Assigned Seating At Thanksgiving

[Saphire]

We make place cards for our Thanksgiving guests so everyone knows where they are sitting. Sometimes we have an 'orphan' and place them near the more friendly guests, sometimes we are trying to put distance between a few people for whatever reason, etc. It can get a little tricky, but I think it is worth the effort. Do you assign seating?

 

[anniemae]

We never assign seating, holiday dinners are usually buffet style. It's like......grab your plate, fill it up, find a seat, eat. Some folks eat right away when the food comes out, others wait a bit (those who pigged out on appetizers!) It is really very casual.

 

[aprilgail2]

LOL---first thing I thought of was dinner at my relatives with the "assigned seating" thing LOL....it got to be a joke because they had little name cards at each seat and before dinner even started everyone that walked past would just mess with those name cards..moving a husband 4 people down from the wife---or a kid at the opposite end of the table from their parent! They finally stoped using those cards!

 

[shortbun]

My Mom always did. I've tried but I keep having guests change my seating plan AND not showing up or bringing extra to holidays. It's my husband's side of the family; everyone on my side knows to call ahead or sit where they're designated. lol! I'm not even putting out the placards this year. It's become a waste of time.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

My DH and I went to his parents house for our first Thanksgiving after we got married. It was just the 4 of us. My MIL made place cards and assigned where we were going to sit! She put me diagonally from my DH, next to my FIL and across from her. I was a little bummed that I didn't get to sit by my DH at our first Thanksgiving but I didn't say anything.

So we went to their house again for Christmas Eve dinner. She said, "I'm not assigning seats this time because I made the mistake of putting you on Bob's right side last time and he couldn't hear a thing you said all night." My FIL had no hearing in his right ear. Could he have said something about where she sat us? No, he just let me try to make polite conversation all night and nodded his head and didn't say a word. I would rather let people choose where they sit.

 

[Nolcrest]

No assigned seating for the 23 I'm expecting. I'll be serving Buffet style and they can choose where they want to sit. I don't want to be accused of having a hidden agenda of why I chose specific seating if I had assigned it.

 

[crazelion]

Assigned seating funny. Not in my family.

 

[nuttylawprofessor]

My monster-in-law uses it to screw with people. Every once in a while, I get to sit in the same room as my spouse. Yeah. We don't go there very often anymore.

 

[Plannin'Shannon]

My boyfriend's sister made place cards for our 30-guest Thanksgiving dinner. We'll see how that goes...

 

[mefordis]

I like to assign seating because I don't like my fil sitting at my dh's place at the head of the table. Also, I like to make sure I can sit next to my 1 yr old.

 

[chloelovesdisney]

Yes, we have assigned seating, always have as long as I can remember. It works well for our family but we don't do silly things like seperate spouses.

 

[Becky2005]

I was going to say we don't have assigned seating for Thanksgiving. I know my mom used to do a New Year's Day meal & we would make name cards. It wasn't *really* assigned seating, if someone wanted to move they could.

However, now that I think about it we have unofficial assigned seating. We have a "kid's table" which is our kitchen table. My kids always sit in what is basically their spots. Then my niece always sits in DH's spot since that is next to my DD, which leaves my spot open for my nephew! They always sit in those spots.

As for the adult table, we don't assign seats but everyone usually sits in their same spots every year or close to it. In my head, I can see excatly where I'm going to sit and I can also picture where I'm sitting when I go to my brother's house for the holidays.

I guess we have unofficial assigned seating. We all just picked our own spots along the way through the years and those are our spots.

 

[Imzadi]

We never assign seating, holiday dinners are usually buffet style. It's like......grab your plate, fill it up, find a seat, eat. Some folks eat right away when the food comes out, others wait a bit (those who pigged out on appetizers!) It is really very casual.

This usually works at most of places I've been to. Or people just sort themselves. There are usually enough people who sit in groups because they've already been chatting. If there needs to be room for one more, people have no problem scooting one over, till everyone has a place near someone they feel comfortable with.

 

[hopemax]

Normally, no assigned seating. But at DH's Grammy's house DH has an assigned seat. As the oldest grandchild he gets to sit riight next to Grammy. And since I am his wife, I sit next to him. Everyone else is a free for all, which means that you might end up at the "kids" table (the foldout card table). Everyone pretty much rotates, since all the "kids" are in their 20s. But DH has to sit by Grammy, so I never have to sit at the kids table.

 

[Buckalew11]

I'm assigning seats. It took me forever to figure that one out tonight. Hopefully I have assigned everyone in a spot they will be happy with. I wanted to assign one to a different area but I think it is supposed to be cold on Thursday. lol It'll all work out. Right? *sigh*

 

[debster812]

We have assigned seats. We go to FILs house, and last I heard, we were holding steady at 29 people for a sit down dinner. Thanksgiving was MILs FAVORITE holiday of all time, and there was nothing she liked better than having her entire family (8 kids, spouses, and assorted grandchildren) all together for the day. She also never did a kids table, she wanted us all around one (really big) table. So, yes, there are place cards, and family groups are kept together. Otherwise it would be a complete free for all.

 

[Uuaww]

We have logistics that need to be overcome at my family. This was back when I was at home also. Placecards were done mostly due to language barriers and keep people who only spoke one language grouped together. Then you had to take into account the family members who flat out didn't get along (which is me and one of my sisters, and our dad and all boyfriends).
Usually you had Dad at the head of the table, with mom and the grandparents on the other side followed by the two other family friends who came. This was the Hungarian section of the table. I would head the other side of the table (only male) and my 6 sisters and whatever boyfriends would be around the sides. This is the English portion of the table.

 

[golfgal]

Sorry but I think it is strange to have assigned seating at a family celebration like Thanksgiving or Christmas. I also don't see what the big deal is sitting by your spouse--I see him every day, I can talk to him every day I would rather sit by someone else to get caught up on news, events, etc. Same thing with the kids, they would rather sit by their cousins then mom and dad.

 

[cinmell]

No, we don't have seating cards at our Thanksgiving meal or any other meal. We sit wherever we want at the table and luckily, we all like eachother (for the most part anyway ).

 

[maslex]

I agree with 2 of the previous posters.

1--At my house, it's a free for all. Grab a plate, slap some food on it, find a seat and chow down. LOL

2--I would rather sit down and converse with people you don't see or talk to everyday. That way you get to catch up on things from other parts of the family.

While it looks nice to have the table all set and pretty and with the candles, flowers, place cards,etc.....I think some people do it for the look of it (looks like something they saw in a magazine or something) LOL But in reality, I don't think most people really enjoy being told where to sit. I think if Aunt Betty doesn't like cousin Billy Bob....they automatically won't sit near each other.

But everyone has their own way of doing things and that's why this world spins the way it does. IF everyone was exactly the same, it would stop on it's axis, I'm sure. LOL