With Thanksgiving around the corner, some of you are staring at your phones wondering: “Should I bring the person I met on OBC to meet my entire family?”

Short answer: absolutely not.
Long answer: absolutely, definitely not.

Look, having a warm body to cuddle with after inhaling half a pumpkin pie sounds great… but dragging a casual situationship into the emotional Thunderdome that is Thanksgiving dinner? That’s how you end up stress-eating an entire bread basket while your mom asks your date about their “five-year plan.”

Here’s why bringing a casual fling home for the holidays is a terrible idea:

1. The Interrogation Squad Will Be Activated

You know how families get during the holidays. One whiff of “potential partner” and suddenly everyone turns into an FBI agent with cranberry sauce on their shirt.
Prepare for questions like:

• “So how did you two meet?”
• “Are you exclusive?”
• “When can we expect grandbabies??”
  If the answer to any of these is “uhhhh,” do everyone a favor and skip the awkward cross-examination.

2. Mixed Signals Become MULTIPLIED by 100

Nothing screams serious relationship like meeting the family… even if you swear it “doesn’t mean anything.”
To your date, it might feel like a Big Step™.
To your family, it definitely feels like a Big Step™.
Meanwhile, you’re just trying to eat mashed potatoes in peace.

Bringing someone you’re not committed to can create expectations you never intended—and holiday expectations are already sky-high without adding romance confusion to the menu.

3. Protect the Sacred Family Chaos

Thanksgiving is already a circus: cousins arguing, someone burning the rolls, someone else giving an unsolicited TED Talk about politics.
Your family does not need an audience for this.
And your date doesn’t need front-row seats to the yearly tradition of Dad falling asleep at 6:15 pm.

Keep it simple. Keep the holiday sacred. Keep your casual thing… casual.

If you’re not ready to define the relationship, don’t define it with stuffing present. Save yourself the pressure, the mixed messages, and the emotional cleanup—bring leftovers home, not your situationship.