High calorie meal help

Yes, you can certainly split the meal in two. But also, you can calculate your calories on a weekly, rather than a daily basis. That means that if you went over today, you could cut back over the rest of the week a bit at a time to make up for it. Be mindful though that it is easy to wipe out your deficit this way, if you dont keep a handle on things!

Eat half is a great idea. I do that often if I know I'm going to a restaurant full of rich, delicious, 1000+ calorie entrees and i don't have the calories to spare but still want to eat!

This sounds like a personal decision.

If it were me (and it kind of will be on the 29th for a birthday dinner) I'd not chose to have dessert and a high calorie meal- it's one or the other. I've already decided to have a pasta dish because it's a favorite but I won't have dessert. It will be hard because it's happening at the cheesecake factory but I'd rather eat a hearty meal and miss a dessert than be that far over for a day.

I also have a plan for the days before and after the dinner. The day before I'm cutting an extra 300 calories and the day after cutting 200 (it's a work day so I will want a little more energy) and I will probably try to fast until lunch (skipping breakfast but I plan to sleep in a bit). You just Balance it in other areas if you insist on having both.

I'm doing this thing where I keep track of calories in a two week period, in a spreadsheet so I can visualize it all. Whenever I go over I will spread the overage out until it's even, however many days it takes to make the 2 week period average out to my daily goal. This will mean a few high calorie days and a few low ones as well.