The first Thanksgiving in 1621 featured no turkey or pumpkin pie. There were also no sweet potatoes or cranberry sauce served during that original three-day celebration. In fact, the holiday wasn’t even called Thanksgiving until 1863. According to Edward Winslow, who actually attended the first holiday party, what we now call “Thanksgiving” was simply considered a harvest festival.

Twenty years ago, it might have required a trip to the local public library to research the details I so quickly and accurately summarized above. Unless, of course, you’ve been lucky enough to peruse your own volume of Encyclopedia Britannica at length.

Today, a quick Google search will return 270,000,000 “Thanksgiving” results in less than 25 seconds. This is just one indication that social media has officially become a welcome and integral part of all holiday celebrations, from planning to cleaning up.

We’ve already discussed the “Thanksgiving” history lesson, but there are many other ways that the Internet and its social networking components can impact the holidays in many very positive ways.

planning

So what will Thanksgiving be like at your house this year? For starters, the Web is littered with “Thanksgiving Planners” available for download. A quick Google search will yield dozens of free and low-cost planner downloads, which you can use to design your entire Thanksgiving celebration. MarthaStewart offers her own free “Thanksgiving Planner” as a .pdf file on her website. In her planner, the queen of classy entertainment covers an entire month of preparation for November’s Big Day.

By the way, the original “harvest festival” in 1621 actually took place in October. This was probably the case, because the Pilgrims and Native Americans didn’t have to worry about who the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys were playing in those days. Today, that information is available on the official website of the National Football League (NFL) on its annual “Thanksgiving” games page.

The invitations

So… you have a Thanksgiving planner courtesy of Martha Stewart or another plan author. But who do you want to invite to your festive table and how will you communicate with them? Avoid ready stops with a variety of festive Thanksgiving email invitations and its powerful guest tracking solution that makes it quick, easy and free to find out who’s coming and who’s not. So much for the invitation piece. Mark it as done and move on.

dinner selections

We all know that Thanksgiving entertainment can be very expensive. We, as hosts, do not want our guests to leave hungry and dissatisfied. We also want our Christmas celebration to be fun and memorable. Fortunately, Thanksgiving is a holiday that lends itself well to wonderful old-fashioned family recipes. Many of these abound on the Web and are free.

There are apparently 43,600,000 places to look for holiday meal suggestions, including places to brainstorm and discuss potential menu options with others. One such place on the Web is “Rhodey Girl Trials”. The great thing about the web and social media is that you are never alone with your thoughts. You can share ideas with many others, just like you, twenty-four by seven. The Web is always open for business.

Budget

Holiday cooking can be expensive. And who wants to run from store to store comparing prices on buttered turkeys and pumpkin pie filling? Fortunately, the web can be huge here too. Media and other websites have already done some serious food comparison shopping at local supermarkets on your behalf. The ABC TV affiliate in Los Angeles has broken it all down for its viewers on its website. Western Farm Press (WFP) also offers excellent information and savings tips on its own website. According to the WFP, the cost of the 2010 Thanksgiving dinner has increased 9 percent from last year. An educated consumer can easily save several dollars on their holiday grocery bill by following the WFP and other similar recommendations also found on the Web.

The hungry – please give

As you shop for food for your own holiday celebration, think carefully about those less fortunate who may be going hungry somewhere in the world. Vacation time is giving time. Doesn’t helping others in need make us all feel good inside? Social networks also have an easy solution for this. Check out programs like iBuyiHelp, which have helped thousands of people around the world overcome the many challenges they face on a daily basis. Download a shopper’s toolbar to support a cause you believe in.

Dining outside instead of inside

Now, what if you don’t want to cook Thanksgiving dinner and choose to take the whole team out to a restaurant instead? Well, can social networks help you with this too? And this help will definitely be appreciated, because dining out during the holidays is fraught with traps and dangers. Advance reservations, suit jackets, long waits, limited menus, price gouging, mediocre food, and poor service are all too often the hallmarks of holiday “out” dining. Websites like Gayot can help point you in the right direction by giving you some wonderful lists of “best of the best” restaurants, by city.

shopping

Sometime in the late afternoon or early evening, dinner has finished and we men have set out to watch our traditional festive football games. For those who aren’t soccer fans, “Black Friday” is next on the horizon and guerrilla shoppers are already itching to hit the retail stores.

Dealighted has promised to share a list of “leaked” Black Friday sales ads to save money with its shoppers. Another site called “Black Friday 2010” offers more of the same. So let the holiday shopping begin in earnest.

The mess

Hours later and totally screwed up after fighting off the “Black Friday” crowds, reality kicks in again. While you were out shopping, Christmas dinner plates piled up in the sink and those late-night “Thanksgiving sandwiches” we all love. do not fear. There are “After Thanksgiving Cleaning Tips” located in cyberspace. On this site you will learn how to remove wine stains, candle wax, and silver stains from your personal belongings. All of this just in time to do it all over again for Christmas and Hanukkah! By the way, the last holiday begins at sunset on December 1 of this year. So you better start your next round of vacation planning. Fortunately, social media has all the answers and emotional support from countless people who check in on Facebook and Twitter to talk about their Christmas hits and family nightmares. Happy Holidays to all.