Friendsgiving: How to Celebrate Thanksgiving With Your Pals

Thanksgiving was originally celebrated in 1621 by the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Native Americans as they came together to celebrate the harvest. In 2016, we use it mostly as an excuse to get together with our loved ones and eat until we burst. You probably spend it with your family every year. This year, consider spending it with friends. Sure, spending it with your family is great but you never have more fun than when you’re amongst friends.

To throw the perfect Friendsgiving celebration, you’ll need some preparation:

1. Gather the Squad
You can’t have a Friendsgiving without friends, obviously. Make sure you send out the request to friends early so they can accommodate. Since a lot of people go home early for Thanksgiving, you want to catch them extra early. Consider creating a private Facebook group since most of your friends spend all day on it anyway.

2. Divvy Out Responsibilities
Having friends at your party is great but food is probably the most important aspect of any Friendsgiving celebration. Split up the responsibilities otherwise you’ll be cooking all that food by yourself! Determine who is the most responsible of your friends to cook the turkey. You don’t want to give the job to your flaky friend and spend Thanksgiving without any turkey. That would be a travesty.

3. Crowdsource the Playlist
Instead of listening to your uncle grumbling about the football game, you have the opportunity to listen to some great tunes. Instead of the host choosing the playlist, let the guests compile a Spotify playlist to include everyone’s favorites. Or if you’d rather choose songs on the fly, Flo is an app that lets guests contribute to the playlists from the phones. Consider everyone’s preferences while still curating a dope playlist.

4. Keep It Interesting
Turkey is a Thanksgiving staple but if you’re all planning on going home for Thanksgiving anyway, why not have an early Friendsgiving with a fun menu. Instead of the traditional dishes, craft a menu of all of your friends favorite foods. They’ll be thrilled to share it with the rest of the group and you’ll learn a little more about your pals over dinner.

5. Make It A No Tech Dinner
Sure, it’s fun to document your time at dinner with your pals. But what are you going to do when everyone is gathered together around the dinner table with their faces buried in their phones. If your friends are reluctant, you can buy this phone jail cell to prevent them from diving into a Twitter hole. Instead of sharing the dinner with people who aren’t there, why not share it with the people who are actually there. Appreciate it while you can!

6. Don’t Stress
This isn’t some high class affair. If someone can’t make it, the turkey burns, or you drop cranberry sauce all over the carpet, it’s not a big deal. Just laugh it off and get that spot cleaner. You’ll look back on the memories with much more fondness than you will anger at the mistakes.

How do you do Friendsgiving? If you’re planning on hosting it at your Calder apartment, make sure to invite your neighbors up too! Share your traditions with us on Facebook and Twitter!