Friendsgiving Ideas: Food, Table and Games That Keep It Easy
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Friendsgiving is the better holiday and I will defend that. Nobody is in charge, nobody has opinions about how the stuffing has always been made, and if it runs late nobody has to drive four hours home. The only rule at ours is that whoever hosts does not also cook everything.
So this is built around that: things you can put out and walk away from, drinks that pour themselves, and a table that cleans up in about four minutes.
My Top Picks at a Glance
Best make-ahead food: charcuterie cups, 100 pack. Shop it here
Best board: bamboo cutting board with a lid. Shop it here
Best glasses: hobnail vintage drinking glasses. Shop it here
Best dessert trick: mini dessert cups with spoons. Shop it here
Best game: southern trivia book. Shop it here
Food: Build It So It Serves Itself
The move at Friendsgiving is individual portions rather than platters. People arrive at different times, they graze for two hours before anybody sits down, and a picked-over cheese board at nine o'clock looks sad. Cups solve all of it.
Charcuterie Cups With Sticks, 100 Pack
Kraft paper cups with picks. Build them in the afternoon, line them up on a tray, and they hold for hours. Guests take one and wander instead of hovering over a board.
Mini Dessert Cups With Spoons, 100 Pack
Five ounce cups with spoons included. Layer whatever dessert you were going to make anyway and it becomes portable. No plates, no forks, no slicing a pie in front of people.
Square Dessert Cups With Lids, 100 Pack
Lids, which means you can make them the night before and stack them in the refrigerator. Three ounce, so people take two.
Bamboo Cutting Board With Locking Lid
Build the board, snap the lid on, put it in the refrigerator. Pull it out when people arrive. This is the piece that lets you do all the work before anybody shows up.
Acacia Serving Platters, Set of 2
Round wooden boards for the things that do not go in cups. Two, so one can be refilled in the kitchen while the other is out.
Wood Cake Stand With Lid
A cake stand that flips into a charcuterie board. Two pieces of serveware, one thing to store, which matters if you are hosting in an apartment.
Drinks: One Signature, Not a Bar
A full bar means you are making drinks all night. One batched cocktail in a pitcher, plus wine and something non-alcoholic, and you are done. Put it somewhere away from the food so the traffic splits.
Hobnail Vintage Drinking Glasses, Set of 6
Ten ounce, textured, and they look far more expensive than they are. Hobnail also hides fingerprints, which at hour three is a real feature.
Amber Highball Glasses
Twelve ounce amber glass. Warm colored glass on a fall table does a lot of work for very little money.
Beer Can Glasses, Set of 6
Sixteen ounce, shaped like a can. They are a conversation piece and they stack, and the people who were going to drink from the can anyway will use them.
Amber Wine Glasses, Set of 6
Stemmed amber wine glasses. Buy one style and buy six, and skip the matched crystal entirely.
The Table: Make Cleanup the Priority
This is not Thanksgiving. Nobody needs place cards. What you want is a table that looks good in photos and is gone in four minutes, because at eleven at night the version of you that set it will not be the one cleaning it up.
Paper Cocktail Napkins
Five inch paper napkins for the bar. They cost almost nothing and they stop people setting wet glasses on everything.
Utensil Caddy
One caddy with napkins and utensils in it, set at the end of the buffet. Nobody has to set a place and nobody has to ask where the forks are.
Games, Because the Middle Hour Is Awkward
There is always a stretch after the food and before people are ready to leave, and it is the part that decides whether Friendsgiving was fun or just fine. One thing on the coffee table fixes it.
Southern Trivia Question Book
Two hundred questions. The genius of a trivia book over a real game is that nobody has to agree to play. It sits on the table, one person picks it up, and twenty minutes later the whole room is arguing about it.
The Only Planning You Need
Assign categories, not dishes. Say appetizer, side, dessert, drinks, and let people pick within them. Assigning specific dishes means somebody is making a thing they do not want to make; leaving it open means four people bring chips.
Host provides the main and the table. Everyone else fills in. It is the fairest split and it is the one that gets people to actually come back next year.
Set a start time an hour before you want people, because they will be late, and set the food out at the real time regardless. Waiting on stragglers is how a seven o'clock dinner becomes nine.
Friendsgiving FAQ
What is the difference between Friendsgiving and Thanksgiving?
Potluck instead of one cook, friends instead of family, and it can be any day in November. It is usually the weekend before or after the actual holiday.
What should I bring to a Friendsgiving?
Ask the host which category they need, then bring something that does not require oven space or last-minute assembly. The oven is always the bottleneck.
How do you host Friendsgiving in a small apartment?
Individual portions in cups instead of a buffet, one batched drink, and seating that does not all have to be at a table. People will stand and it is fine.
What do you serve at a Friendsgiving?
A turkey breast or a roast instead of a whole bird, plus whatever everyone else brings. Nobody needs a twenty pound turkey for a potluck.
When should you have Friendsgiving?
The weekend before Thanksgiving. Everyone is around, nobody has traveled yet, and you are not competing with people's family plans.
More Easy Entertaining
How to Make Charcuterie Cups Read it here
Three Easy Apps Read it here
My Favorite Corn Dip Recipe Read it here
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