Hosting Thanksgiving Under a Tent: What You Need to Know

You offered to host Thanksgiving. Great!

Then you started counting chairs.

If your dining room comfortably seats 10 but your Thanksgiving guest list is closer to 20, 30 or even 50, you don’t necessarily need to split everyone between three different rooms—or reconsider hosting altogether.

A Thanksgiving tent rental can give you the extra dining space you need, right in your backyard!

We’ve set up tents for Thanksgiving dinners throughout Massachusetts and New Hampshire, especially for families who simply need more room to get everyone together. With sidewalls, heat, lighting and a few basic rentals, a backyard tent can become a comfortable extension of your home for the day.

TL;DR: Hosting Thanksgiving Under a Tent

• Keep the tent close to the house when possible.
• You’ll need sidewalls and heat in late November.
• A frame tent is a great option for smaller gatherings.
• Add tables, chairs, linens and lighting to make it comfortable.
• Flooring is nice, but not necessary.
• Give yourself about 2–4 weeks to reserve your rentals.

Can You Host Thanksgiving Dinner in a Tent?

Yes! For families who don’t have enough room to seat everyone inside, a tent can be an easy way to expand your dining space for Thanksgiving.

Most of the Thanksgiving tents we install are for 50 guests or fewer, which makes our Festival Frame tents a great fit.

And you don’t have to move the entire Thanksgiving celebration outside! Guests can still hang out inside the house, grab drinks in the kitchen or watch football in the living room. The tent simply gives you a dedicated space where everyone can sit down and eat dinner together.

If the property allows for it, we recommend placing the tent relatively close to the house so guests can easily move back and forth.

We can’t attach the tent directly to your home, but keeping it nearby makes a big difference when you’re carrying food outside—or going back for seconds.

How Do You Keep a Thanksgiving Tent Warm?

Late November in Massachusetts and New Hampshire is cold, so sidewalls and heaters are a must!

Sidewalls enclose the tent, while properly sized heaters help keep the interior comfortable. At Baystate, we use a heater calculator based on the size of the tent and average temperature to determine how much heat the space will need.

Lighting is important too, especially with how early it gets dark by Thanksgiving.

Together, the tent, sidewalls, heat and lighting create a much more comfortable dining space than simply putting a canopy over some tables in the backyard.

What Rentals Do You Need for Thanksgiving Under a Tent?

You really don’t need to go crazy with rentals.

For most backyard Thanksgiving setups, we’d start with:

• Tent with sidewalls
• Heaters
• Tables and chairs
• Linens
• Lighting
• Buffet tables, if needed

From there, you can make it as simple or dressed up as you’d like!

One of our favorite layouts for Thanksgiving is one long banquet table so everyone can sit together. We’ve also seen families create a large square using banquet tables, which gives that same big-family-dinner feeling while making conversation easier across the table.

If the whole reason you’re renting a tent is to get everyone together, you might as well actually get everyone together!

Do You Need Flooring Under a Thanksgiving Tent?

You can absolutely add flooring, but for most Thanksgiving setups, we wouldn’t consider it a necessity.

Full tent flooring can be a significant expense. For a smaller gathering that’s only using the tent for Thanksgiving dinner, we’d usually recommend putting that part of the budget elsewhere unless the property or setup calls for it.

This is one of those upgrades that’s nice to have—not something we’d tell every family they need.

Where Should the Thanksgiving Tent Go?

Ideally, close to the house on an appropriate installation surface.

You want it to be easy for guests to go inside and outside, especially if food is being prepared in the kitchen.

The tent cannot be attached directly to the house, and decks aren’t typically where we’re looking to install it. A nearby grass area or patio generally makes more sense!

If there are questions about whether a tent will fit on your property, we can talk through the space and determine whether a site visit is needed.

Can You Serve Thanksgiving Dinner in the Tent?

Of course!

You can set up buffet tables directly underneath the tent or keep the food inside and have guests bring their plates out to the dining area. It really depends on how your house and backyard are laid out.

If you’re putting the buffet under the tent, just remember to account for those tables when determining the tent size. A tent for 30 seated guests requires a different layout than a tent for 30 guests plus buffet tables and other equipment.

What Happens if It Snows on Thanksgiving?

A little snow in the Thanksgiving forecast doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t use a tent, but there is one important thing to know:

Event tents are not designed to hold a snow load, so snow cannot be allowed to accumulate on the tent.

Frozen ground isn’t usually a major issue for installation. We can use alternate staking methods when normal staking isn’t possible due to frozen ground.

As Thanksgiving gets closer, we’ll work with you on the setup and any weather considerations that could affect your rental!

How Far in Advance Should You Rent a Thanksgiving Tent?

For most Thanksgiving tent rentals, two weeks to one month ahead is a good target.

You don’t typically need to reserve your Thanksgiving tent nearly as far in advance as you would for a large June or September event. But we still recommend giving yourself enough time to figure out the tent size, tables, chairs, heaters and other rentals without trying to pull everything together the week of Thanksgiving.

And once you know you’re hosting 30 people in a dining room built for 10…you probably already know you’re going to need the extra space.

We’ve Been Setting Up Thanksgiving Tents for Years

Thanksgiving tents became especially popular for us in 2020, when families were looking for ways to create more space for holiday gatherings. We were setting up so many that Baystate even ended up on WCVB Channel 5 talking about Thanksgiving tent rentals!

Obviously, 2020 was a unique year. But Thanksgiving tents still make sense for a much simpler reason: sometimes your guest list is bigger than your dining room.

If your house comfortably seats 10 and you’re expecting 30 people for Thanksgiving, a tent can give you the extra dining space you need without splitting everyone into different rooms.

And in New England, a late-November tent isn’t just a tent. Sidewalls, properly sized heaters and lighting are what turn it into a space you can actually use for Thanksgiving dinner.

Thanksgiving Tent Rentals in Massachusetts & New Hampshire

Hosting Thanksgiving doesn’t require having a massive dining room.

A heated tent can give you the extra space to bring everyone together without squeezing people into every corner of the house. Keep the setup simple, add some Thanksgiving décor, and you’ve got a comfortable place for the whole family to sit down for dinner.

Baystate Tent & Party provides Thanksgiving tent rentals throughout Massachusetts and New Hampshire, including tents, tables, chairs, linens, lighting and heaters.

If you’re hosting this year and realizing your guest list is a little bigger than your dining room, reach out to our team and we’ll help you figure out a setup that works for your space.