Hosting a Friendsgiving Instead of or In Addition to Thanksgiving

QUICK THINGS TO DO TODAY:

It’s Friday (Date night here at my house) and I want to get my house ready for the weekend. My boyfriend will pick me up for a special early dinner tonight – He has the day off and we want to sit in a sunny window overlooking the lake, day drinking a little bit and relaxing in a restaurant that’s normally so tourist-filled we can’t get a seat. I want everything to look nice when he gets here, so take a look at the list of things I’ll quickly do before he gets here:

Sweep entryway and front porch (it’s leafy here right now!)
Clear clutter off mail table, coffee table and dining table; dust and reset with fresh tablecloths, scarves, etc.
Water houseplants; toss dead flowers from vases into compost bin
Empty trash cans in bathrooms, bedrooms, kitchen and living room
Swap out hand towels in bathrooms for fresh ones
Wipe kitchen and bathroom counters (not with the same cloth of course!)
Vacuum dog hair from bedroom and living room if I have time (it’s a workday!)
Peek at my phone calendar and kitchen wall calendar to remind myself what we’re doing this weekend and when (cooking class and dinner at a friend’s house)

TODAY’S PROJECT: Preparing for Friendsgiving

Friendsgiving: Celebrate Your Family of Friends, by Alexandra Shytsman, via Amazon (affiliate link)

I normally throw a Friendsgiving on Thanksgiving every year. I prefer not to fly through crowded airports for Thanksgiving, and I’m certainly not going to drive alone over a snowy, dangerous, highly trafficked mountain pass to see family in a town three hours away. Instead, I always choose to stay home. Staying home and celebrating Thanksgiving with a small group of other travel-adverse friends is a really fun and far less stressful way to spend the holiday (no family drama, other than a few family members whining or pressuring me to endure hours of stressful travel to go visit them).

This year my actual Thanksgiving plans are up in the air – a few friends will be out of town for a change on Thanksgiving proper, and I have cousins in town who I might spend the holiday with this year. So my plan this year is to throw my Friendsgiving on Thursday, the week before Thanksgiving. It will give me a chance to spend Friendsgiving with some people I’ve never celebrated this particular holiday with.

The Friendsgiving Handbook, by Emily Stephenson, via Amazon (affiliate link)

My plan has some challenges – I’m inviting around ten people over, and my dining room is tiny, cramped and not even comfy for six people. We usually carefully lift my dining table and carry it into the upstairs living room, but this year I have a new recliner and a large new TV so I think the living room will be too cramped. I’ll have to figure out if I’m setting up folding card tables upstairs or downstairs in my tiny family room. There’s always that friend that asks to bring their kids (when nobody else is), the friend that shows up 45 mins early “to help” and that friend who is the last to leave every party.. two hours after everyone else. Still, Friendgiving is the perfect time to whittle down your guest list to your closest, dearest, and most well-behaved friends! And I’m lucky that this crop of friends doesn’t have a lot of food allergies, preferences or restrictions.

Also, this is a worknight for me and for my friends. They’ll be arriving (after fighting our notorious Seattle traffic) at my house sometime after 6:30 pm, in their work clothes, hungry and not feeling like stopping at a store on the way over. I’ve promised to do all the cooking for this Friendsgiving, minus the turkey that another work-at-home friend is graciously cooking and bringing for us. Just like on a regular Thanksgiving, I’ll take the day off work, and spend most of the day in the kitchen cooking our meal and getting ready. That means the day before I’ll need to do any cleaning, furniture setup, last minute guest bathroom checks, etc.

All of that is well and good, but I’ll have just returned from a trip to San Diego a couple days before. I have to admit it will be challenging to get off an airplane Monday, unpack and do laundry, catch up on emails; do a full workday Tuesday; clean the house, run to Costco, and set up the table Wednesday; and cook all day Thursday. I can’t complain though, I did it to myself, creating the event and inviting beloved friends! I chose to put myself through this good kind of stress!

Have you ever thrown a Friendsgiving? Let me know any tips in the comments section below!

I’ve been watching some Friendsgiving inspiration videos on YouTube and thought I’d share a few of my favorites with you:

LOVELY BLOGS: Gourmande in the Kitchen

This is the perfect blog to follow right now for Thanksgiving and autumn cooking inspiration and recipes. Sylvie presents “feel good food made easy.” Her recipes archive includes paleo, vegan, grain-free, gluten-free, raw, savory, and sweet. Currently she’s writing about zucchini harvest muffins, pumpkin spice bars, winter squash soup, cider caramel baked apples, and other fall deliciousness.

https://gourmandeinthekitchen.com/

LOVELY BOOKS: An Edited Life

I’m always up for a good lifestyle self-help book on making life more simple. This one promises to help you organize your food budget, your wardrobe, your beauty and exercise regimes, and keep your home neat. She offers tips on digital detox, organizing your calendar and social life, and on getting me time. Sounds inspiring and helpful!

An Edited Life, by Anna Newton, via Amazon (affiliate link)

LOVELY GIFTS: Sur La Table’s Christmas Cookie Tins

If you’re a longtime Lovely Living reader, you know that I have an enormous weakness for house-shaped things. These cookie “biscuit” tins from Sur La Table are so adorably cute, and full of delicious cookies, too! It’s almost killing me. I know I’m going to end up getting at least the Toy Shop (filled with Peppermint Creme cookies) for myself; and probably sending the Creamery (milk and dark chocolate caramels) to my father and stepmom, and likely to some nieces and nephews. I love that you can re-use the charming tins after the goodies are eaten up. I’d store beauty supplies, office supplies, or more cookies and chocolates in them!

Sur La Table Cookie Tins, at Sur la Table.com

Sur La Table Belgian Chocolate Cookies, on Amazon

LOVELY MUSIC: Steve Perry’s Christmas Songs

Any Journey fans here? I normally try not to listen to Christmas music until Thanksgiving is over, but I couldn’t resist checking out former Journey lead singer Steve Perry’s two Christmas songs he uploaded this week, Silver Bells and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. Listen below:

LOVELY SHOPS: Forage Candle

This Etsy shop sells literary-themed soy candles scented with essential oils. I haven’t bought any yet – so far I’m just enjoying browsing the clever offerings. “Winter in Narnia” is scented with cedar, pine and snow; “Reading by the Fire” smells like old books and a crackling fire; “Lost in the Stacks” is meant to evoke mahogany, oak and vintage books; “Bookstore” is fragranced with cinnamon chai and cappucino; Anne of Green Gables fans might smile that “Avonlea” is fragranced with “shining waters” and birch trees.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/ForageCandle