Thanksgiving is a time for family, friends, and food. But what if you could use technology to make your holiday even better? Cactus understands that the holidays are a time of the year where you want to disconnect from technology, and we agree! However, technology can come in handy when preparing for a Thanksgiving feast and being with family virtually if they can’t attend in person. Here are seven tips that will help you have the best Thanksgiving ever with the help of technology!

1. Meal Planning Tech

Cooking a Thanksgiving feast for the family can be time-consuming and overwhelming. Using tech tools to help you plan your meals and grocery lists will make planning for Thanksgiving easier! The likelihood of you forgetting your handwritten list at home when you head to the grocery store is high, but if you have that list on your phone, the chances of you having your phone with you are higher! Using a smartphone app like Yummly is a great way to find recipes, calculate calories per serving, create shopping lists and share among family members helping out in the kitchen to prepare meals.

2. Virtual Communication

Aunt Cindy couldn’t make the trip for Thanksgiving this year? No problem. There are countless ways to be included in the Thanksgiving festivities using video calls, such as Zoom or Facetime, thanks to technology. In recent years, there has been an exponential increase in people looking to use various ways to communicate with friends and family on Thanksgiving day instead of just talking over the phone, so get those apps ready on your phone to give them a call!

3. Lending a Tech Helping Hand to Family

Let’s be honest, some people in your family may not be as tech-savvy, and that’s perfectly fine! Lend out a helping hand by answering any family members’ questions regarding their cell phone, WiFi, TVs, or how to use a cordless phone. Family members can also be thankful that they have someone around who knows how to handle technology mishaps such as their WiFi not working, so lend out your tech support skills!

4. Games for the Whole Family

Ran out of board games to play with the family? Maybe your phone can help! There are plenty of fun apps for the whole family, such as Heads Up, Words with Friends, Mad Libs, and more.

5. Create a Guest WiFi

Having guest WiFi is a great idea when it comes to protecting your home’s network and efficiency. You can set up guest WiFi so that everyone in the house can use it without having to give access to your home’s network. Of course, on Thanksgiving, you’re spending it with the family that you can trust. Still, you also don’t know what your family members may be unknowingly doing online that can harm your home’s security or what dodgy apps they have downloaded. When you enable the Guest Network, it provides WiFi access with internet access, but that entire WiFi network is kept separate from your network where your info is.

6. Online Shopping

If you don’t want to go out for Black Friday shopping, you don’t have to! Not only do you have black Friday, but now there is also cyber Monday, so you can get your Christmas shopping done from the comfort of your couch!

7. Never Miss the Thanksgiving Parade Again

Do you always happen to miss the Thanksgiving parade on Thanksgiving morning? Thanks to DVR that is no longer an issue! DVR allows family members to record the Thanksgiving parade so that you won’t miss it. 

This Thanksgiving, don’t let technology overthrow your day. Instead, put the best attributes of the digital age to work to make the holiday even more meaningful. At Cactus Technology Solutions, we want to wish everyone a blessed Thanksgiving day spent with family and loved ones. We are so grateful and honored to have clients like you!

Introducing Michele Kirkland

Our CEO Amy Milam and the newest Client Solutions Executive Michele Kirkland met with John Boggan with Evolve IP this month! They discussed Evolve IP’s newest core products over coffee and had a great visit. We are so grateful for our wonderful partnerships!