For the season of giving, joy, friends and family, many people around the country join together before or after Thanksgiving to throw a Friendsgiving. A Friendsgiving is where a host throws a potluck dinner where each of their friends brings dishes to share with a group. Many Friendsgivings end in a burnt turkey and multiple of the same dishes, here is a list of things to do to avoid the disaster and perfect your Friendsgiving this holiday season.
The host makes the turkey
To ensure that the dinner goes smoothly, The only thing that the host should make is the turkey and the gravy. The host is already going to be stressed, so this will ensure that the host will have a less stressful night.
Everyone will bring one dish
For the dinner, each guest must bring a cooked meal item ready to be served at the dinner. Since the host is already cooking the turkey, guests may not bring ingredients and make the dish at the host’s house. Bring the food hot and ready to be served unless the Host says otherwise.
No repeat dishes
Make sure people don’t bring multiple of the same dish. The host should make sure their guests all bring different dishes, that way the dinner won’t be filled with green bean casserole. A good way to prevent this is to create some sort of spreadsheet accessible through email so you can send it to all guests. A good online spreadsheet maker is Google Sheets.
All friends have a dish to eat
The host should be sure of any type of allergies that the guest might have that could alter the dishes at all. Also be aware of guest who are vegetarian and/or vegan– make sure that each and every guest will have enough food options. For a full dinner a list of vegan/vegetarian dish can be found here.
Table space is KEY
To ensure that every guest will have a space to eat, the host must make sure that there are either multiple tables or one big table that each guest will be able to eat comfortably at. A seating chart is an option to use, or do an RSVP a few days before to plan out seats.
Do not forget dessert
A Friendsgiving dinner is not complete without dessert. As well as dinner items, guests should also sign up to bring desserts such as pumpkin pie, chocolate cake and other desserts. Here are some easy to make fall desserts. There should be about a 1:3 ratio of dessert to food at your Friendsgiving celebration.
Have fun
The most important thing for having a nice Friendsgiving is to relax, eat great food, enjoy the company of the lifelong friends and most importantly make great memories. A friendsgiving shouldn’t be stressful or drama filled so make the most out of it with all of your friends!
