Thanksgiving break is the only time you’ll get before Christmas to try to see all of your friends from home, so why not try to bring them all together for a Friendsgiving potluck?! It’s easy, it’s fun, and it’s delicious.
Pick The Perfect Date
The first things you’ll need to do are pick a date and make a guest list. Since you’ll all be coming home from college, picking a date might be complicated. My friends and I have always had our Friendsgiving Potluck on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. We normally come back from school on Tuesday of Thanksgiving week, have the Wednesday to cook and eat our Friendsgiving potluck, and then spend the rest of the vacation with our families. I suggest you try this date too since there’s a good chance your friends will be available and the whole point of Friendsgiving is to see your friends!
Make The Menu
When you make the guest list, you also have to decide who will bring what. There are numerous ways to assign people dishes for your potluck, but the best way is to have your friends tell you what they want to make based on your general menu. Your menu should include appetizers, side dishes, and desserts that you’d like to have at your potluck.
Some delicious potluck sides you can ask your friends to bring include mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, mac and cheese, cranberry sauce, roasted vegetables, gravy, green bean casserole, croissants etc. (Check out this list for more ideas.)
If you have ambitious friends, provide a list of dessert options too, and don’t forget the pumpkin pie! While you’re the host and you want your event to go perfectly, dictating what your friends need to bring can be both bossy and complicated. By giving your friends some options of what to bring, they can make something that they feel good about. Friendsgiving should be fun, so keep it light-hearted and let your friend who can’t even make cereal correctly bring that store-bought bread from your local bakery.
Turkey is a staple of a Friendsgiving feast, but it is also the most difficult, complicated aspect of the meal, so as the host, you kind of have to do it. Here is a very simple recipe you can try.
Decorate
Once you have your menu down and the event is getting closer, you need to start getting decorations. Your table is what truly needs decorating (but if you’re willing to decorate your whole house too, then go for it!). You should get some centerpieces, like pumpkins or other fall decorations from a local craft store. Fake foliage and candles also add a very pleasant touch to the table.
You can add elegance to your table by creating a simple, yet festive place setting by including a charger plate, which is a decorative plate under the dinner plate. This alludes charm and elegance, making your potluck feel like a fancy dinner without all the hassle and stress. The most important decorations, however, are the name tags. Creating a special place for each one of your friends lets them know you care.
Before your guests arrive, make sure you know where you’ll put their dishes for serving. Then, its time to get out your serving spoons, put on your best outfit, and enjoy your company. Make sure to take tons of pictures for the ‘gram, so you remember what will surely be an incredible Friendsgiving Potluck.