How to Pull Off a Successful Friendsgiving
Some say I’m a Scrooge for not playing Christmas music until after Thanksgiving but I just believe in truly appreciating all that Thanksgiving has to offer before entirely skipping the holiday. There’s just something about giving thanks and spending time eating and fellowshipping with the community around you that can bring deep joy and refreshment. In fact, I think the Bible would say on more than one account that it’s important we do this.
“Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts” Acts 2:46 NIV
When we look at the church in Acts we see them really living life alongside one another, sharing everything they had with one another, eating, laughing, suffering, ministering, simply following Christ together as one body. Do you have that type of community? One thats like a family? Living hours away from my biological family, I saw members from my church draw me into their family dinners, parties, and even holidays. They were the friends that became my second family. Many times I was invited but on other occasions I decided to be the one to step out, plan a get together and invite the ones around me.
As Thanksgiving gets closer, I’d encourage you to take advantage of the holiday that is about gathering together over a meal and giving thanks. Plan a Friendsgiving where you get together outside of a typical Thanksgiving meal you might have with family and celebrate the valuable relationships you have with one another. I’d even encourage you to make this more of a habit in your life outside of the holidays. Be the one who invites others to get together for some quality time, don’t just wait for someone else to facilitate a gathering.
So whether you have a group a friends who have already made the tradition every year or you are looking to step out and invite some friends to get together, here are some simple tips I’d love to share on how to pull off a successful Friendsgiving. When it comes to a gathering like this one the three important factors that you need to plan for include: (1) Food (2) Fellowship and (3) Fun. I pray that your Friendsgiving will be full with all three!
FOOD
You just simply can’t have a successful Friendsgiving without planning for lots of delicious food. First, start with your guest list. Talk with the host and find how many people they can comfortably fit in their home.
Once the list has been set, send out that group message a month before with all the specific details. Invite everyone to sign up for a dish to pass from an organized list of menu options (prepare yourself for several messages of excitement and hilarious gifs). Don’t know where to start with what should be on the menu for entrees, sides, desserts and drinks? Here’s a link for some suggestions (pro tip: the host is responsible for the turkey). Prepare for allergies and think of favorite dishes catered to your group. Follow up a few days before the dinner with a reminder list of what everyone is bringing and encourage them to bring enough for your headcount.
Help the host do a little extra at the table, make sure the table is set and think of decorations and name place holders for each guest. Also, make sure the host is all set with the food station set up.
FELLOWSHIP
Yes, food is important but the fellowship part is even more important. Keep the nights agenda light but intentional. Make room for everyone to feel relaxed and able to just enjoy the time together. You don’t need a huge list of things to fill the night with, just simply be with one another.
Before diving into the food make time to pray with each other, giving the Lord thanks for all that He’s blessed you with. Maybe even share with one another what you individually are thankful the Lord did in this last year. Recount and remind one another of the goodness of God.
Be intentional to find ways to encourage and laugh with one another through the night. In Friendsgivings past, we used to place a brown bag at each person’s seat and each guest would anonymously take turns writing down on a slip of paper what they are specifically thankful for in each person and go around placing the slips of paper into the brown bags at each seat. Reading the encouragement later always brought a lot of joy.
FUN
I am a huge believer in having the right playlist for your party. Playlists are key. They could make or break the tone of the environment lol. Here’s one I curated and love, you can find it on Spotify by clicking here.
If your friends are really into games plan one or two games throughout the night to play, vote on the best dish that was passed or play a thanksgiving themed mad-lib and share with the group (there are tons of game ideas you can search on google). Depending on the crowd, conversation and relaxing after dinner might be more fun for them… bring out some playing cards or other games for people to play on their own when they’re ready.
Bringing people together and just creating an environment for them to mingle and enjoy time together will organically result in fun. Although I’m all about watching Friends reruns of the Friendsgiving episodes, try to facilitate conversation before you let the turkey coma get the best of you and you find yourself completely zoning out at the TV the whole night. Take advantage of being present with the people around you. You might have a group of friends who go back for years and will laugh at inside jokes, but if you need to break the ice a little with some new guests, place some conversation starters at the table to help.
Whether your gathering is small or large, with close friends or new ones, I pray that it is full with joy and thanksgiving for one another and to God. May it draw your community closer and form a family that gathers together often with glad and sincere hearts. May you be built up and edified as you follow Christ together. God bless!