The holiday season is approaching and for a lot of us it means we will soon have many family and office obligations; now sometimes these get-togethers are okay, but sometimes they can take a toll on our mental health. If you find yourself feeling a little overwhelmed, a little overstressed, and a little family’d out, planning a Friendsgiving may be just what you need!
What is a Friendsgiving you ask? Friendsgiving is simply a Thanksgiving that you celebrate with your friends rather than your family. If planning a Friendsgiving sounds like something you could totally do, but you aren’t sure where to start, we’ve got you covered! Let’s get started.
Pick a theme
Remember this is for the people closest to you, your friends, and this means the theme can be whatever you want it to be. You can opt for a color scheme theme, a favorite activity, a favorite holiday, go as rogue as you wish! Bonus points if you tell your friends to show up in costumes.
Get organized
The tiniest bit of organizing can make Friendsgiving totally stress-free, and we recommend achieving this by starting a sign-up sheet, that can be in the form of a Google Doc, for all of your guests to sign up to bring something.
Consider centerpieces and placeholders
This is another chance you’ll have to be a little extra, and a great way to do this is to let your creativity run a little wild and create some unique placeholders and eye-catching centerpieces. No traditional table setting? No problem! Consider a more laid-back made up of comfy seating and small side tables.
Game time
Maybe all your people know each other already, and maybe they’re all meeting for the first time; no matter what the case maybe it’s always a great idea to have a few board games (or puzzles) sitting around.
Sippage
Drinks are an important component of the night, so make sure you have plenty to offer your guests. If you’re looking for a super simple way to make sure your guests stay dehydrated all evening, we suggest making a large pitcher or bowl of punch or sangria.
Label station
As guests and their dishes arrive, have an area complete with paper and colorful markers so guests can properly label their dishes before setting them out for other guests to enjoy. This will avoid everyone’s worst nightmare: biting into a cookie and finding out those ARE actually raisins. And ya know, allergic reactions.
Be prepared for post-meal naps
And lots of ‘em. Set out extra blankets and your fluffiest pillows for your guests to curl up with after the meal. Now is the time to put on a favorite movie or binge a favorite TV show and drift in and out of sleep.
Create a playlist
It’s 2021, what do we not create playlists for these days? We suggest separate playlists for cooking, eating, cleaning, etc. Remember you can be as extra as you want, and if that means separate playlists for the night, then so be it.