With no official origin, the term and festivities for Friendsgiving (friends and Thanksgiving) have been estimated to be around for a little over a decade. Thinking of playing host this year? Here are a few items to consider for your next epic holiday.
- Invite the right people
Friendsgiving is a time to be thankful for your friends. You know, the people who you can lean on when your family just isn’t cutting it. First, start by celebrating those who have really been there for you then work your way outwards to include acquaintances and their significant others.
Be aware that you might need to cram people into a small apartment so keep in mind how many you can realistically fit around your table. Also, everyone will most likely have regular Thanksgiving Day plans so some might not be in town or might not be able to make it during the date that you choose.
While there is no set date for Friendsgiving, any date the week before and weekend prior to Cyber Monday should suffice.
- Set a group-friendly budget
Friendsgiving tends to be a festive celebration for millennials and Gen Z aka college kids or young adults who don’t have all of the money in the world for your typical Thanksgiving fixings. Therefore, a budget and willing participants/guests are critical to the success of your event.
Friendsgiving is usually done “potluck style” where each person brings a dish to contribute to the meal, or at least chips in for the cost. Having a three people out of a total of twelve be stingy about paying their fair share can set your wallet back. Since you are not their blood relative it’s pretty understandable that you have the expectation to recoup the amount they owe.
If your group of friends doesn’t want to be bothered with homemade cooking you can get food catered from places like Boston Market for about $12 a person. Can’t beat that!
- Don’t feel the need to stick to traditions
During a regular Thanksgiving you are usually confined to taking a little bit of this or a little bit of that. Well, now’s the time to pack in three scoops of mashed potatoes and mac and cheese while leaving all of the green beans for someone else. That’s right, prepare food the way you want to eat it!
Who knows, maybe turkey makes you tired and you want ham instead. Fine.
When coming up with the fixings, a good idea is to ask people what they want to bring and/or assign items based on their culinary skills. Fred who orders Grub Hub on the regular might be assigned paper plates and cutlery while Rebecca, the chef super star in the making, might bring three of her Boston crème cakes. If thought out strategically there won’t be any leftovers.
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As stated, be thankful for the people in your life who are there on the regular by hosting a day where you can celebrate all of your times together. Sure family is forever and friends come and go, but that’s even more of a reason to further enjoy them while you can.