Festive-Not-Fussy For Thanksgiving

Festive casual Thanksgiving outfit with pink sweater and leopard print shoes. Details at une femme d'un certain age.

What To Wear: A Casual Thanksgiving

earrings | fragranceshoes | sweater | pants | lipstick | bracelet | bracelet | bag

Our holiday celebrations are more relaxed these days, so I don’t need dressy party clothes. But I do like to add some fun and festive touches to get into the holiday spirit. Here’s an outfit idea for a casual Thanksgiving gathering. I’ve added some color this time with a pink sweater and burgundy pants. Leopard pumps and gold-toned accessories bring the party.

And if you’re traveling for the holiday, both the sweater and pants can be re-mixed to create more outfits.

We’ve packed up most of our kitchen in anticipation of the start of construction, so I’m not cooking this year. We’ll have Jeune Homme with us for the weekend, and have been invited to our Aunt and Uncle’s for turkey dinner. I love hosting Thanksgiving and will be looking forward to doing so next year with a renovated kitchen.

Will you be going anywhere for Thanksgiving this year? Or will you be hosting?

More Festive-Not-Fussy Options

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31 Comments

  1. We normally go to Door County in Wisconsin to celebrate with my brother’s family. Sadly, his wife had a major stroke in June, and remains in a vegetative state. (Decisions to be made soon….) So we will go to my niece’s house–in Wisconsin–to all be together anyway, and to visit my sister-in-law in her care facility. I’ll be dressing casually, in jeans and cashmere sweater, but I need something festive, so I’ll be wearing a new red lipstick and some huge gold chain earrings, and one of Tom Ford’s oud fragrances. And I am the Pie Lady.

    For the rest of the weekend my husband and I will go to a favorite B+B to celebrate our 23rd anniversary. We love “getting lost” on rural roads, and stumbling upon a cranberry bog, a llama farm, a cheese shop….

    Have a lovely Thanksgiving1

    1. Seriously, have to ask….This seems like a horrible family health situation and someone is talking about what they will wear!!!!. Really?? This is awful….

      1. I can only speak from my own experiences, but sometimes putting our best face forward in difficult times (illness, loss) and coming together to celebrate holidays is a mood lifter and welcome bit of normalcy for the rest of the family. And yes, that can include something that might seem as trivial as what one chooses to wear.

      2. I work in health care. Life does go on. The poor soul’s stoke was in June; 5 months ago. It is not healthy for family to be sitting around paralyzed by grief. She said they were going to visit her. Of course the family should continue living life.

      3. You can not- especially from an internet comment- know this persons situation and you are making them feel bad for being human.
        You might want to be less judgemental this holiday season, Jude.

      4. When it became obvious my mother-in-law’s death was imminent after a brief but intense illness, I spent the last night of her life shopping online for shoes for my young son to wear to her funeral because that was the one thing I could control at the moment.

      5. None of us has should judge another who’s struggling with such problem. As others say, acting normally is often good medicine for handling turmoil. I sense a bit of sexist condescension in the remark about what someone wears — it’s a topic of great significance to some, myself included.

      6. I am so sorry for your situation. But when my brother died a couple months ago after a 4 year battle with cancer, thinking about my clothing was the last thing on my mind. I could barely breathe. We are all different, and deal with stress differently. Prayers for you.
        I understand trying to be normal. I had breast cancer myself. And I am thankful to be alive. I am from Wisconsin. I know Door county. I just was taken aback. Have a good time despite the circumstances.

  2. I am hosting – 12 for dinner…I will have hair and make-up done and then pop a cute apron on over my comfortable outfit…so I can relax once everything is prepped…the days of showing up with a covered dish are somewhere waaay down the road…

  3. It’s our first Thanksgiving living in Zürich, and in lieu of Thanksgiving dinner we’ll be attending the city’s big (Christmas) lighting ceremony and start of the Christmas market season. Whatever looks good at the market stalls will be dinner, and I will be wearing something very warm!

  4. Hosting at least 20 in my newly renovated kitchen! I feel your pain but it will be all worth it once it is done. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday 🙂

  5. One son and his wife and baby flying in for the holiday – makes grandma very happy. Thank you for the reminder to pull out my slightly dressy top to put on to make our very casual dinner slightly more festive.

  6. Super Small Thanksgiving this year, just 3 of us. Not even sure we could handle a chicken , much less a turkey so we are making reservations for Thanksgiving. The day before is my oldest’s birthday but she has to work a 12 hour day so we will celebrate on Thursday for her. We plan to go to the country club for the mid day meal then return to the house to toast her birthday and give her the presents. What did I get her? The much discussed waterproof insulated coat with removable hood for travel in wet and cold weather!
    I plan to wear my new EF holiday sweater , grey with a hint of metallic threads. Along with leggings with boots, it will be fun and ever so discreetly festive. Some bling on my ears and we will call it an outfit.

    1. Hi Victoria, it’s actually a sweater, and I haven’t tried it on yet. The description says “semi-fitted” so if you prefer a looser fit, you might want to size up from your usual.

  7. We are hosting family and friends at our Sierra Nevada cabin. We will only be 7 people, which is a pretty small gathering for us, and I will be missing our older daughter, who is studying abroad. Also, we’ve got a tiny stove in the cabin, so I will be making the turkey on the BBQ — hopefully not/ hopefully in the snow. Wish me luck, it will be an adventure.

    1. Our oven once died on Christmas Eve. Luckily, we hadn’t invited guests for Christmas dinner, but still had the thawed turkey which needed cooking. We threw it (stuffed and all) on our barbecue grill. And it came out really very nice. Good luck!

  8. Going to my forever friend’s house to spend the day with her mother, children, and grandchildren. Making brownies and cranberry sauce…and looking forward to a great day. Love you ideas for a more relaxed look…and wishing you a wonderful Thanksgiving !

  9. I would love to wear a sweater and colored jeans for Thanksgiving. However, we celebrate in a local park in San Diego County (30+ people, everyone brings food and we have the full shebang from appetizers to turkey to lots of pies). It’s going to be 86 degrees tomorrow, so I’m wearing a Liberty of London lawn blouse and maxi skirt to stay as cool as possible. At least the colors (navy and orange) will be fall-ish, and my orange tassel earrings won’t be hot.

  10. I am hosting 17 people here in my home in Atlanta. I’ll be wearing a velvet (thick fabric) sapphire-blue loose T-shirt with one oversized front breast-pocket (from Fabrik). I may sew a little ribbon on each sleeve to draw them up. Will wear with khaki leggings and tan, peep-toe booties or suede loafers. Must be comfortable for all the busy-ness! I’m trying to keep everything simpler this year! I’m going to do an at-home blowout for my hair, too, long & straight! Thanks for your wonderful inspirations!!

  11. We celebrated Thanksgiving last night with my husband’s two daughters and their families. We went to a Mexican restaurant and had a good time. Each daughter has two little ones, so we had four children age 3 and under. Yikes! On Thanksgiving we are going to a friend’s home where she is hosting about 30 people, all family, except for my husband and me. We are making a vegetable dish and an apple pie. I don’t know what I’ll be wearing, but am aiming for festive and comfortable. For the outfit you showed, I really like the color combination of pink top with animal print shoes.

  12. I want to apologize if I offended anyone by noting what I was going to wear at our Thanksgiving, which is especially sad this year (see very first comment). Under the circumstances some may think that I shouldn’t give any heed to how I look. I disagree. We have, as Queenie pointed out, been living with this situation for months, and have grieved every day.

    I was taught to pay attention to my appearance as a matter of respect for others. I have also been in the fashion business (display) and am an artist. Creativity is a huge part of my life..

    .Lastly, my sister-in-law always enjoyed seeing how I was dressed. In no way would she want people to feel the need to be subdued. We will enjoy our good food and each other’s company, and maybe even tell jokes and laugh. My brother needs this, because life does indeed go on.

    1. Ignore any criticisms of your post. I have worked in Cancer and Palliative Care wards for over 25 years and can assure you that your comments were not inappropriate or self indulgent. I have seen terminally ill patients (with only weeks to live) have their hair and nails done. One young woman (aged 24) even tried on the dress she would wear in her coffin and had photos taken. Being consumed with grief is not healthy and I hope you enjoy Thanksgiving with your family – and I liked the sound of your outft.

    2. My dear, you are not the one who needs to apologize. My you and all your family draw comfort from each other around your Thanksgiving table this year.

  13. Thank you, Susan, for combining fashion and Thanksgiving! 23 of us (in my 1,100 square foot bungalow) will be sitting down to dinner for the 65th year. My mother, who hosted 54 of them, will be arriving in a wheelchair and may not be able to stay for dinner for the first time, due to advanced Alzheimer’s. But you can bet that she will be dressed in red, along with the rest of us, as we have been doing all of these decades: my family decided long ago that the color went well with the turkey, so — yes — we will be festive-not-fussy, and very, very grateful.

  14. It’s just the two of us — the closest family to us is about 800 miles away across icy roads. That isn’t stopping me from cooking a turkey, some vegetables, and a pie. Leftovers!

    We’ll both be wearing jeans and sweatshirts, but I’ll festivize my look with pearl earrings.

  15. Here in Aix we enjoyed duck rather than turkey for our Thursday feast – and were positively giddy with thankfulness to have our daughter and her partner join us from Florida! We’re loving the opportunity to show off our much-loved Aix en Provence, and share our home here with them. Happy Holidays!

  16. Ambiancedaix, I went to school in Aix, at the Institute for American Universities, in ’76, and return whenever possible. We were there in June this year, and I am still madly in love with it. It is my Happy Place. How fortunate you are to live there!