Leftovers party invitations for the day after Thanksgiving

The day after Thanksgiving is the best party of the weekend and the cheapest one to throw. The food already exists, in somebody else's fridge. Your job is bread, condiments, a hot skillet, somewhere to sit and a reason for people to leave the house between a shopping trip and a nap.

Keep it a drop-in. Two until seven on the Friday, come when you like, leave when the sandwich is finished. Send the invite before Thanksgiving so guests save their leftovers instead of eating them Thursday night, and put the bring-your-own-turkey part in the first line. A Bringalong link works well here, because guests can claim the bread, the chips or the ice from the invite page and you can see who is actually coming.

Pick the day and keep the hours loose

Friday afternoon is the natural slot. People are off work, the fridge is full, and nobody has the energy for a seated dinner two days running. Two to seven gives a five-hour window where guests overlap in waves of four or five, which is easier on a small kitchen than ten people at once.

Saturday works if your friends travel on Friday, and the food is still fine: cooked turkey keeps three to four days in a fridge at 40 F or below. Sunday is pushing it. If you want a Sunday party, ask guests to freeze their turkey on Thursday night and thaw it overnight Saturday.

• Friday, 2 pm to 7 pm: the standard leftovers drop-in.
• Friday evening, 7 pm onward: sandwiches, soup and a film.
• Saturday lunch, noon to 4: good if people were traveling Friday.
• Send the invite 7 to 10 days before Thanksgiving so guests ration their leftovers.
• Add a line about shoes, coats and parking, since guests arrive carrying food.

What guests bring, and what you supply

Ask guests to bring their leftovers in the container they already have, with their name taped to the lid, and a serving spoon if the dish needs one. No reheating at home, no repackaging, no cooking. The whole appeal is that nothing new gets made.

You cover the parts that turn leftovers into a meal. Bread is the big one and the thing most hosts underbuy. Then condiments, cheese, a hot pan, plates, trash bags and something to drink. Expect to spend 30 to 50 dollars for ten guests.

• Bread: two slices per sandwich, about 1.5 sandwiches per guest. Ten guests need 30 slices, so two loaves.
• Rolls: a dozen, for the people who want a small one.
• Cheese: one ounce per sandwich, so a pound covers ten guests.
• Condiments: mayonnaise, mustard, hot sauce, pickles, and a jar of cranberry sauce in case nobody brings theirs.
• A skillet or a sandwich press, plus butter for grilling.
• Chips, two large bags, and a pound of ice per guest.
• Containers for the leftovers of the leftovers, which is a real category by 6 pm.

Run it as a sandwich bar

Lay it out in order, left to right, on a counter: bread, butter, cheese, turkey, stuffing, cranberry, gravy for dipping, greens, condiments, plates at the end. Guests build their own and you work the pan. A grilled turkey, stuffing and cranberry sandwich on buttered white bread takes four minutes a side in a skillet over medium heat, and you can fit two at a time.

The house favorite is usually the one with gravy in a mug on the side. Pour the gravy into a small saucepan with a splash of stock or water, bring it to a boil and keep it on the lowest heat, and it holds for a couple of hours. Taste it before you serve it, since a day in the fridge makes gravy salty.

Soup from the carcass, the one thing worth cooking

Break the turkey frame into pieces so it sits under water, cover with 14 cups of cold water, add an onion halved, two carrots, two celery sticks, a bay leaf and ten peppercorns. Simmer uncovered for two to three hours and you get about ten cups of broth. Strain it, pull the meat off the bones, and you have a soup base you can start on Thursday night and finish on Friday morning.

For ten guests, plan a cup and a half each, so 15 cups of finished soup. That is the ten cups of broth plus the pulled meat, a cup of noodles or rice, and three cups of chopped vegetables. Keep it on the stove on low rather than in a slow cooker, because people serve themselves from a pot and a ladle without asking.

Food safety for day-two food

This is the part a leftovers party has to take seriously, because the food has already been through one service and one car journey. The rules are short and they are not negotiable.

Keep a thermometer in a drawer near the stove and use it on the turkey and the stuffing. A sandwich filling that has been reheated to 165 F is safe. A platter sitting on a table since two o'clock is not, at five.

• Cooked turkey keeps three to four days in a fridge at 40 F or below. Day two is fine, day five is not.
• Reheat leftovers to 165 F all the way through, and only once.
• Nothing sits out longer than two hours. Put half back in the fridge and refill the platter.
• Gravy gets brought to a full boil, not warmed.
• Ask guests to carry food in a cooler bag if their drive is longer than 30 minutes.
• Anything untouched at the end goes home with a guest or into the freezer, not back in the fridge for Tuesday.

Sending the invite

Send it before Thanksgiving, which is the whole trick. An invitation that arrives on Friday morning finds everyone already eating their turkey in front of the television. Seven to ten days ahead and guests put a container aside on purpose.

On Bringalong you create the event, add claimable items for the bread, the chips, the drinks and the ice, and share one link in your group chat. Guests tap Going or Maybe in a phone browser, add a plus-one, and claim what they are bringing. Your manage link shows the count, so when four people say Maybe you know to buy two loaves instead of three.