Happy Thanksgiving Eve, y’all! If this is your first time hosting a real Thanksgiving dinner, congratulations on your level-up in adulthood! We applaud you!

We thought we’d offer up some tips on how to survive Thanksgiving in Denver this year!

Thanksgiving survival tips

Unthaw the bird.

First, if you’re in charge of the turkey, give that sucker ample time to unthaw. There’s nothing worse than waking up on Thanksgiving morning only to realize you’ve left the turkey in the deep freeze. Don’t give your mother something to harass you about!

Rule of thumb: You need one day for every four pounds of turkey to unthaw properly.

Butterball has saved everyone’s lives with this variety of turkey calculators. Yes. Turkey calculators. Check them out here.

Use canned green beans.

This may seem a bit frivolous, but this is serious stuff. Green bean casserole is a staple dish at Thanksgiving dinner.

Moreover, the creator of the Great American Green Bean Casserole, Dorcas Reilly, passed away last month. It’s only right we all pay homage to her and this delicious dish through her traditional recipe. Don’t disappoint everyone by using frozen, bagged green beans. Trust us on this one.

Deflection tactics.

There’s nothing worse than the conversations you don’t want to have with a room full of family. Should any topics come up that make the room feel awkward, we recommend having deflection tactics on-the-ready.

Your grandpa wants to argue about politics? Break out into a Hall & Oats song.

Your sister wants to sign you up for the next MLM business opportunity? Bring dessert out early with a side of “no thank you”.

Your mother brings up your relationship status? Knock your water over and escape to the kitchen for a towel, and straight out the back door.

Have a backup plan.

Sometimes, things go south and you need a backup plan. Thankfully, Denver is top-notch when it comes to Thanksgiving weekend.

There is a plethora of generous local Denver restaurants open on Thanksgiving Day!

Ruth’s Chris Steak House is offering a traditional three-course Thanksgiving meal, including their sweet potato casserole. If you’ve never had their sweet potato casserole, you need to get up and go order it now. It’s life-changing.

The Corner Office in LoDo is bringing it’s comfort-food game on Thanksgiving. Roasted turkey, honey-glazed ham, bourbon yams (you had us at bourbon). It doesn’t get much better than this.

Randolph’s, located within the Warwick Denver Hotel, is hosting a Thanksgiving brunch buffet from 10am to 3pm. What’s better than brunch and then some afternoon football?