It may be a couple months away, but it’s never too early to start party planning, especially for Friendsgiving! Blending friends and Thanksgiving, Friendsgiving consists of a getting your besties together to enjoy a large meal around the same time as Thanksgiving.
While Thanksgiving is often spent with family, Friendsgiving gives you the opportunity to come together with friends and acknowledge how much they mean to you. I’ve rounded up 7 Friendsgiving ideas and 20 delicious recipes to ensure you’re the hostess with the mostest this Friendsgiving season!
What is a Friendsgiving Party?
A Friendsgiving party is essentially a get together to celebrate your best friends! You host a gathering at your house around the same time of the year as Thanksgiving and the point is to express gratitude for your friends over a delicious meal. The meal can be a typical Thanksgiving meal with turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and pumpkin pie, or you can put a spin on it and create a theme of your own!
How to Host Friendsgiving: 7 Friendsgiving Ideas
1. Create a Theme
Friendsgiving is already kind of a theme in itself, but if you want to take hosting to the next level, consider creating a theme through colours and textures for your Friendsgiving party. This could come to life through your linens, decor, and if you choose to have any florals or centrepieces. A theme will make your party feel thoughtful and considered, which is the vibe you want to give off for Friendsgiving!
2. Make it a Potluck
It can be overwhelming to host a dinner party, especially when you have to provide all the food. For something as extravagant as a Thanksgiving meal, a potluck is likely your best bet. Ask each of your friends to bring either an appetizer, main, side or dessert. If you’re wondering about best potluck practices, make sure to check out my post on how to host a potluck!
3. Create a Signature Fall Cocktail
You don’t necessarily need to provide alcohol for the whole party, but a signature cocktail is a great idea! Make a big batch (or two) of a fun fall cocktail like apple cider sangria or Thanksgiving punch and ask your guests to bring whatever else they like to drink, be it wine, beer or sparkling water.
4. Incorporate Organic Elements
Organic elements like flowers, greenery and berries will give your Friendsgiving party a warm, cozy feel. Scatter fall arrangements around your space to make your home look nice and festive. You don’t have to spend an arm and a leg, either. Flowers from the grocery store are much more cost effective than getting them at a floral shop and they still look great!
5. Host a Friendsgiving Brunch
It can be a struggle to get everyone together for a dinner, especially around Thanksgiving. If this is the case, why not host a Friendsgiving brunch? It’s a more casual option, but will still be tons of fun, and brunch food and drink are insanely tasty! Not to mention, having a reason to have a few daytime cocktails is always a good thing in my books!
6. Hang Up Lots of Photos
Photos are always fun to look at, especially ones from way back. Look through old photos of you and your friends who are coming to the party, or print out photos from social media and your camera feed and string them up with fairy lights. Everyone will love looking through all the photos and it’s also a great decor piece.
7. Make Fun Thanksgiving Themed Cookies
Cookies are easy to make and you can put such a fun spin on them, giving them a Thanksgiving theme. Think: wishbone cookies, pumpkin pie slice cookies, fall leaf cookies and pumpkin shaped cookies. Your friends will appreciate the effort, and they’ll look so cute laid out on the table!
5 Friendsgiving Games
1. Have a Pumpkin Pie Challenge
Do you have a few bakers among your friend group? Even if your friends aren’t self-proclaimed bakers, they’ll love the challenge of a pumpkin pie contest! Each guest will bring a pie and you can give each pie a number when you set them out. Ask everyone to sample each pie and vote for their favourite (no choosing their own!).
2. Beer Pong with Mulled Wine (Or Your Drink of Choice)
Beer pong is one of the best ways to get a party started, but instead of playing with beer, embrace the Thanksgiving theme and use mulled wine or another fall drink. Team up and have some fun!
3. Cards Against Humanity
Cards Against Humanity is one of the funniest games you can play with your bffs. If you haven’t played before, it’s essentially a party game with cards where the players complete fill-in-the-blank statements using words or phrases that are quite risque. Each round one player asks a question from a black card and everyone else answers with their funniest white card. It’s always a blast!
4. Pumpkin Piñata
Piñatas may be associated with kids, but what could be more fun than a grown-up piñata? DIY one or buy one with the Thanksgiving theme in mind (like a pumpkin!), and fill it with candies, chocolate, plastic mini bottles of booze, skincare samples, and anything else you think your friends would love.
5. Twister
Twister is such a fun and epic game to play your besties. The last time you played it may have been when you were a kid, but you’ll love getting back into your childhood spirit!
Friendsgiving Menu: 20 Friendsgiving Recipes
5 Easy Friendsgiving Appetizers
1. Loaded Cheesy Mashed Potato Balls | Tablespoon
2. Apple Cranberry Walnut Salad | Creme de la Crumb
3. Perfect Fall Cheese Board | The Pioneer Woman
4. Sausage Spinach and Mushroom Phyllo Bites | Nutmeg Nanny
5. Cranberry Jalapeno Cream Cheese Dip | Tablespoon
5 Friendsgiving Side Dishes
1. Sauteed Brussels Sprouts with Toasted Walnuts and Dried Cherries via Tablespoon
2. Stuffed Butternut Squash via Pickles & Honey
3. Garlicky Kale Salad with Crispy Chickpeas via Minimalist Baker
4. Easy Classic Stuffing via Spend with Pennies
5. Creamiest Dreamiest Mashed Potatoes via Cooking for Keeps
5 Friendsgiving Mains
1. Turkey for Twenty via Epicurious
2. Vegetarian Thanksgiving Lasagna via Kitchn
3. Ham with Walnut Glaze via My Food and Family
4. Cranberry Stuffed Cornish Game Hens via Martha Stewart
5. Butternut Squash Stuffed Shells via Love and Lemons
5 Friendsgiving Desserts
1. Apple Pie Bites on a Stick via The Decorated Cookie
2. No Bake Cranberry Cheesecake via My Baking Addiction
3. Mini Baked Pumpkin Donuts with Brown Butter Glaze via The Worktop
4. Pie Spiced Apple Fritters via Country Living
5. Mini Pumpkin Pies via One Little Project
Throwing a Friendsgiving party is one of the best ways you can celebrate your friends! Plus, you get to celebrate with delicious food and drink. Use these Friendsgiving ideas and recipes to make your party unforgettable!
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Ashley
This is an awesome idea, and love this super-detailed post! Thanks for sharing!