Hanna J Jones

4 Steps for Hosting a FriendsGiving Dinner Party

Hi Y’all!

With Halloween just a week away, the Holiday Season is basically here, I mean soon we will be creating our Holiday Photo Cards! How is it already almost November?!

While I’m a Christmas girl all the way – I also think Thanksgiving is super special. In my childhood my Mother hosted around 20 people every. single. year. I had literally never had Thanksgiving Dinner at someone else’s house until after I moved out, so Thanksgiving was always full of that “hustle bustle” excitement and energy that holidays and hosting brings.

This year I wanted to do something special. FriendsGiving!

*This post was sponsored by Basic Invite – All opinions about the product and photos are honest, and my own.*

I know many of my friends will either be traveling or have family in town for Thanksgiving so I wanted to set aside an evening ~ even if it was an entire month in advance ~ for us to join together and celebrate being friends!

So let’s get to it!

HOW TO: Host a FriendsGiving Dinner Party

i n v i t a t i o n s

First things first. If you’re going to have a party of any kind, you have to Invite people. And let’s face it, there’s just NOTHIN like a good old fashioned paper Invitation.

For FriendsGiving we got our invitations from Basic Invite, here’s why they were so amazing:

– they have pretty much unlimited color selections

– they send a sample for you to approve before you purchase so you an be absolutely sure they created what you want.

– they have over 40 different color options for envelopes, so there is pretty much no way your envelopes have to be white, and they will for sure match!

– sending invites is SO easy with Basic Invite’s “Address Capturing Service” – you just request your recipients addresses on social media and once your friends reply it is stored in your personal Basic Invite account, then you can just select them when ordering your invites. So easy!

– they are offering 30% off with code  holi30

– they can create a quality holiday party invitation

d e c o r a t i o n s

This is the part I always stress about! The decorations! I feel like they are somehow the easiest and hardest thing to do!

inspiration: our giant maple tree and it’s changing leaves

color story: browns, rose gold and a pop of burgundy

textiles: butcher paper, pine cones and ever green branches as well as real wood accents

~ t a b l e s c a p e ~

Here you can see I used the heavy butcher paper instead of a table cloth and I added wooden mats across the table in place of a runner. And over these I added natural elements from our yard that I painted Rose Gold. I wanted to keep the table scape SUPER SIMPLE because I knew we would have tons of kids eating at the table!

~ a   g l a s s   o f   r o s e   g o l d ~

These were a fun and almost secret way for me to add a little more Rose Gold to our FriendsGiving Party, because let’s be real – you can NEVER have too much Rose Gold! These are toss away wine glasses, they come with a detachable base, so before putting the “glasses” together, I simply spray painted the bases. Adding small touches like this helps something as simple as a cup, feel like decorations, and is so easy to do!

d i n n e r   a n d   d r i n k s

~ c i d e r    s t a t i o n ~

For the Cider Station I used a wooden crate to create a rustic vibe, as well as add an extra “layer” to the table. This extra “layer” allowed me to put the flutes right at the station without overcrowding the table. Everyone LOVED being able to Spike their own Cider! We had Chilled Apple Cider, Champagne, Apple Brandy, Maple Whiskey, Cinnamon Rum and a few other Liquors for people to choose from as well as Orange Slices, Cinnamon Sticks to garnish with!

~ f i l l   y o u r   p l a t e ~

Ok I have a MAJOR CONFESSION – I forgot to take photos of the wonderful food everyone brought before it was all gone! Sorry! This is what was left of the turkey and gravy though! We had a Pot Luck Style dinner, and it was such a hit! Everyone brought their own side dish and dessert! We had everything from the traditional Turkey, Gravy and Stuffing to Buffalo Chicken Dip and Fresh Fruit!

~ d e s s e r t ~

For dessert I wanted to have sort of a Pie Bar situation going on, everyone brought a dessert to share. But with so many desserts we just didn’t have enough counter/table space for all that fancy stuff! So we literally had Pies, Cakes and Dessert Toppings crammed on our tiny little breakfast bar! So many desserts, so little plate and stomach space!

t h e   k i d s   t a b l e

As a mom I always try to make sure there are activities for kids to do at parties we have! We recently went to a party thrown by a couple that doesn’t have children, and the hostess (hey amanda!!!) was so amazing and had pumpkins and paint for the kids! I mean what an angel right!? I wanted to do something different at our party so I came up with two easy activities for the kids, aside from playing on the swing set!

~ l i t e r a l l y   t h e   k i d s   t a b l e ~

For the Kids Table I wanted to do something fun, that they didn’t have to worry about messing up or not spilling their food/drinks on. I found this coloring book “table cloth” at Michaels as well as little wooden ornaments they could color and take home with them! As you can see it was a hit! I’ll be keeping an eye out for these coloring table “cloths” from now on just for my own kids as they didn’t want to take this one off their table once the party was over!

~ p i c k   s o m e   p e a r s ~

If you keep up with my Instagram and watch my InstaStories y’all know we have Pear Trees! They are SO GOOD, they are perfectly sweet and drip down your face like a Peach does. Seriously the best Pears EVERRRRRR. We have MORE than enough for ourselves this year (and about 12 pounds in the freezer from last year) so I wanted everyone to pick some of their own! The kids had a blast and I know the parents were glad to get that “apple picking” feeling without having to pay for the fruits!

If this post gives you all the Thanksgiving Feels here are a few other Thanksgiving Posts you can check out!

Thanksgiving Threads – Family Thanksgiving Style

DIY Thanksgiving Decor

Thanks for reading and as always Thank You for Commenting, Sharing and Pinning!

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Posted By: · In: DIY, Holiday + Party

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Comments

  1. Zulema Nall says

    I also do Frindsgiving parties as we have no family around so we’ve adopted a few friends and every year we get together and have a nice meal. Thanks so much for your post. Fresh ideas and tips are always welcome!

  2. Anonymous says

    What an awesome idea Hanna and all the little decor touches make it feel warm and inviting. I really love how you painted the disposable wine glasses, they look so classy and you right one can nere have to much rose gold 😉

  4. Thena says

    This sounds awesome. Friends, fun, food and laughter sounds like a perfect way to spend the holiday. Love the name too, great idea!

  5. Mama says

    Oh man, I haven’t had a Friendsgiving since college, and those weren’t nearly as elegant as this one! I am loving this.

  6. Cia Black says

    I’ve heard of these, and know a bunch a people who do them. Honestly I go anywhere there is food being offered to me…lol. But many of my friends are till living the non mom life so Kids aren’t usually invited to their events, which is kinda of blah but I’ve grown accustomed to it.

  9. sandra says

    That is a amazing idea, FriendsGiving Party! Would never have thought of it….and one can do this at anytime of the year. Love it. Also loved reading all the tips you shared here in this post.

  11. Samantha says

    This is such a cute idea! I really love the simple, yet adorable invitations and I love getting stuff like this in the mail! Your decorations were great and you really can’t have enough rose gold. The food looked yummy! I love the idea of giving guests bags so that they can pick pears on their way out. Looks like a great party!

  12. Shannon says

    We usually have Thanksgiving with friends. I can’t wait to use some of these ideas, thank you!

  13. Brigette Collins says

    First off, I love those invites! Secondly, I have always wanted to do this! I think this is such a fun idea and a great way to enjoy friends! I am definitely going to use these tips to plan one for me!

  14. Kd says

    I’ve never had a friendsgiving before. I’m always with the fam but I wish I could one day spend it with friends too.

  16. Shubhada Bhide says

    This is such an interesting and eye-opener post. My friend will host friends giving next week. So I will definitely pin this out and shared with my friend.

  20. Candy Rachelle says

    Being able to host a friends thanksgiving is such a fun and exciting experience. The decoration is so simple and perfect for autumn. The foods are so delicious. Especially those desserts.

  21. Ayesha Farhad says

    Oh wow! This is such an amazing idea! The pear tree makes me wish we didn’t cut down the apple tree in our yard last year! It would have been such a great idea!

  24. Meli says

    What a great idea! We are moving next year to a place that family is not close to nor able to visit, so this tradition might get adopted! I also love the pear tree! I want one!!! lol

  26. Sanaa Brooks says

    I love, love, LOVE this! OMG! I wanna do this next year. I love that everyone brings a side dish so you only have to cook one or two main dishes. Plus those invitations are cute!

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