Right now you’re probably thinking about the upcoming holidays, perhaps wondering how to seat your ever-expanding family around your claustrophobic dining room table. Maybe you’re also worrying about where to put your guests after they eat. Instead of TV trays and blow-up mattresses, think about inviting your clan to an Up North resort. You’ll have a fabulous meal without all the work, more time to spend with your loved ones, and if the weather is as snowy as last year’s, you might even be able to ski afterward. Some ideas: These resorts and inns let you do Thanksgiving without all the fuss.

New Traditions: The Meals and Deals

I’ve pigged out on the terrific Thanksgiving buffet in Stafford’s Perry Hotel’s vintage H.O. Rose Room and stayed overnightin a comfy room overlooking Little Traverse Bay. A package deal: Wednesday and Thursday or Thursday through Sunday,
November 25–29 includes two nights lodging, Thanksgiving dinner for two and $40 in Downtown Petoskey Merchant Money
for $259; three nights for $299. 800-737-1899 or STAffORDS.COM/PERRYHOTEL. A similar package is available at Stafford’s Bay View Inn; STAffORDS.COM/BAYVIEW.

Petoskey’s 100-year-old Terrace Inn also offers a traditional dinner Thursday, breakfast the next morning and jazz, appetizers and the trimming of the Terrace Inn Christmas tree that evening. Check out after breakfast Saturday. A standard room is $259 per couple; stay another night for $69 more. The bed-and-breakfast inn also offers $109-per-person Group Getaway packages (two-night weekend stay) when 20 or more rooms are booked with appetizers friday night, three meals on Saturday, and breakfast Sunday morning. CALL 800-530-9898 or THETERRACEINN.COM.

I can also vouch for the mouthwatering Thanksgiving buffet at Aerie at the Grand Traverse Resort in Acme. It’s an elegant spread with all the trimmings in the $25 range, and winter rates at the resort are the year’s lowest. 800-236-1577 orGRANDTRAVERSERESORT.COM.

More Deals

You can also save cash with the Four Night’s Stay for the Price of Three deals offered by 20 lodging facilities in Petoskey, Harbor Springs and Boyne until December 18 through the Petoskey Area Visitors Bureau. And find tons of discounts on lodging, shopping, restaurants and casinos among the Fab Fall Packages from the Traverse City Convention and Visitors Bureau through December 19.

Patty LaNoue Stearns is a TRAVERSE contributing editor. Reach her at pattywrites.com.