Social Distanced Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is rapidly approaching, in a speed only matched by the spread of Covid-19 in the US. As the holiday infamous for its crowded family get togethers draws near — the CDC issued a set of guidelines on how to celebrate and stay safe. Take a minute and check them out.

As you can see, according to those guidelines some holiday activities are considered “higher risk” by public health experts. Among them, naturally, indoor gatherings with people from outside our household. A.K.A — our traditional Thanksgiving family meal!

The CDC recommends not only shopping online this year, but also celebrating the holiday meal online if possible, especially if you have at-risk people in your family, ill or elderly.

Makes perfect sense — instead of having family members travel from afar and get together for one big contagion over turkey and stuffing — go virtual. I guess this year we’re going to have to adapt to a strange new world, not unlike the pilgrims all those years ago.

And here’s how:

1. Technology

By now we are all veterans of online video chats, virtual events and Zoom calls. This is exactly the type of technology you can utilize to “host” your virtual thanksgiving meal. You can go with the quintessential Zoom, Bluejeans or Google Meet, or you can try Smilebox LIVE instead! Smilebox LIVE is a platform that will easily turn a beautiful online Thanksgiving dinner invitation into the virtual event itself. Online invitation turns into online event. No links, codes or password. So simple even Grandma and Grandpa won’t have any issues attending.

2. Food

Okay. There’s no way to virtually share food. Yet. But you what you can do is put together a menu of all the holiday favorites, complete with detailed instructions on how to make everything — then share it with your guests. You can even send your guests packages with ingredients from online retailers such as Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s.

Another option is to have food delivered! Find a restaurant chain that has presence where all your guests live and offers a Thanksgiving meal, something along the lines of Cracker Barrel. Then coordinate a mass delivery or takeout order from the various franchises that are located near your guests’ homes. Actually, this is probably the better option — avoid cooking mishaps by guests AND help out the local food service industry that can probably use the business.

3. Decorations

Shop for Thanksgiving decorations online — banners, balloons, table decorations, autumn wreaths and pumpkins! Use online stores such as Partycity.com or Overstock and have all the goodies delivered to your guests. This way all your homes will be similarly decorated and help bring your event together visually.

4. Entertainment

This one’s a no brainer. This year we’re definitely watching any game, parade or show online or on TV. The CDC clearly recommend avoiding any large events in their guidelines.

So have a fun family Thanksgiving celebration this year, but also keep it safe. We just gave you a pretty good roadmap on how to do that — so no excuses! Let’s pray Covid is vanquished by Christmas and be thankful for what we have. Especially so this year.