Friendsgiving has become a popular event to hold in November the past few years. It is like a big Thanksgiving meal but it is only you and your closest friends gathered together (no family members at all unless you and your siblings have a lot of mutual friends). At Friendsgiving, you all show how grateful you all are for each other. This gathering is laid-back, fun, and full of delicious food.
If you are the one hosting your friend group’s Friendsgiving this year, there are a lot of ideas to consider from in every aspect of the party. However, if you are on a tight budget, this can either be a negative thing or great way to become more innovative, depending on how you handle the situation.
While being on a budget may lead to you (as the host) being worried about your friends not having a good time due to your budget, don’t worry! There are still several ways to make your Friendsgiving a blast despite the money issues.
For those of you hosting Friendsgiving this coming November, listed below are 6 ways for how to do so on a budget:
If you are the friend hosting Friendsgiving and on a budget, one way to still pull off a great gathering is by making Friends giving a potluck! As the host, you are likely going to be stressed from setting up decorations to the tableware and silverware to the food. By making your Friendsgiving dinner a potluck, it not only helps you save money, but it also helps eliminate the stress that you, the host, don’t need.
All you need to cook as the host is the turkey while the rest of friends need to bring their favorite side dishes. The side dishes each of your friends opt to make for Friendsgiving can be either the traditional ones served for Thanksgiving Dinner or their favorite side dishes in general such as macaroni and cheese, Caesar salad, and fried chicken wings, to name a few. As host, don’t forget to mention via group text or on the invitation that Friendsgiving will be done potluck style!
Although having a turkey is the most important aspect for Thanksgiving and/or Friendsgiving, not serving one for the latter event could save you (the host) tons of money, especially if you are on a budget. While it might be controversial to not have a turkey at your gathering, it also saves you from having to prep and cook the bird, a process which takes several hours to do.
If you are considering skipping the traditional turkey for your Friendsgiving, poll all your friends who are going to the gathering to see whether each one prefers to have turkey or not. If the majority don’t want a turkey, consider other proteins to serve as the main meat item. Options include roasted chicken, barbequed baby back ribs, beef and/or pork, to name a few.
As host, you won’t have to worry so much in terms of party decorations as the food will be the main centerpiece and the talk of your Friendsgiving dinner. However, you should still dedicate a little bit of your money 0n decorations to make your house look amazing for Friendsgiving.
One way you (the host) can get amazing decorations despite being on a budget is by using DIY Decorations. Collect the colorful fall tree leaves from your front yard and backyard and use them to decorate the center of your table. You can also use the leaves to create custom place cards (see photo below) by writing each of your friends’ names in black or gold sharpie. Another creative DIY Decoration is to get some pumpkins (way before the gathering) and paint them in Thanksgiving colors and with unique patterns.
Another piece of advice to consider if you are hosting Friendsgiving on a budget is for you and all your friends to pool money together to use for buying the booze. This can help you (the host) not have to stress about how much of your own money you going to need to spend on alcohol for the gathering.
Communicate to all of your friends attending Friendsgiving that money every has to chip in for the alcohol is due either a week or a few days before the event. Collect the money in person from your pals, via PayPal, Venmo, or some other money-sharing app and/or method. By having everyone chip in for the booze for Friendsgiving, it can often lead to you purchasing bulk items or better-quality alcohol (that people could afford on their own dime) for everyone to really enjoy.
If you are hosting the gathering on a budget, another way to save money regarding alcohol is to host your Friendsgiving as a BYOB+ Event. The acronym “BYOB” stands for Bring Your Own Booze.
Hosting your Friendsgiving as a BYOB+ Event means that all attendees are responsible for bringing whatever they want to drink (and a little bit extra to share with everyone else). This can lead to everyone discovering new brands of certain alcoholic beverages which they enjoyed. As host, besides providing a few options of booze for your guests, fulfill your hosting duties by also supplying water and other non-alcoholic beverages such as soda for people to drink too.
If you are hosting Friendsgiving at your home this year, one thing to take into consideration is making sure the party doesn’t get too rowdy that things in your house don’t get destroyed. Whenever someone hosts any kind of party at his or her own house, accidents can happen easily. Therefore, it is necessary to party-proof your home.
Either on the night before the event or hours before all your friends arrive, put all expensive items and/or nice rugs and blankets in one room of your house. Designate this one room as “Off-Limits” to everyone and be sure to let all your friends know about this as they arrive.
Another way to party-proof your home before Friendsgiving is to use disposable table coverings to protect your dining room table as your friends scoop up portions of each food item that is being served. As host, you can also use table coverings which can easily be washed to protect your nice counter tops and surfaces.
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