3 Reasons Why You Should Host Friendsgiving

Last night was a first for us. I’m so excited to say for the first time ever we hosted Friendsgiving at our house!  I’ve been wanting to throw a Friendsgiving for what seems like forever. Well maybe not forever, but ever since I saw the idea on Pinterest a few years ago. I had all the intentions in the world to do it in the past but November is always so crazy and I have never been able to fit it in.  This year, however, the cards laid out perfectly and I was finally able to host Friendsgiving. I even walked away with 3 Reasons Why You Should Host Friendsgiving, too!

Do you have a set of friends who you consider to be family? Friends that are there for every birthday, every holiday, when times are good and when times are bad? If you do, consider yourself very lucky. Friends, as I described, are not easy to come by. We are extremely fortunate to have created that kind of friendship with the Moura Family.

We have been friends with the Moura Family for a little over three years now. We are so close to them that for the past two years they have been part of our family Thanksgiving. We joke that they are our Brazilian family. We enjoy getting to share our American food and traditions with them on Thanksgiving Day and look forward to having them over each year.

Sadly, this year, 3 out of the 4 of them won’t be in the country on Thanksgiving.  It was hard to imagine not getting to celebrate with them this year. The more I thought about, the more I knew this year had to be the year I hosted a Friendsgiving. No if, ands, or buts about it!

I shared the idea with them and they were thrilled! And grateful! And excited! I was, of course, all those things as well. What made me the happiest was when they told me how upset their daughters were to not be able to celebrate Thanksgiving this year but now because of Friendsgiving they still could. That made my heart smile!

After having some time to reflect on last evening, I realized how beneficial having Friendsgiving was. I gathered a list of 3 Reasons Why You Should Host Friendsgiving in hopes to inspire you to add this celebration to your yearly festivities!

3 Reasons Why You Should Host Friendsgiving

1. You are forced to clean and inventory all your Thanksgiving essentials.

You can’t have a proper Friendsgiving without having Thanksgiving table decorations! Over the years I have created a beautiful table using the perfect tablecloth, floral centerpiece, napkins and even homemade napkin rings. All these pieces live in a tote in our garage for almost 365 days of the year and only come out to make their yearly debut on Thanksgiving.

In preparation for Friendsgiving, I had to gather all my Thanksgiving table supplies a little earlier. This turned out to be a great thing for me.  I was able to inventory all my dishes, platters, napkins, etc. and make a list of anything I was short on so I can get them before “real” Thanksgiving comes and the stores are ridiculous.

When dinner was over last night I threw the table linens in the washing machine and “The Boys” helped clean the dishes and take down the table decorations. I then took all the clean plates and platters, along with the table linens and decorations and placed them together on a shelf in the garage. Now I know exactly where everything is and it’s one less thing to worry about on Thanksgiving. I’d consider that to be a big time saver!

2. You get to have a trial run for your recipes and cooking schedule.

I started off the meal last night telling everyone that they were my guinea pigs and anything they didn’t approve of wouldn’t make it on the Thanksgiving table. Of course, I was joking, but the opportunity for me to have a “dress rehearsal” before the main event is one definitely worth noting.

I plan on making almost all the dishes I made for Friendsgiving for Thanksgiving this year. I learned so much from last night to help me organize my menu and cooking schedule. I now have a better idea of things such as how far in advance to put the side dishes in the oven, how much space I need in the refrigerator for items I prep ahead of time, and how to arrange the shelves in my oven to get everything I need inside.

No complaints on the menu, by the way👍🏼 Here’s a peek at some of the dishes. Sweet Potato Casserole, Corn Casserole, Make-Ahead Twice-Baked Potato Casserole, Simple and Easy Cranberry Sauce

Oh and I almost forgot, I’ve made free printables to help you organize your menu and cooking schedule in my Thanksgiving Planner so make sure to download it using the form at the bottom of the page.

3. You get to spend quality time with people you love and care about.

This is by far the biggest takeaway I had from last evening. Taking the time to share a meal with your friends and enjoying one another’s company is what this time of the year is all about. We went around the table and each said what we were thankful for. Holding back a couple of tears, we all mentioned how grateful we were to have one another in each other’s lives. It was a special moment for us all.💜

I was able to come up with these 3 Reasons Why You Should Host Friendsgiving but truly there are so much more. One that comes to mind is the fact that I now get to have two Thanksgiving dinners this year. Lucky me! Friendsgiving has me even more excited to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family in a couple of weeks.

PS

If you are hosting Thanksgiving this year you’ll want to read my post, 10 Things To Know When Hosting Thanksgiving and download my free Thanksgiving Planner.

PSS

Recipes from Friendsgiving will be posted on the blog soon.

Big thank you to Gleber for supplying the photos.😊

Want to remember this? Post 3 Reasons Why You Should Host Friendsgiving to your favorite Pinterest board!