There's never a dull moment when you have 20 of your closest friends and a few of their babies at a table that spans your entire great room!
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The Background
It seems like you would be hard-pressed to find someone who is not attending a Friendsgiving celebration this year. This event has been gaining steam and I, for one, could not be more happy about it. I obviously love entertaining and have been waiting to host a gigantic gathering since we built this beautiful house with the perfect gathering space.
Thanks to social media, I kept seeing advertisements for Share Our Strength's No Kid Hungry Friendsgiving campaign and decided that if I'm going to get a bunch of my closest friends together I'm going to serve a greater good. I set up a team page (it's super easy - go do it!) and encouraged those attending to donate to our team or sign up and fundraise separately on their own. I know people are busy and don't read Facebook event details carefully (even though the link to donate was a pinned post...sigh), so I made a poster to display at the event encouraging those who had not yet donated to consider giving to this great cause. It's always a tough sell to get people to open up their wallets for a cause they may not know much about but it's worth putting out there and at least enlightening them about it. Perhaps they weren't in a position to donate this year, but hopefully you'll get them next year!
Using the same design scheme as the invite, I made a poster asking those in attendance to consider donating to the No Kid Hungry campaign and explaining where they can find the link to do so. No Kid Hungry Logo from Share our Strength.
The Invite
While a Facebook event invite would do the trick, I'm a designer so wanted to develop a cohesive look for the invite, donation ask poster, and other potential decorations/place cards/etc. You can easily create a digital file to include on your event page or embed in an email, or you can contact me to do it for you!
An invite that's unique to your event adds a personal touch and opens the door for you to continue your design scheme through all the little details that make up your Friendsgiving. No Kid Hungry Logo from Share Our Strength.
The Set-up
I don't know how my mom has done it for 30-some years, but hosting an entire Thanksgiving meal on your own takes super-hero timing and planning skills. Not to mention some superb culinary talents and a good chunk of change. If you're offering up the space to host Friendsgiving, let your friends help you out with the heavy lifting and make it a potluck.
Have friends leave a comment on your event page with what they're planning on bringing and encourage them to make sure there's a wide-variety and that you get your must-have sides covered. In addition to a dish to share, make it BYOB. Having everyone bring something to share allows you to focus on set-up and cooking a damn good turkey (or two).
Set out chairs and place settings a day or two before your event to make sure you have enough! I had to mix and match glassware, plates and silverware but it got the job done.
The week of, I started tracking down extra folding tables and chairs and getting everything set up across our kitchen nook/dining room area. The night before, I put out table cloths and place settings - always a good idea to do this a day ahead of time in case you find out you're short on silverware or something crazy. Get your decorations set and and plan out serving-ware and a buffet set-up so all you have to do the day of is make a fabulous turkey.
As far as decorations go, I used our old wedding decor - spray painted wine bottles, silk flowers and peacock feathers. Don't try to reinvent the wheel. Use what you have and donate the money you would have spent on decor to your No Kid Hungry campaign. If you can't resist, try adding just one new decorative piece each year.
Try setting out a variety of different glassware. It adds interest to the decor and guests can pick a glass that suits whatever they're drinking without having to search through your cabinets to find one.
The afternoon of, fill water dispensers up with ice and add rosemary and cucumber for extra flavor. Fill the rest of the way with water and by the time guests arrive you'll have flavor-infused ice-water ready to serve! Other ingredients to try adding include lime, lemon or one of my favorites, pineapple.
The Turkey
While I wish I could take full credit for the moist and delicious turkey on Friendsgiving, I have to give credit to Chef John, from Food Wishes. I combined his ingredients and techniques from two of his turkey videos and the results were amazing. Essentially, one has you spread an herb butter between the skin and the meat while the other one has you melt butter, infuse with sage and rosemary, and brush over the turkey. The links to his videos/blog posts are below.
Plan your cooking time according to what time you are planning to eat. Aim for about 15 minutes per pound in a 325 degree oven. You'll want the turkey to be done cooking about an hour ahead of dinner time so it has time to rest and you have time to carve. While it may seem like your turkey will get cold, it most definitely will not, especially if you drape a piece of aluminum foil over the top (although foil is not necessary). Even if it were to cool off considerably, you should be serving it with a piping hot gravy anyway so it wouldn't matter.
The Sides
I wish I could provide all of the recipes that my friends brought over because they were absolutely delicious! From jalapeno popper dip, to sweet and mashed potatoes we had it all. Corn soufflé, green bean casserole, gluten free (and delicious) stuffing, salad, and an assortment of pies and desserts made for a great first stab at Thanksgiving.
Although I told you to only focus on the turkey, I must admit that I got carried away and decided to try a slow cooker macaroni and cheese recipe I pinned the other week. It was so so good - you can find the recipe here. I used gluten free spiral noodles but then realized I couldn't find a gluten free cream of chicken substitute in time so it was a GF fail - but at least only had trace amounts? Next time I will certainly work on a fully gluten free alternative but either way, this recipe is certainly a keeper. In addition to the mac and cheese, I heated up hot apple cider in another slow cooker.
The Verdict
It's going to have to be an annual thing. The older we get the more difficult it is to get everyone together, what with kids and responsibilities and all that. It was absolutely amazing to get all of these wonderful people together under one roof and it sure seemed like everyone enjoyed themselves. Sharing the responsibility of providing food and drink ensured that everyone played an important role and not one person was burdened with it all. My final tip would be that if you have friends with young children planning on attending, it helps to have an early social hour and dinner time. They can head out after dinner for bedtime if needed, while others can stay later into the night to enjoy good leftovers, good drinks and great company.
If you haven't already started organizing a Friendsgiving celebration, I hope you give it a shot this year still, or for sure next year. Whether this is going to be your first one or you've been doing it for years, please consider making it serve a greater good. Use it as an informal event to highlight and fundraise for a favorite charity/organization. While, obviously I would push for you to sign up to be a part of Share our Strength's No Kid Hungry Friendsgiving campaign, there are so many other great organizations you could choose from as well. Pick one that is near and dear to you and your guests - just keep doing good. Cheers!
