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20 Holiday Dining Etiquette Tips

21 Nov 2018 By: Diane Gottsman

Thanksgiving is an opportunity to share quality time with friends and family, enjoying food and conversation around the dining table. What better occasion to brush up on your dining manners!

Thanksgiving Dining Holiday Etiquette Tips

Here are some tips to help you practice.

  • Wait for the host to be seated before you touch your napkin or prepare your tea. It’s a polite gesture of respect.

  • Liquids go on the right and the bread plate on the left. Refer to our Thanksgiving Place Setting Guide.

  • Women should avoid hanging their purse on the back of the chair. No purse clips either!

  • Sit where your place card is located. Avoid switching the order of seating around to sit next to your favorite aunt.

  • Men keep their ties down, not flung over their shoulder. At a formal meal, a man’s suit jacket remains on.

  • Place cell phones on silent and out of sight. Avoid technology at the holiday table.

  • If you leave the table during the meal, place your napkin on the arm of your chair or the seat cushion and push the chair back under the table.

  • A toast does not require a clink. Raise the glass to the center of the table. However, never refuse a “clink”.

  • Don’t toast to yourself. If your name is mentioned and you are being toasted, put your glass down and don’t drink until after the toast is over.

  • Cut only one piece of food at a time.

  • Break apart a dinner roll and eat one bite at a time.

  • Don’t season the food before tasting.

  • Salt and pepper are committed traveling partners. Pass them together around the table.

  • Never ask for ketchup or steak sauce. It appears as if you need to mask the taste of the food.

  • Do not cut up or twirl spaghetti with a spoon. Only twirl with a fork and bring to mouth.

  • Remove gristle and bone with the index finger and thumb. Place the foreign object discreetly on the plate.

  • Direct a cough or a sneeze into your left shoulder, shielded by your left hand, keeping your right-hand germ free.

  • Offer to help the host clear the table.

  • At the end of the night, don’t ask for a “to go” bag unless offered by the host.

  • Send a handwritten thank you note to the host the next day.

 

You may also like Dining Etiquette: Holiday Foods Defined. For more of Diane’s etiquette tips read her posts on Inc., subscribe to her articles on Huff Post, “like” The Protocol School of Texas on Facebook, and follow her on Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter. Buy her new book, Modern Etiquette for a Better Life.

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Diane Gottsman

Diane Gottsman is a national etiquette expert and modern manners professional, sought out industry leader, television personality, accomplished speaker, Huffington Post blogger, author, and the owner of The Protocol School of Texas, a company specializing in executive leadership and etiquette training. Diane is routinely quoted in national and international media including The New York Times, The BBC, CNN, Bloomberg Business Week, Kiplinger, Huffington Post Canada, U.S. News and World Report, and Forbes. She is the resident etiquette expert for two popular morning talk shows, SA Living and Good Day Austin. She has been seen on The TODAY Show, HLN Headline News, WGN Chicago, and CBS Sunday Morning. Her clients range from university students to Fortune 500 companies and her workshops cover topics ranging from tattoos in the workplace to technology at the dinner table and the proper use of social media.