October, November and December are my favorite months of the year. I honestly just love this time of year, because it’s when everyone comes together. October was great because I got to plan an awesome Halloween event. I met so many new people and made incredible friends in the process. December, of course, is Christmastime, which I love because I get to spend uninterrupted time with the people I love. November is all about Thanksgiving, or it’s supposed to be. I feel like Thanksgiving kind of gets skipped over sometimes, which sucks, because it’s the perfect time of year to reflect on everything that happened during the year and remind yourself of all the things you should be thankful for.
Last year, I hosted my first Friendsgiving, and this year, I wanted to do it bigger. I’m lucky to have amazing friends, and I wanted to bring all of them together to celebrate in a fun way. I always get nervous about mixing friends, but honestly, Friendsgiving was better than I could have even imagined.
There were a total of 13 people there, and even though I’m sad that a few people on the guest list couldn’t make it, we all still had a blast. It was a potluck, and all of the food tasted so good. Jon cooked a 25-pound turkey, and we also had mac and cheese, green bean casserole, corn casserole and mashed potatoes with gravy. I also made a bacon and ranch cheese ball that was served with crackers and some spinach and artichoke stuffed bread. One of my neighbors also brought some wings from Wing Stop, which made it a pretty solid meal. Not to mention, almost everyone brought wine! This made me so happy. We killed some wine bottles (and also a box of wine) on Sunday, and it was definitely a good time.
DECOR
My favorite piece of decor were these sparkly trees. I pinned pictures that I’ve taken with most of the people that were invited. I loved it so much because it was fun to see all of the memories displayed in such a cute way and also to see how I was connected to each person. I also pinned some cute little friendship quotes that I got from Pinterest.
The place settings were pretty basic, but I thought they turned out cute. The silverware holder and “I am thankful for…” placemats were both printed from Pinterest. The gold plasticware and paper straws were from Target, and I bought the plates from Wal-Mart. After we were all finished eating our entrees, we wrote down what we were thankful for on the placemats, and we went around the table and read them out loud.
THE GUESTS
There were six of us at last year’s Friendsgiving, and this year, we more than doubled that. TASK, of course, was all there (That’s Tiffany-Amanda-Sarah-Katherine for those of you who haven’t read about any of the many TASK adventures), plus Amanda’s boyfriend, Josh, and Sarah’s fiance, Thomas. Also, my sister, Bre, was in town for the weekend, and I’m so excited she was able to come celebrate with us.
I’m lucky to have really awesome neighbors. We’re all young and fun and basically have our own little makeshift dog park in our backyard. Alex and Chris live above Jon and me. All four of us went to Louisiana Tech, but I didn’t know Chris until we became neighbors. Stephen lives next door, and he invited his friend, Alyssa, who brought along her roommate, Jessica. This was my first time meeting Alyssa and Jessica, and they were seriously the sweetest. We all became fast friends and even have plans for a girls night this weekend.
PHOTOBOOTH FUN
I made the last minute decision to turn one of my empty walls into a photobooth wall. I went to JoAnn’s, and they had leaf garlands on sale for 75% off, so each strand ended up costing about $4.
AFTER PARTY
After everyone left, all of the neighbors went outside and sat around the fire pit with blankets and wine. We sat for about an hour or so and just chatted, and it was amazing. This was one of the best days that I’ve had in a long time, and it was spent with friends, both new and old. Sometimes I lose sight of all of the great things and people that are around me, and it’s nights like these that remind me how lucky I really am. I’m already looking forward to our next get-together.
What are your plans for Thanksgiving this year?
