Tips for Hosting a Friendsgiving

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friendsgivingI love Thanksgiving. The heart of the holiday is gratitude and it contains ALL the family and yummy food without any of the gift-buying stress. Fall-lelujah!

And while I enjoy the connection I have with my relatives and look forward to seeing them each November, there’s another group that I also hold dear: my friends.

Friends are the family you choose.

Friends walk with me through all of life’s ups and downs. They are part of my daily life providing carpool, early morning walks, and heartfelt advice. My friends keep me sane with a genuine hug, an assuring “me, too” or funny Marco Polo message. When I count my blessings, my friends are right up at the top of the list.

So, it only makes sense, on a holiday devoted to reflecting on the things we’re most grateful for, that we include our friends in the celebration. And what better way to do that than Friendsgiving?

Friendsgiving can be as simple or as extravagant as you make it.

If you want to do your best Rachel impression ala Friends and make a trifle, I’m sure the Joeys in your life would applaud. (“What’s not to like? Custard: good. Jam: good. Meat: GOOD!”)

The first year I ever cooked a turkey, it was for a Friendsgiving celebration. We gathered around our ping pong table with folding chairs. Everyone brought side dishes to share and we ate, laughed, and enjoyed a fun meal with those we shared our everyday life with.

But, our most common (and my favorite) Friendsgiving celebration is Pie Night!

Forget spending hours in a hot kitchen: Pie Night is perfect. Each family brings a pie to share and we cut the pieces super thin so we can all try a little bit of each one. No requirements that the pie be homemade as store-bought or baked-from-frozen are just fine!

Our theme is: Gather together. Give thanks. Eat pie.

In addition to eating pie, we usually play games, but we always end the night reflecting on our friendship and how thankful we are for each other, kids and adults alike. We walk away with full bellies….and hearts.

Scheduling Friendsgiving is typically the biggest challenge, so start early. It doesn’t have to be the week of Thanksgiving, anytime in November works. But, I will encourage scheduling it before Thanksgiving as December is already a crazy month and NO ONE will be thankful about adding another thing to the mix.

Happy Friendsgiving! Have you hosted before? 

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