Friendsgiving [noun]: The celebration of Thanksgiving with your friends. This usually occurs before or after Thanksgiving Day, since Thanksgiving is usually reserved for family. [origin]: Blend of Thanksgiving and friends.
Thanksgiving is all about what you are thankful for. Friendsgiving is a great opportunity to let your friends know that it is them you are thankful for. Friendsgiving can be hosted before or after Thanksgiving break, or on actual Thanksgiving for everyone who is staying on campus during the break. Yet, a dorm room isn’t the easiest place to host a Friendsgiving feast. So, instead of going all out Martha Stewart, use some of our tips and tricks to have an easy yet fun Friendsgiving feast.
Find a venue.
Finding a common room with a kitchen is key. Make sure you have all the appliances you’ll need, including a stovetop and an oven and plenty of room and counter space.
Invite friends you know will help prepare and clean up.
While you want to invite all of your friends, take into consideration the money, time, and hard work it will take to make even the simplest Friendsgiving feast. You’re not going to be want to be slaving over the common room stove all by yourself, make sure everyone knows that Friendsgiving is a group effort.
Create a menu.
Both culinary skills and dorm room capabilities limit the Friendsgiving menu; yet, there’s still a way to have a delicious Friendsgivng feast that is doable in a dorm and easy to make for those who are culinary challenged. Here’s a suggested menu of easy to make Friendsgiving dishes:
Appetizers
Hummus, crackers, and cheese (yummy, delicious, and no cooking required)
Shrimp cocktail (just buy some cocktail sauce and frozen shrimp and let the defrosting begin)
Bread and bread dip (another easy buy that requires no actual cooking)
Sides
Mashed potatoes (go buy a box of instant from the local grocery store or CVS)
Stuffing (another instant fix. Just add water!)
Cranberry Sauce (it comes in a can, no assembly required)
Gravy (another canned creation)
Glazed Baby Carrots (throw in some brown sugar, butter, and optional honey in with your baby carrots and tada!)
Main Dish
Instead of going through all the trouble of preparing a real turkey, go to your local supermarket and see the options they have for ready-made meat. Often supermarkets have ready-made rotisserie chickens which can perfectly substitute as a turkey, just keep it nice and warm in the oven day of.
Desert
Cookies (while you can make them from scratch, the easy alternative is buying pre-made cookie dough)
Pudding (an instant and easy fix)
Make a day-of plan.
Make sure that after you make your menu you assign who’s buying what, when you are all meeting to prepare for Friendsgiving, and make a list of extra things you’ll need. These extra items include pots, pans, spoons, baking sheets and whatever else you will need to cook with. Remember you may need milk, butter, and other ingredients to prepare items from your menu. From there, you will also need to make sure you will have plates, cups, and utensils day of to eat with. Nobody wants someone to dig into their mashed potatoes with their hands.
Celebrate!
While even a simple Friendsgiving menu involves a lot of work make sure you have fun while you and your friends cook and prep: turn on some tunes, put the game on, or a Thanksgiving-themed Friends episode.
After all the hard work is done, the real fun begins as you get to have a great meal with some of the people you’re most thankful for: your friends.