Friendsgiving is a more informal version of traditional Thanksgiving. It is a day to celebrate Thanksgiving with your second family, your friends. If you all have the time, it can be on Thanksgiving Day, but it doesn’t need to be. It is more effective to free up an entire day right before or after Thanksgiving and dedicate it to giving thanks for your friendships. I would suggest hosting your Friendsgiving earlier in the month. This way, your friends are likely in town and have not yet left for the holidays. It can also give you a break in the overeating aspect of this celebration. On the other hand, if you do have your Friendsgiving after Thanksgiving, you can all take leftovers from your families. Additionally, you may be able to find a nice turkey on sale. This can help you guys to save an abundance of money, which can be essential for college students. This way, you can use your savings to start your Christmas shopping.
To successfully host a Friendsgiving celebration, you need to plan ahead of time and find out which of your friends are able to attend. This way, you all can decide where it’s going to be when it is going to be and set a budget. You want to be sure not to get too much or too little food. After friends, food is the most essential part of the celebration. It is equally important to delegate different food and drink items to each friend. You don’t want to be stuck paying for everything by yourself, but if you do have the money to spare, by all means, feel free to treat your friends. Traditionally, whoever is hosting should provide the turkey. The turkey is the staple of Thanksgiving dinner. However, they are huge, and nobody wants to be responsible for transporting such a dish. With that said, be sure that the host knows how to make a turkey. I know I can’t correctly bake a turkey, so I certainly will not be the host.
The host also needs to have plenty of snacks and appetizers for their guests. Everyone will not likely arrive at the same time. This way, nobody gets cranky while waiting for the main course. The whole point of Friendsgiving is to eat together, so you must wait for everybody to arrive before you begin dinner. Good snack ideas can be chips and dip, cheese, and/or prosciutto plates. I’d also recommend disposable plates and utensils to lighten the load of cleaning up after the event. Have a friend bring those, preferably the friend that can’t cook. The non-kitchen savvy friends should also be the ones bringing the lion’s share of wine. The host should also come up with activities to do after the meal. Some ideas to consider can be to watch a holiday movie, play games, or just talk and catch up. Unfortunately, after everybody leaves, you will be stuck doing most of the cleaning by yourself. On the upside, you will probably have quite a bit of leftovers to hold you down for a few days.
Friendsgiving can be a great way to spend time with your friends during the holidays. If possible, you can even exchange gifts and make it a joint Thanksgiving and Christmas celebration. If this is your plan, I would schedule the dinner at the beginning of December. However, in this scenario, you will need to pick up your presents a little early. So, get your friends and food together and have a joyous holiday season. These tips will help you host Friendsgiving like a boss!
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