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The Holiday Season is here! It’s time to embrace old traditions and start some new ones for yourself and your friends. You should host Friendsgiving! What is a Friendsgiving Party? It is exactly what it sounds like: Thanksgiving with your friends.

It is often held on a day other than Thanksgiving but can be the main event for those who don’t have a family dinner to attend on actual Thanksgiving. To host the perfect Friendsgiving, you can either embrace a traditional dinner style held during the afternoon or a party style held in the evening. Either way, your Friendsgiving will be a crowd pleaser with your close friends. Why not make it an all-day event. Guests can arrive to the hosts house by around 11am. Eat appetizers and sip wine, talk and play games while the turkey finishes cooking.

Even though hosting anyone at your house causes a little stress, these ideas are meant to keep things fun and easy so you can enjoy yourself too. BONUS: Most of these tips work for celebrating Thanksgiving too!

How Do You Host a Friendsgiving?

Usually, the Host will cook the turkey and whatever else they choose, while everyone else brings a side dish or dessert to share.

LOCATION

Make sure to pick a location with a big table and kitchen. Whether you have five friends or 15, choosing the perfect location is crucial. Make sure you have plenty of room for all guests and the food of course. This should definitely be the first step of your planning.

INVITATIONS

Send out some form of an invitation. You can mail out invitations on a holiday themed card or send out an E-vite to all of your besties. For a less traditional route, make a group text of Facebook group with all of your friends to get the word out.

PLAN AHEAD

No matter how much time I give myself to get prepared the day of a party, I’m always way less stressed if I’ve done most of the work the day before. Make a plan to do the work ahead of time. The only thing I’ll leave until the day of the party is the food prep for whatever part of the meal, I’m in charge of that can’t be done ahead of time. By getting the majority of the to-do list out of the way, when the stress level is low, you’re setting yourself up for success.

• Friendsgiving: The Official Guide to Hosting, Roasting, and Celebrating with Friends: Could there be a more perfect guide for Friendsgiving?!

KEEP THINGS SIMPLE

No matter how elaborate the plans are in your head, nobody else knows what you set out to do. Life gets in the way and and sometimes keeping things simple truly is the best way to ensure that you have success.

THE FOOD

Consider having a potluck. A potluck is a way to make everyone feel included and take some of the pressure off of you. Spend a minute doing a little organization to make sure you don’t end up with 14 pies. When someone only has to bring one or two things, they tend to pull out all the stops and make delicious dishes. This could be the key to having a stress-free Friendsgiving party. Trust me, your friends won’t mind bringing a dish and it will save you so much time/money. If you have a friend that maybe isn’t into cooking, just have them bring a pie they can get at the grocery store.

Party Tip: Be prepared to share your recipes with the others so they can add it to their holiday menu. Print out a few copies beforehand so you can hand them out.

Hostess Tip: Have some disposable containers on hand so guests can take home leftovers for lunch the next day.

• ‘Friends’ Friendsgiving Napkins: If you love the show Friends like I do, you would love these napkins.
• Gold and White Disposable Plateware: These are a great in-between of paper products and your fancy dishes. It includes, dinner plates, salad plates, and utensils.
• Eat, Drink, and Be Thankful Napkins: These are super simple and cute with neutral colors.
• Thankful AF Napkins: These are so fun for a Friendsgiving. They are super cheeky to put at your drink station.
• Funny Wooden Spoons: If you have to use utensils to cook, they might as well be funny.
• ‘Leftovers are for Quitters’ Napkins: These are just too cute for a party.

Serve your Food Buffet Style

This is the easiest way to serve food because people can just get up and get more food when they’re ready. Set up a table that is specifically for all the food. It works out great.

Set up a Drink Station

A serve-yourself drink station is such a great idea. People are happy when they have something to sip on, so make it super easy for them.

• Thanksgiving Wine Bottle Labels: Although completely unnecessary, these would add a cute detail.
• Gold Plastic Cups: Disposable cups are the way to go! You already have dishes to do, make it easier on yourself.
• Leftovers are for Quitters Cups: This could either describe food or drinks and would still be funny.
• Drink if..Party Game: These double as coasters and a fun game.

WHAT TO WEAR

Pick out your best Friendsgiving outfit. The holidays are all about spending time with loved ones while dressing warm and cute. Pull out that cozy sweater and leggings for that friend group photo. For bonus points, organize a theme with your friends so that you have a consistent color palette in photos. Try wearing warm fall colors or jewel tones.

DECOR

Make your home festive with decor. Who says you can’t go all out when you Host a Friendsgiving?

• Friendsgiving Gold Foil Balloon: These are such a great way to add some festive decor easily.
• Wool Felt Ball Garland: This garland is so simple and will add a little something extra to your decor.
• Tassel Garland: These colors are great for a Friendsgiving party.
• Gold Flameless Candles: These candles give a great look without having to burn an extra scent to clash with the yummy food.
• Balloon Garland: Who doesn’t’ love a balloon arch? It makes this dinner feel more like a party.

PLAYLIST

When you host a Friendsgiving having music is key. Pick out a perfect playlist to get the holiday vibes going. Is it really a party without music.

CAPTURING THE MEMORIES

Make lasting memories with your besties. Friendsgiving is an event where you can truly express to your friends how much they mean to you. Be sure to take pictures so you can reminisce in the years to come.

• Thanksgiving Turkey Headbands: These are perfect to wear all night for just for getting some fun new pictures.
• Thanksgiving Eyeglasses: These would be so fun to use in pictures.

FRIENDSGIVING ACTIVITIES

Usually, Friendsgiving guests come from your close friend group. But in case there are people who may be newer to the crowd, think about having a few activities to help break the ice.

• Play a game of football. Our house is pretty small so getting at least some of the people outside from time to time keeps everything feeling a little less cramped. Plus, it’s fun to do something active.
• Plan a game night. This is a great time to play with lots of people and have a chance to laugh and just enjoy each other’s company.
• ‘These Cards Will get you Drunk
• The Best Friend Game: What could be a better game than this for Friendsgiving?!
• Thanksgiving Crafts for Kids: If there will be kids at the party, you should have something for them to do.
• Friendsgiving: Such a sweet book to read with your littles about Friendsgiving and why you should do it.
• Thanksgiving Party Scratch off cards: This is such a fun and different game to have.
• Conversation starters for friends: This game would be great if you have a mix of friends that don’t know each other.

CLEANING UP

Organize a cleanup crew. Unfortunately, your delicious feast will come to an end at some point, and then it will be time to clean up. Divide and conquer amongst your friends so that cleanup is a quick and easy process. Make sure to wrap up all the leftovers and send some home with each guest.

After all of this fun, schedule what you need to Host a Friendsgiving next year. Even though Friendsgiving may be over for this year, you can start planning out next year’s event to make it bigger and better.