You already have enough to do for Thanksgiving, especially if you’re inviting people over to your home. But in my years of testing smart home devices, I’ve stumbled onto several easy hacks that use smart products I already have — and make Thanksgiving festivities much easier to manage.
From helpful voice commands to app-controlled speakers and thermostats, these are the tricks I rely on to keep things going smoothly when I’m busy with a get-together, all without adding any extra technology or steps I don’t have time for.
Note: If you do want more smart cooking technology, visit our guides for air fryers, smart kitchen tools, smart scales and smart ovens. And don’t forget to prep for Black Friday, since the deals are already hitting places like Amazon.
Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.
1. Voice command timers
A smart display can do far more than just timers — but it’s so handy!
When juggling multiple timers in the kitchen, I love the ability to tell Siri or Alexa to set independent timers for me so I don’t have to try keeping track of everything in the oven or in my head. I know using a voice assistant for mere timers sounds like overkill, but if you already have a device listening for commands, you’ll see how useful those timers can be. I can also set reminders for specific times, like “Hey Google, remind me to check the turkey in two hours.”
I prefer my smart display for this (currently the Amazon Echo Show 11, which I’m testing) since I get visual countdowns, but any smart speaker can also work.
2. Giving lights a warmer hue
You can adjust most smart bulbs to gentler colors or dimmer light.
I have both smart standard bulbs and smart LED floodlights in and around my hosting areas at home. For a lengthy event like Thanksgiving, I use my light apps to adjust the color or color temperature to a lower, warmer orange. It’s easier on everyone’s eyes and will work even better as evening sets in and things get darker. Plus I can keep the lights above the kitchen bright for cooking as necessary.
3. Phone-controlled speaker volume
Smart speakers let you control them from afar.
TVs often get turned up during Thanksgiving — which is fun, but can be distracting for conversations or impede family announcements, especially in smaller homes. I have a smart soundbar with big sounds for sports that I can also control with my phone or a quick voice command to Alexa. Believe me, that comes in handy when I need a few moments of quiet to say something or calm things down. Many home theater speakers or smart speakers that you can connect to TVs (like the Echo Studio 2025 have this capability.
4. Smart temperature operation
Nest’s thermostat is pretty but the real advantage is the savings inside.
When you’re cooking all day, your home can grow a lot hotter than normal. With my smart thermostat, I can adjust the temperature on the fly, bumping it off its schedule and down a few degrees so it doesn’t make things worse, or even dropping it to switch my heat pump to cooling mode and lowering the temperature. If people complain about it being chilly after sunset, I can likewise raise temperatures again (and lock the thermostat so no one can manually mess with it). These controls work via app or voice command, no matter what I may be doing.
5. Automatic air quality monitoring
SwitchBot’s comprehensive air monitoring solution works in any part of your home.
Another issue all that cooking brings, similar to indoor heaters and fireplaces, is a lot of inside air pollution. I have a handy air quality monitor I can set up near the kitchen that keeps an eye on temperature, humidity and carbon dioxide. If levels start getting really high, it’s time to turn on fans, my air purifier, and maybe crack open a window or two. That benefits everyone’s health and comfort.
Thanksgiving is only one day out of the year, but home tech helps out year-round. For more ways you can prepare your home for events, take a look at my guides to the best smart locks and the top video doorbells for your porch.
