For those of us who don’t live close to home, it can be difficult not being with family for Thanksgiving. But there’s no reason why you shouldn’t still celebrate! In fact, we encourage you to celebrate with a little thing called Friendsgiving. Friendsgiving is a great opportunity to gather loved ones that live nearby. With some good food, good music, and of course good company, Friendsgiving is the perfect way to enjoy the holiday and start new traditions. And even if you do live close to home, why not host a Friendsgiving to get your friends and neighbors together for a little pre-holiday celebration?
(image credit: Saltandwind)
Around here, we know a thing or two about hosting a great party, so today we’re here to share some of our favorite tips and inspiration for a fun and festive Friendsgiving. We rounded up some of our best posts below — so go ahead and take a look at each. Just click on the images for more details.
Find your favorite tablescape look
When it comes to the look of your table, we say don’t worry about being too formal and have fun with the colors. We rounded up 5 Modern Thanksgiving Tablescapes that we think are just perfect for Friendsgiving. They each have their own fun and colorful look. To get inspired, head over to the post.
Learn the basics of table settings
Speaking of tables — our Simple Guide to Proper Table Setting is super helpful! Whether you’ve decided to serve a meal that’s formal or semi-formal, you’ll find this guide useful.
Brighten up your home with fall flower arrangements
Flowers make any and every event prettier and believe it or not, you don’t have to be a florist to create beautiful flower arrangments. There are actually several tips and tricks to making a flower arrangement look its best and we’ve included some of the best ones in our post: Tips, Tricks, and Fall Colors for Pretty Flower Arrangements. Be sure to take a look at the post if you plan on including flowers at your Friendsgiving dinner.
Host Friendsgiving “potluck-style”
Hosting Friendsgiving as a potluck is not only a great way to get guests interacting, it’s also great for taking pressure off the host or hostess. For simplicity, we suggest creating a sign-up sheet with dishes already picked out. Ask your guests to sign up for one of the mentioned dishes unless they have something else really special in mind. That way, you don’t end up with all desserts and no entrees or vise versa. Check out our 16 Impressive Thanksgiving Potluck Foods to get some ideas.
Listen to fun and festive music
(image credit: Urban Outfitters)
You can’t forget about music! Create a playlist or round up your favorite records to listen to throughout the gathering. You can also encourage guests to bring playlists too.
Think of creative ways to host in a small space
For anyone who’s hosting in a small space or anyone looking for a unique set up, a bar cart is the answer! Mobile, functional, and totally on trend, bar carts are seriously one of the best ways to serve and display drinks, snacks, and our favorite — pie. For some inspiration, check out our Styling a Thanksgiving Bar Cart post.
Send home personalized favors
While favors aren’t a necessity, we love the idea of handing out a little thank you to your Friendsgiving guests. (It makes Friendsgiving seem a bit more like a party!) We turned our sparkling cider into a personalized fall party favor (personalized labels, straw, and bottle opener included) and think it makes the perfect favor for Friendsgiving. Head over to the post to see how we made this idea come to life.
Do you plan on hosting Friendsgiving this November? What other tips can you share with us?
