A Stress-Free Thanksgiving Starts Here: Your 2025 Holiday Cheat Sheet

Life comes at you fast — and on Thanksgiving Day, even faster. One minute you’re planning the menu, and the next, the turkey timer’s already ticking. If you’re hosting this year, there’s no shortage of things to do, buy, prep, clean and organize. And if you’re only just getting started with planning, it’s officially time to get moving. The key? Taking it step by step and leaning on a few clever hacks to save time, money and (most importantly) your sanity.

To help you pull it all off, we’ve created the ultimate Thanksgiving 2025 cheat sheet packed with smart shopping tips, prep shortcuts, hosting hacks and post-dinner cleanup tricks. And because the holidays can be as exhausting as they are joyful, we’ve also included a few ways to keep your wellness (and your wallet) intact, plus how to sneak in some stellar Black Friday deals along the way.

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Below, you’ll find everything you need for a stress-free, satisfying Thanksgiving. Think of it as your personal holiday assistant (and our little seasonal secret).

Read more: Don’t Make These Common Thanksgiving Mistakes

How to make Thanksgiving dinner stress free

Thanksgiving is a meal with a host of dishes that guests come to expect. Cut down on meal prep and legwork with a Thanksgiving meal kit filled with all the ingredients for Thanksgiving dinner. Or save yourself a few trips to the store by buying your turkey and other provisions online.

• Find the perfect bird and have it delivered via the best places to buy a turkey online for Thanksgiving. At this late date, you may need to use a same-day service such as Shipt.

How to make Thanksgiving dinner more delicious

This next series of tips is full of easy ways to defrost and cook a big bird for Thanksgiving. We’ve even dropped in some suggestions for folks looking to cook something other than turkey this November.

• For the ultimate turkey recipe, read the best way to roast a turkey every time.
• Try these tips for cooking a turkey outside without an oven.
• Before you can roast or fry your turkey, you have to defrost it. Here’s how to thaw it safely. Spoiler: It takes longer than you’d think.
• If turkey isn’t your thing, try a Turducken, or peruse our full list of the best turkey alternatives to serve this year.

I’m hosting Thanksgiving. What are the best ways to clean for guests?

Being a host isn’t easy. A ton of work goes into cleaning and prepping for guests. To help, we’ve compiled a list of essential hosting and cooking tips you’ll need for your Friendsgiving and Thanksgiving dinner. And though cleaning your house could take a full day (or longer), we have some trusty tips that can make the cleaning process much more efficient.

Cleaning tips for the home:

• If you’re in a pinch, you can clean your kitchen in less than 15 minutes.
• Before you load it with Thanksgiving dishes, be sure your dishwasher is clean.
• Don’t forget about cleaning out your fridge, too.
• If you haven’t cleaned these items in a while, do so before your guests arrive.
• Dog and cat hair everywhere? Use this easy hack to deal with pet hair.
• Hair isn’t the only issue. Make sure you clean pet pee from the couch, too.

Cleaning tips for appliances and kitchenware:

• After chopping vegetables, make sure you properly clean and care for your cutting board.
• Clean your cast-iron the right way after cooking up all those delicious recipes.
• If you’re grilling up meats or sides to free up space in the oven, make sure you properly clean and store your grill.
• For stubborn cookware stains, try this easy trick using common pantry ingredients.

How can I prioritize my health and wellness during Thanksgiving?

Holidays come around only once a year, so it’s understandable to want to indulge in all that decadent food and drink. That said, Thanksgiving can also be an anxiety-inducing time for people on a journey to improve their health and nutrition. The important thing is that you don’t need to deprive or restrict yourself. Instead, you can follow some of these wellness tips to enjoy your Thanksgiving weekend without the guilt.

• Practical tips for prioritizing your mental health and nutrition over the holidays.
• Forget the calories and count your macronutrients instead.
• Thanksgiving can be stressful, so try these eight anxiety-fighting exercises.
• Don’t worry about formal workouts. You’re already doing these 10 fitness activities.
• Instead of dieting this holiday season, try this.
• Try to break these dangerous eating habits as well.
• For an assist at mealtime, try one of these healthy meal delivery services, all tested by us.

Where can I find early Black Friday deals and holiday gift ideas?

When you’re in the fray of prepping for the holiday season, it can be easy to let things slip, but gift-buying is one thing you won’t regret planning for ahead of time. Preplanning your online Black Friday shopping can reduce the stress of gift-buying, and we’re here to help. Whether you’re buying for a parent, sibling, significant other or friend, our CNET experts have a roundup of the best deals and gifts available for Black Friday and beyond.

• For an easy roundup, explore CNET’s best gifts for 2025.
• For major deals and discounts, see our top picks and expert advice for winning Black Friday 2025.
• Take care of the foodie in your life with the best food and drink subscriptions.
• Here’s our list of the best gaming gifts for a console jockey.
• Explore CNET editors’ choices for the top giftable tech of the year.
• Sleep better with the best Black Friday mattress deals this season.

To never miss a deal, check out CNET’s complete roundup of early Black Friday deals. And for all the best gift recommendations, explore CNET’s ultimate gift guide to start ticking off the boxes on your list.