Advice & Life Tips, Gatherings & Events, Thanksgiving

Guidelines to Follow to Host Your Best Friendsgiving Yet

November 1, 2016

Along with our family, our health, our jobs and the like, one thing we’re extremely grateful for every day is our friends. After all, without them, life just wouldn’t be the same!

As a result, we’re huge fans of Friendsgiving celebrations, and if you’re going to be getting together with your friends this Thanksgiving, we want to help you plan a party that tops every other Friendsgiving event you’ve been to or hosted. Below, check out our tips for how to host the best Friendsgiving yet:

  1. Remember that the host always makes the turkey. While it may seem like the host should get a break (after all, they are planning the whole thing), keep in mind that transporting a cooked turkey and keeping it fresh can be hard and put a lot of stress on your guests. So, as the host, always volunteer for turkey duty – we’re sure your friends with volunteer to take care of everything else food and drink related!
  2. Don’t forget to ask guests about food preferences and allergies. If someone in the group has some dietary restrictions, you want to know about it. Let’s face it, wouldn’t you be disappointed if you showed up to a Friendsgiving dinner and there was nothing there safe for you to eat? We thought so, so make sure that you keep everyone’s health and preferences in mind when planning your menu.
  3. Make sure you’re organized. You want variety in your dinner and desserts, so make sure you’re organized when planning so that you don’t wind up with too much of the same thing – be honest, how many brownies can you really eat?
  4. Have a playlist ready. Sure you’ll probably spend most of your time talking, but having music on in the background can really pump up the party. As you plan your party, ask each of your guests what kind of music they’d like to hear, then create a playlist that has a little bit of something for everyone on it.
  5. Plan a few activities. You’ll have plenty of time to sit and chat with your friends while you eat, so make sure you have a few other activities planned – this will keep the party lively and ensure that no one gets bored too quickly! A Thanksgiving classic is a friendly game of football, but if you and your friends would prefer to stay away from sports, we’re sure you can find some other things to do – one idea would be to all participate and bake a Thanksgiving dessert together!
  6. Make your home festive. One of the best parts of any holiday is decorating, so don’t forget to make your home as festive as possible before your guests arrive. In addition to decorating the exterior of your home, also spend some time on the inside – especially the table where you’ll be eating. From tablecloths to Thanksgiving plates, napkins and centerpieces, anything you can do to spice up your home for the event is a must!

Most importantly, our last and final tip is to start planning early. Not only does this give you enough time to get an accurate head count of how many people you can expect, but it gives you enough time to get everything you need to host the best party. Putting things off until the last minute can certainly put a damper on things and make you feel overwhelmed, so if Friendsgiving is on you this year, start thinking about it now!