Hosting Thanksgiving can be a flurry of guests, food, and entertainment duties that leave you feeling exhausted. It’s important to try to maintain order to give guests their best experience and keep yourself from losing your head. One way to do this is to try and control scents around the home so friends and family don’t leave smelling like turkey, and you wake up on Friday feeling fresh.

We asked an expert party planner for her best tips and tricks to make your home smell amazing through hosting Thanksgiving, and these easy hacks will change the way you see—and smell—the holiday forever.

Prepping the House

Before you jump straight into cooking and receiving guests, try to prep your home so that the meal doesn’t become the only scent in the house. You can do so by lighting candles, but this might not be your best bet.

“I don't necessarily want to mix a scented candle into the night with all of that food that's going on,” says Seri Kertzner, owner of Little Miss Party Planner event planning company. “The way I prep the house for these smells is by loading up on fresh eucalyptus—it smells really fresh, natural, and delicious, and complements the food smells well.”

With so many cooking smells wafting around the house throughout the day, it’s much easier to lean into the smells and complement them. If you try to overpower or combat the natural smells in your space, you might inadvertently end up spoiling the meal. Instead, use fresh eucalyptus, pine, nutmeg, or palo santo in vases or jars around the house to maintain cohesion.

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Readying the Bathroom

Because the bathroom is cordoned off from the rest of the hosting space, consider diversifying your scents here. While it can be unsettling (and a very real fire hazard) to leave a candle burning unattended for hours, there are other ways to bring a different fall scent into the space.

“What I like to do for the bathroom is leave a reed diffuser—it’s a great way to keep it smelling fresh in there,” Kertzner says. “You can find them with seasonal smells like pine, fall leaves, and pumpkin; I like playing off those flavors and smells away from the food.”

While Hosting Dinner

The same rules apply during dinner as before: Maybe don’t mix artificial candle scents with food, as they can be quite overpowering. But that doesn’t mean you can’t light candles at all.

Feel free to light unscented candles and candlesticks that are a part of your decor or tablescape as you eat dinner. They add a wonderful ambiance without spoiling the scents of the space. And just because the candles are unscented doesn’t mean you can’t play with scents at all.

“I find even when you light a match to light the candles, it helps cut any really harsh flavors or smells that have come through the food,” Kertzner says. “And instead of taking a boring old matchbook from a restaurant, see if you can find a fun set. A little thing like that, when you go to light the candles and everyone sees, sparks conversation.”

After the Party's Over

Once the hosting is done and the cleanup begins, opening doors and windows to let in fresh air will help release some of the stuffiness of the space. And finally, this is the time to light a scented candle if you like.

“The candles and fresh air definitely help clear out the smell and give you that homey, warm scent back in your house after a long day of cooking,” Kertzner says.

Aim for something with a fresh, cleaner smell to complement the mood and clear out the food smells. Good scents include eucalyptus, lavender, sea scents, and pine. Or, if you just can’t get enough of the deep fall smells, try pumpkin, spice, cinnamon, or apples.

Tips for Controlling Scent

Everyone hosts differently, and there’s no wrong way to control the scent in your home, but these are the top “do’s” of scenting your feast.

• Stick to the same smell. There are a lot of different aromas from the food already, so it’s best not to overwhelm the senses with contrasting additives.
• Give the bathroom its own signature. It’s nice to have a good-smelling bathroom, and since it’s the one space that’s completely sectioned off, feel free to try a cleaner or more seasonal scent.
• Watch open flames. Both with cooking and unattended candles, fire hazards are very real. Be sure to keep tabs on your fiery items as there’s nothing that spoils a Thanksgiving more than a burn and its smell.