We are not able to spend Thanksgiving with family this year, its just too expensive to travel when you add up flights, hotel and car rental
So... we thought about going to a nice dinner rather than cooking for two adults, one toddler. We priced out and it will certainly be more to go out than shop/cook but it somehow feels more festive since its just us. WWYD?
Re: NBR - going out on Thanksgiving... depressing or smart?
We are on the fence about this very thing this year...DH and I went out last year since it was just the 2 of us...
The good thing about going out is no clean up. I didn't like not having any leftovers though.
Going out to a nice restaurant is not depressing. It may be more expensive, but think of all the time and effort you've saved... that counts in the price as well.
Going to Boston Market IS depressing. I've done that before.
Another option that might be in the middle is what we are planning to do, which is order a Thanksgiving meal to eat at home. I know around here several restaurants and grocery stores offer a full turkey dinner with all the sides; we are thinking about trying a deep fried turkey this year. We normally have a really big crowd with both my family and DH's here at our house, but this year we will have neither family and don't feel like cooking a big meal for just us. We also don't want to go out with a toddler and a new infant, so we are going to order in. This way we will still have the traditional dinner and leftovers but for no effort!
That said, my sister in CA goes out every year - she has 3 kids and never has any family there with her, too expensive to fly to CA that time of year. They have a great time going out.