friendsgiving essentials

it's not too late to host friendsgiving! (and who said you have to have it before thanksgiving? everything'll be on sale if you have it afterwards! sorry, i let my cheapness show there for a second...)

devin and i hosted our first ever friendsgiving last weekend, and it was so much fun! we had our bible study group over and everyone brought a dish (including our one kind friend who also brought 4 forks because i have no clue where the last few stragglers in our silverware set are!). we got 12 adults and 1 baby around our little table in our little house--so i never want to hear the excuse that you don't host things because of space! haha ;) we laughed, talked, ate homemade apple pie...it was great.

here are my suggestions for what you need to host friendsgiving:

1// enough time to make the turkey! this was my first time ever cooking a whole turkey, so i was frantically googling "how to thaw a turkey" and realized i'd rather cook a frozen turkey for 2094 hours than deal with thawing a turkey for DAYS/in cold water.

2// something to cut the turkey with. thankfully, our one friend stepped up to the challenge, despite being ill-equipped with our dull knives. i don't own a knife-sharpener, and i don't have one of those pitch-fork looking pokey things.

3// gravy. i don't even want to admit this, but i served turkey side-by-side with some watered-down beef gravy. my poor friends. if i had been planning ahead, i would have had some (turkey gravy) made!!

4// a potato dish. among other things. yay for potluck and friends that are good cooks! 

5// appetizers, because people will show up at different times and everyone's going to be hungry. and what if my cooked from frozen turkey isn't done in time?! 

6// festive table settings! (like these place cards i shared last week. also, i recognize that the picture below is not especially festive. #ohwell)

7// background music.

8// apple cider [sangria?]. this didn't make an appearance at our thanksgiving, but maybe next year?

9// depending on the crowd, games! i'm thinking charades...? or, once the table is cleared, you could play a table game.

10// the taboo version of what i'm thankful for: you can't list Jesus, family, or friends. get creative!

how are you celebrating thanksgiving with family and friends?