With Thanksgiving right around the corner and Covid still looming over us, many of us are wondering what we can do to still make this holiday season memorable, especially for those who have young kids or a new beginning where establishing and maintaining traditions is EVERYTHING.
If you’re like me, your family may live in another state or still be quarantining due to underlying health issues. But chances are, you have been gradually allowing yourself to hang with at least one other person or family during this whole mess of a year, and these are the few people that you may consider hosting for Thanksgiving or “Friendsgiving” this year.
With my aforementioned extended family living out of state, this is exactly how my immediate family has spent every Thanksgiving for the past 8 years. It’s become our favorite tradition to celebrate Thanksgiving with our “tribe” of close friends. Sometimes it’s just one other family and sometimes it’s more. Sometimes we eat at a restaurant and sometimes we’re at someone’s home. Sometimes we have a casual dinner indoors, and sometimes we eat a formal dinner alfresco.
No matter what we do, we always make it a memorable celebration, and I’m am pleased to share my 10 best ideas with you! Hopefully you will be able to tailor some of these to your needs while still staying healthy this holiday season.
1. Serve dinner Alfresco. Although this is easier in warmer climates, even in cooler climates you can consider renting space heaters to eat outdoors. Staying outside may be the only way you are comfortable gathering due to Covid, so you may deem it worth the extra expense. Your guests may also agree and be eager to chip in. Chairs around a fire pit or bonfire lined with warm comfy blankets may also be a viable option to keep a safe social distance and still be together. To see my DIY al fresco dinner table, click here:
For Propane patio heater click here.
2. Set up a “formal” dinner table. Add flowers, candles, place settings, cloth napkins, and champagne glasses (with sparkling grape juice for the kids). Buffet style is what people often resort to for gatherings, but a set table feels a lot more intimate and encourages people to linger longer and talk at the table after a meal. This one small and easy gesture will elevate your dinner and majorly impress your guests, even if you just serve a plain old casserole. To see my easy DIY tablescapes that can be adapted for any occasion, click here.
3. Prepare the meal together. This works best if you just have 1-2 other cooks so the kitchen’s not too crowded. The cooks pick the components of the meal they want to make (preferably their favorites from childhood) and brings the ingredients to the host’s house early to prepare everything together while chatting, drinking champagne, and listing to fun upbeat music.
4. Deep fry the turkey. Ok, *disclaimer* this one can be dangerous if done improperly so make sure you do your research before you attempt this. BUT it’s a fun bonding experience for the men (I can’t explain why except I’ve seen it with my own two eyes more than once) and I swear, it’s the most delicious turkey that you’ll ever eat! So consider setting up a TV outside with the game on, and hand this “very important” job over to the men. For an awesome turkey fryer click here.
5. Dress up or dress down and plan activities accordingly. Decide before hand if you want everyone to dress up for dinner or dress way down (like jammies or loungewear) and plan a theme accordingly. For instance, a jammie party could include matching family jammies and end with popcorn, mulled cider and a Friends TV show Thanksgiving episode marathon curled up on a sea of floor blankets. A dress up party might include a DIY photo booth, formal sit down dinner, and a champagne toast where everyone at the table says what they are thankful for. For super cute matching family pj’s click here.
6. Have a wine or whiskey tasting. Assign each guest a specific bottle of wine or whiskey to bring for a tasting and have fun deciding what you prefer in a blind taste test. Afterwards, you can use the leftovers to make mulled wine or hot toddies to enjoy at the party or send leftover spirits home with recipes so guests can make their own fall cocktail concoctions at home.
7. Have a recipe exchange. Everyone who brings a homemade dish to the party also brings a copy of the recipe to share with the other guests. The hostess can provide blank recipe cards, or the quests can simply snap pictures of the recipe with their phone.
8. Play a card or dice game after dinner. Two of our friends favorites are Skip Bo and LRC (left, right center) dice game. Both games can be played with almost unlimited players, are easy to follow and simple to learn no matter the players ages, and can be played for money (if you so desire) to up the excitement.
9. Set up a fall family photo shoot. This can be as casual as a few hay bales and pumpkins set up outside or as elaborate as a backdrop hung from a curtain rod inside. The guests can take selfies or take turns taking pictures of whole families. The photographs can then be developed and put into an annual Friendsgiving album with silly notes or journal entries about the fun the guests had that year, or your guests can use the images for their Holiday card.
10. Have an online shopping “scavenger hunt”. Ok, I know that being on your phone for any length of time while you’re actually WITH people is not only rude and annoying, it’s just wrong! It is however, inevitable these days. Each year since Black Friday has been moved to Thanksgiving Day, I have spent a certain amount of time online shopping whether I’ve wanted to or not. So, instead of everyone retreating to their phones to look at TikTok or Instagram, assign them an opponent and a gift to research for the best price online. Your holiday shopping will go twice as fast and you can subtly “hint” at gifts you want or easily find out what someone else wants. Your guests will either be thrilled to have their shopping done in what felt like a game, or walk away with great ideas on what their loved one really wants.
What are some of your favorite traditions? I’m always looking for exciting fun things to do with my family so leave me a comment! Happy Thanksgiving!
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