Friendsgiving: Our Tradition + Tips to Host Your Own

Napkins | Copper Glasses | Placemats | Small Quilted Jars | Tall Mason Jars

One day six years ago, my bestie Claire over at Mama Du Jour, invited Eric and me over for dinner. When we showed up, she had randomly made a Thanksgiving feast–Turkey, green beans, stuffing, the works! We loved it so much that we decided to make it a tradition, and every year we switch off holding our annual Friendsgiving dinner at each other’s houses. It’s a fun way to celebrate our friendship and to stuff our faces with food (obvi!).

This year was my turn to host and we had a full house with my two best friends, Claire and Maryam, their husbands, and a total of three kids. Cooking a big dinner can be intimidating but if you plan ahead, take a few shortcuts, and stay calm, you can easily do it. So today I’m sharing some photos from our gathering and a few tips on hosting your own Friendsgiving.

1. Plan a menu and shop a few days before the date. First I decide what I want to make and then I scour Pinterest for the yummiest recipes. From there I make a grocery list and go shopping a few days before the date of the dinner. Remember that your turkey needs to defrost for 2-3 days before you cook it. I tried a few new recipes and loved them: Super Moist Mayo Roasted Turkey, Parm Zucchini and Corn, and Million Dollar Mac N Cheese.
2. Decide how to decorate your table. I have a weakness for a pretty tablescape and decided to go with a rustic/fall feel. But when I first set the table it looked a little bare, so I called up my local florist and asked if they could make a quick centerpiece. They came through with a gorgeous piece, and then I just added some mini pumpkins and mason jars with votives. If I had more time I would have attempted to do it myself with some grocery store flowers and this tutorial.
3. Skip the tablecloths + placemats! I don’t like tablecloths or placemats because they get dirty and require washing, which equals more work for you. So I bought this wrapping paper and cut it into placemat sizes and used that for the place settings and when everyone was done eating it was easy clean up! I also found gift tags in the Target dollar spot and used them as everyone’s place cards. 
4. Create a Honey-Do list. I was in charge of the cooking and Eric was in charge of folding the napkins, printing out coloring sheets for the kids, putting the letter board together, and picking up the flowers. Because ain’t nobody got time for all that!
5. Give the kids something to do. If you’re having kids at your dinner, you need to have some sort of entertainment for them, so I had Eric print out some Turkey/Thanksgiving coloring pages. He found some cute ones here and we set them up at Olivia’s kid table (and I highly recommend this table because by the end of the night, there was crayon ALL over it and it wiped completely clean).

It turned out to be a wonderful night; we laughed, ate delicious food (if I do say so myself), and polished off a bottle of wine or two or three. We used to end the night playing games, but now we’re all “old”, have little kids, and wind up in bed by 9:30pm. 🙂

Do you celebrate friendsgiving? What are your special traditions with your friends?

XO,

L

Pin It!