Another Thanksgiving Thread-Buffet or Family Style

[gotomu212]

We start buffets style and sit at the dining table. After the first round someone goes and grabs the really yummy sides and brings them to the table where we all pass them around...and around...and around.

 

[NYCgrrl]

Over 12 people and I set up buffet style.
Of late I've served several turkeys so I parade one around the table then it's back into the kitchen for me to carve. The man brings out the sliced meat so we can keep the illusion that he did the carving all by himself, LOL.

 

[shoney]

When I was a kid it was always family style with real dishes. Then mom moved to high end disposable lol. As the family dynamics changed the people that came over really didn’t eat much or hang around the table so now she switched to buffet.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

We do a mid-morning/early-afternoon buffet for Christmas. People come and go.

Thanksgiving used to be family style, but with both very little children and elderly grandparents cramped together at a table (a total of 12 people), we actually put plates together in the kitchen and serve them, ala a restaurant. That way we don't have to worry about passing stuff around.

 

[karmic]

I have a 2 tiered counter in my kitchen right next to the dining table which the food is set up buffet style

 

[Disneylover99]

Carve the turkey and put everything out on the kitchen table for a buffet.
With up to 30 people for dinner, it's the only way.

 

[Disney Ron]

Buffet.

 

[cinnaminny]

I don't even know how you would fit it all on one table. We always buffet.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

For DH, DS & me, I serve family style with everything put in bowls. (No pots on the table.) My extended family, inc. sisters & their families, has buffet meals. They don't make dining room tables that big.

 

[low-key]

I'm a buffet guy, I just feel more relaxed and enjoy myself, I'm not formal in anyway

 

[aprilgail]

We all sit at the table and the plates of food are all put on the table and passed around.

 

[Lilacs4Me]

Growing up we would do family style at my grandma's house - about 18 people. 6 of us kids at one table, 12 at the grownup table. Everything was served on the good china and silver from the China cabinet, and the food was loaded into bowls and platters and passed around. There was even gravy boats and butter dishes for each table lol

Then the family started to grow....my mom is the oldest of 7, so once her siblings and my sisters and i started to grow up and get married/have kids - (all my sister's and I have kids older than my youngest two aunts and uncles' kids), we blossomed into 25...30...40....45 people, so we switched to buffet style with paper plates.

I really miss being at my grandmas house when i was a little kid. There was just something about being there that was so comforting. Now my own mother refuses to spend holidays with us, so my sisters and I plan our own holidays together. My kids look super forward to them, so I'm glad about that since they really dont' have grandparents willing to spend time with them. And my MIL's favorite holiday dinner conversation topics revolve around either disgusting bodily fluids/functon stories, which relative's boyfriend is in jail, or the ("thank the lord for providing") minimum wage job the latest 19 year old baby daddy is working, so we really don't take our kids to her house ever, much less the holidays.

 

[ronandannette]

Buffet if my sister is hosting, family-style if I do - that's how it works best based on the types of houses we have. Either way nothing is ever served from the pots.

 

[ols386]

Buffet. We have a small group, but our house is small, so not really room for a large dining room table.

 

[luvsJack]

Always buffet style. Here food is set around the kitchen. In "stations".

At Mil's she has a big island and the food is set around the island, perfect for buffet style serving. She has two large dining room tables and still not enough places to sit.

 

[powellrj]

I serve from the stove. I serve dessert family style. This year it is only 4 of us and I am kind of sad about it.

 

[SirDuff]

We do buffet style because it doesn't fit on the table. But we sit at the dining room table (formally set) and everything is served out of proper china dishes, so doing buffet style does not save on the washing up

 

[quandrea]

When I host, we lay all the food out on the kitchen table and kitchen island. People serve themselves and we eat in the dining room. I like it this way, as I don’t enjoy all the passing around of food.

At my Mil’s we eat family style.

 

[punkin]

This year I only have 7 people so I will put everything out on the table and we will pass the food around.

 

[Julie's Haircut]

Buffet at my house. I've been a guest at other places where T-giving was family style and didn't care for it. The table is too crowded and it's awkward to keep having to pass plates around.

Family style might work for 6 or 8, but for a larger gathering it's a cluster.