Get the tables out and ready! If you live in a space that can accommodate the number of people you invite, set up the seating areas inside. However, if your space just isn’t enough, you can set up tables and decorations in your garage.
Decorations
Decorations can be done in whatever way is personal to you and your friends, but if you are unsure what to do, here is inspiration on how to make your living space Friendsgiving ready!
One simple way to start is by hanging a cute banner. You can either make your own or buy a premade option.
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Next thing to focus on is the decorations on the seating table! Using a table runner to focus the decorations for the table on can add color, dimension, and consensus for the decor. A guide to this center decor is to:
- First: lay down the table runner
- Second: at center pieces along the center of the runner (floral arrangements, photos, candles, etc.)
- Third: intertwine a form of garland throughout and between the centerpieces
Photos by Amazon
Having a second table to hold the food will allow your friends to self-serve as a buffet. You can include a cute tablecloth and some other decor to fill the empty spaces on this table. The decor can be the same or different from the decor on the main seating table (candles, twinkle lights, photos, floral arrangements, etc.).
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Food
Food can come from personal family recipes, or you can find inspiration from others’ recipes (beauty of Pinterest!). It is recommended that you divide up the food responsibilities amongst the people attending. It would be helpful to have people RSVP either via an online source or directly to you inorder to get an accurate head count to divide the food up. When dividing up what food people should bring, you can either send a list and have people choose, or you can just instruct people to bring whatever they want that is usually a part of their family Thanksgiving. However, if you leave it open to decision, make sure they let you know what they are bringing so you don’t have 10 bowls of mashed potatoes.
An idea of how to organize what food each person brings is to make a Google doc or Google sheet that you then share with everyone who RSVP-ed. A good structure would be to have a column with everyone’s name and a column next to it where they can put what food they want to bring. This way you know what everyone is bringing, everyone can see what other people are bringing, and you can fill in the blanks of what people aren’t bringing by making it yourself.
Essential foods for a friendsgiving could include:
- Turkey
- Ham
- Stuffing
- Mashed potatoes and gravy
- Green beans
- Desert
- Pie
- Brownies
- Cookies
When figuring out what foods to cook, make sure to keep in consideration people’s dietary restrictions. A good way that you can do this is by including another column in your Google doc or spreadsheet that allows for people to put their personal dietary restrictions (vegan/vegetarian, allergies, etc.) next to their name.
Drinks: cocktails and mocktails
Maple Roasted Pear and Apple Mocktail (makes 4-6 servings)
- 2 medium D’Anjou pears
- 2 medium Honeycrisp apples
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons maple syrup, divided
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 cups filtered water
Non-alcoholic Sangria (makes 8 servings)
- 2 cups boiling water
- 2 black tea bags (or 2 teaspoons loose-leaf tea in an infuser; decaf tea is fine)
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 3 cups pomegranate juice
- 1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
- 1 medium orange, sliced into thin rounds
- 1 medium lemon, sliced into thin rounds
- 1 medium lime, sliced into thin rounds
- 1 medium apple, cored and cut into 1/2-inch chunks
- 3 cups cold sparkling water or club soda
Pomegranate Tonic (makes 4 servings)
- 1/2 cup boiling water
- 1/4 cup pomegranate molasses
- 2 tablespoons honey, preferably wildflower
- Ice
- 4 cups tonic water, chilled
- Garnish: lime twist
Cocktails (21+)
Cranberry Aperol Spritz (makes 4 servings)
- 12 oz aperol
- 12 oz cranberry juice
- Juice of ½ an orange
- 20 oz prosecco
- Garnish: cranberries, orange slice, rosemary sprig
Sparkling Apple Cider Sangria (makes 5 servings)
- 1 lemon wedge
- ¼ cup cinamon-sugar
- 24 fl-oz sparkling cider (chilled)
- ⅓ cup fireball
- Garnish: applice slice, and cinamon stick
Thanksgiving Jungle Juice (makes 8-10 servings)
- 2 bottles red wine
- 4 cups ginger ale
- 3 cups cranberry juice
- ⅔ cup fireball
- ⅔ cup whiskey
- 2 cups frozen cranberries
- 1 orange, sliced into rounds
- 1 apple, sliced into thin slices
Pumpkin Margarita (mskes 1 serving)
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1 lime wheel
- 2 oz reposado tequila
- ¾ oz self made or store bought pumpkin spice syrup
- ½ oz cointreau
- ½ oz fresh lime juice
- 1 tbs pumpkin puree
- Ice
- Garnish: line wheel and cinamon stick
Gold Rush Cocktail (makes 2 servings)
- 4 oz water
- 2 oz honey
- 3 oz bourbon whiskey
- 2 oz fresh lemon juice
- Ice
- Garnish: lemon peel
Spicey Apple Cider Margarita (makes 1 serving)
- 2 oz reperado tequila
- 1 ½ oz apple cider
- ½ oz Calvados apple brandy
- ½ oz fresh lime juice
- ½ oz hot honey
- Pinch of flakey sea salt
- Garnish: lime wheels
Happy Friendsgiving!