Stress-Free Friendsgiving Al Fresco

Photography: Brenna Kneiss Photo Co.

5 Ways to keep FriendsGiving Stress-Free

The thought of hosting Thanksgiving or Friendsgiving dinner can seem daunting. So much to do with so little time! Here’s the thing, It A.) Doesn’t have to be perfect and B.) You don’t have to do it alone! Guests are always more than willing to help, and your friends are most likely willing to contribute what they have in their party closets to make it special.

Here are ‘5 Ways to Keep Friendsgiving Stress-Free!’

Have everyone BYO place setting, water cup & wine glass! We did this for our Friendsgiving this year and everyone loved it! One thing this did, was keep everyone out of the kitchen. There was no dish washing at the end, which gave us more time to mingle plus it took the responsibility off of the host. Everyone scraped their plate and took it home to wash. Best idea ever!
Make a dinner party playlist ahead of time to keep everyone’s spirits easy and comfortable. OR follow my playlist on Spotify called: ‘Dinner Party Magic.’ Having a playlist made beforehand saves you the stress of being on DJ duty the entire time.
Make it a pot luck!
Don’t worry about keeping it too ‘matchy-matchy.’ Gather a random assortment of table cloths and chairs from just about anywhere and use em’! Anything will look pretty in the dark as long as there are real candles and string lights. Our string lights were hung up an hour before. We used Christmas lights and an assortment of battery powered lights. Call us tacky, but it looked beautiful!
Pull from nature. I’m a believer in bringing nature to the table every time. Whether it be wild flowers, tree clippings, palms, pumpkins, or fruit…anything goes. Keep it simple, or embrace an imperfect ‘modge podge!’