you hardly spent any money! And maybe you even got a serving a fruit while you were at it. Empty calories? Oh pshaw! 

If all else fails...