Turkey tips for your Thanksgiving feast

With Thanksgiving approaching, you've still got a heaping helping of time on your side. Use it to wrangle your guest list into place (leaving room for a few day-of tag-alongs), stock up, and keep from getting your feathers all ruffled in a last-second scramble for plates, drinks, turkey and places to sit.

The Bird

If you've got a rough idea of how many meat-eating guests will be on hand, go with around one pound per person - one and a half if you'd like to ensure a stash of leftovers.

A huge bird can be comically unwieldy, so consider sacrificing the Big Platter Presentation for the sake of sanity and back strain. Opt for two (or three or more if you have the oven space) smaller birds - and just remember to make sure you've got enough roasting pans, foil and other poultry paraphernalia on hand.

If even the teeniest turkey is too big for your crowd, consider paring down to parts - just a breast or a mess of drumsticks. That way, each person gets the meat style they prefer, it cooks more quickly and you're not stuck on a search for a six-legged Tom.