5 Easy Steps to Host Your Own Friendsgiving

Giving Thanks, the Friendly Way

By Zachary Bearnson

Spending the upcoming Thanksgiving season alone because the prospect of going home a bit too expensive? Why not host your own Friendsgiving?

A Friendsgiving is a traditional Thanksgiving meal shared with friends rather than family members. If you don’t have plans for Thanksgiving yet, this may be the perfect alternative for you.

The steps for a Friendsgiving are as simple as the concept itself, and after countless hours of internet searches, I’ve made my own comprehensive guide to creating and hosting a successful Friendsgiving.

Starting off your Friendsgiving adventure may be the hardest part of the process. To begin, find some other people that don’t have plans for Thanksgiving. These people don’t necessarily have to be your closest friends in the world, and hosting a Friendsgiving can be an opportunity to interact with new people. So find some people to invite and get in touch with them.

Second step, and no less important than the last, is finding a place to have your dinner. Now that you've found people to eat with, ask around and find a place to prepare and eat the food. Since this is a Thanksgiving alternative, why not mix things up? Does it have to be in someone’s dining room, or is there another interesting place you could go?

Once you’ve collected a group and found a place to eat, its time to start dishing out assignments. There is a lot of food to eat, which means there is a lot of food to prepare, so it’s best to split that work up around the group.

And just because it’s “Turkey day” doesn’t mean that you need to have a traditional pilgrim feast. Grace De Gruccio ’21 and her friends, who have held Friendsgivings in the past, enjoy a more exotic feast. “In my friends’ case, we all bring a different dish from our country and than partake in the smorgasbord.” De Gruccio enjoys the buffet of flavors from around the world, rather than a traditional turkey and potatoes dinner.

The last step: the actual preparation of the food. With some pre-preparation, and some trips to the store beforehand (I would not recommend going the day before), anyone can learn to cook. Just follow instructions, look up easy recipes and be sure to season things well. Some quick and easy side dishes that won’t break the bank include mashed potatoes, corn either on or off the cob and sweet potatoes. Some quick and easy recipes can be found here. Also, text your mom or grandma and ask how long you should microwave the turkey for the #microwaveturkeychallenge. That should get a quick laugh out of everybody.

And there you have it. Five simple steps to turning a would be do-nothing-day into a friendship growing experience. So get out there, get some friends together, and have some good times with some good food.

A few unique Friendsgiving ideas:

• Host your Friendsgiving at iHOP. Who says you have to do the cooking on Thanksgiving?
• Make it a surprise potluck. Have everyone bring one item within a certain budget limit and see what crazy mix you end up with!
• Take a picnic dinner up onto the Blue Ridge parkway. Turkey and a view.
• Have your entire Friendsgiving dinner menu made up of appetizers and snacks. Think bacon wrapped jalapeño poppers, chips and salsa, pizza rolls, sweet potato fries, whatever you come up with! Now that would be quite the feast.
• Eat a moderate-sized dinner and donate what you would’ve spent on a large dinner to the food shelter for those who cannot afford their own Thanksgiving dinner. Find your local food bank here.