Friendsgiving is Thanksgiving with your friends instead of your family, usually a potluck on a weekend near the holiday, with whatever rules the group decides. These 35 Friendsgiving ideas are for both sides of the front door: the host squeezing eleven people into a dining room with six chairs, and the guest who wants to show up with something better than a bag of rolls.

They run in the order the evening does: what to cook in one small oven, what guests bring, a table you can set in an hour, games that keep people from reaching for their coats after dessert, and what to hand the host when you arrive.

What Makes a Friendsgiving Work

A good Friendsgiving has four things settled before the first guest arrives:

• A Friendsgiving menu everyone has seen, so you don't end up with three green bean casseroles.
• A start time with an hour of slack, because the turkey always takes longer than the recipe says.
• Something to do after dinner, so the night doesn't end at eight.
• A plan for leftovers, so the host isn't left alone with three pans of stuffing.

For anything else, ask one question: does it make the night easier for whoever is hosting?

10 Friendsgiving Food Ideas

1. A turkey breast or crown instead of a whole bird. It cooks much faster and leaves room in the oven for everything else.
2. A mac and cheese bar: one big pan, with bowls of bacon, breadcrumbs, and jalapeños for people to pile on.
3. Slow cooker mashed potatoes, made in the morning and kept warm on the counter, which frees up a burner when the stove is at its busiest.
4. Sheet-pan stuffing, spread thin so every piece gets the crispy edge people usually fight over.
5. A big green salad. Nobody asks for it, and it's gone by the end of the night.
6. A slider board with turkey, beef, and veggie patties, for the vegetarians and the friend who secretly doesn't like turkey.
7. Roasted butternut squash with maple syrup and toasted pecans on top.
8. One dish from someone's family, whatever their grandma made every November. The less it looks like Thanksgiving food, the better.
9. A pie bar, because at least three people will offer to bring a pie anyway.
10. A leftovers sandwich station at the end of the night, with soft rolls, cranberry sauce, and the last of the turkey, for anyone who's hungry again or wants lunch for tomorrow.

6 Things to Bring to Friendsgiving

1. A dish that's ready to serve, like a pasta salad or a tray of deviled eggs, so it goes straight to the table instead of waiting for the oven.
2. Ice. Everyone needs it, and nobody remembers it.
3. Folding chairs, so nobody ends up eating on an ottoman or the floor.
4. Take-home containers, a stack of the cheap deli kind, so the leftovers go home with the guests instead of filling the host's fridge.
5. A dessert that isn't pie, like brownies or a cheesecake, for the people who quietly skip the pie bar.
6. A playlist, made ahead and sent to the host, so nobody is picking songs on their phone in the middle of dinner.

6 Friendsgiving Decorations That Take an Hour

These are the quick ones, for a small apartment and a host who's also cooking. For the porch, the mantel, and a full table, our Thanksgiving decor ideas go further.

1. Grocery store flowers in jam jars down the middle of the table. It takes ten minutes and looks like a lot more effort.
2. A chalkboard menu by the door listing every dish and who made it, so everyone gets credit and nobody has to ask what's in the brown casserole.
3. An instant camera on the table with a spare pack of film, so guests can take pictures all night and leave with a few.
4. A bed or a rack for coats, cleared ahead of time, with a sign on the door so nobody has to ask where things go.
5. String lights along a shelf or around the window, which make a small apartment feel like a party once the overhead light is off.
6. Name cards with a question on the back, like "best thing you ate this year," to get people talking when not everyone at the table knows each other.

6 Friendsgiving Games

1. A gift swap with a spending cap everyone agrees on beforehand. If people need a starting point, our list of white elephant gift ideas has 35 of them.
2. Two truths and a lie about the past year, which works well for a group that doesn't see each other as often as it used to.
3. A pie-judging contest with paper score cards and a silly prize, which settles who makes the best pie until next year.
4. Trivia about the group, written by the host from one fact each guest sends in beforehand, like who had a pet snake as a kid or who has never been on a plane.
5. A charades bowl that everyone drops two slips of paper into when they arrive: a movie, a song, or anything easy to act out.
6. Last year's group photo, redone. Same couch, same pose, and whoever ended up squished on the end last time gets squished on the end again.

7 Friendsgiving Gift Ideas for the Host

1. A custom shaped pillow made from last year's Friendsgiving group photo, with all of you crammed onto the couch and the pillow cut to the shape of the whole group. Order it about two weeks ahead to leave time for holiday shipping.
2. Good olive oil, the kind most people like but rarely buy for themselves.
3. A spider plant, which the ASPCA lists as non-toxic to dogs and cats, so it's a safe pick for a host with pets.
4. Flowers that come in their own vase, so the host doesn't have to hunt for one while the doorbell keeps ringing.
5. A bag of good coffee for the morning after, when the host gets up to a sink full of dishes.
6. Nice dish towels, which will probably get used before the night is over.
7. A bottle of wine with a note saying it's for the host to keep, so it doesn't get opened at the table.

Four Ways Friendsgiving Goes Wrong

Most first Friendsgivings run into at least one of these.

• No sign-up sheet. The menu ends up as five desserts and a bag of rolls.
• Everything needs the oven at five. Three casseroles and a turkey don't fit in one oven, so somebody's dish comes out at nine.
• More guests than chairs. Two people eat dinner standing at the kitchen counter.
• No end time. The host is still washing up at midnight while three people are deep in conversation on the couch.

If You're Hosting for the First Time

Make the main and let everyone else bring the rest. A turkey breast and one side are plenty for a small kitchen, and the sign-up sheet covers everything else. Set the table the night before, serving spoons included, so the last hour is just reheating. Put out cheese, crackers, and a bowl of nuts when people arrive, because dinner will run late. And when someone offers to help, say yes and give them a specific job, like filling water glasses or watching the oven timer.

Common Questions

When is Friendsgiving usually held?

Usually the weekend before or after Thanksgiving. In 2026, Thanksgiving is Thursday, November 26, so Saturday, November 21 and the Friday or Saturday after Thanksgiving are the usual picks.

What do you write on a Friendsgiving invitation?

The date, the start time, the address, and a link to the sign-up sheet, so guests can claim a dish right away. Add a rough end time and ask about food allergies while you're at it.

Who pays for Friendsgiving?

The host usually covers the main dish and the drinks, and everyone else brings a side, a dessert, or something from the sign-up sheet. If the group would rather split the cost of the turkey, say so in the invitation so nobody is surprised.

Can you have Friendsgiving at a restaurant?

Yes, and then nobody has to cook or wash up. Book a few weeks ahead, since big tables go fast in November, and agree on how to split the check before you sit down.

What do you wear to Friendsgiving?

Something comfortable, ideally with some give in the waistband. Most Friendsgivings are jeans-and-a-sweater casual, and the invitation will say if the host has something dressier in mind.

Start With the Sign-Up Sheet

If you only do one thing this week, send the sign-up sheet. A message to everyone listing the main, the sides, dessert, ice, and chairs is enough, as long as every dish has a name next to it by the weekend.