Two months after moving to Cleveland, my church’s singles’ group—the Young Professionals—discussed the possibility of hosting Friendsgiving, a Thanksgiving celebration spent with friends.
Since my home church hosted Friendsgiving the year before, I eagerly promoted this idea. In the past, I arranged a time of reflection during dinner. It would be simple for me to print discussion questions and hymn lyrics again for a meaningful time of fellowship and thanksgiving at my new church.
In addition, I thought of all the fall tableware I had purchased at a Hobby Lobby sale the year before. We could set up the tables with nice place mats and napkins and purchase decorative Thanksgiving plates. It pleased me to think of doing something nice for this kind group of people who had welcomed me and made me feel at home.
The plan was approved for a potluck Friendsgiving, expecting ten to fifteen people. I went home, dug out my table items, and purchased decorative paper plates from Hobby Lobby.
Friendsgiving’s Unexpected Popularity
A few weeks later, the event exploded.
“Did you see the church bulletin? They announced the Friendsgiving.”
“Now so-and-so is coming too.”
“People from other churches are coming now.”
Our singles’ pastor passed me in the church foyer and said, “Carmen, your Friendsgiving is really taking off. It’s going to be big.”
Although he meant it as an encouragement, my anxiety rose. Uh . . . my Friendsgiving? I mean, I was going to do one part of it, but was I now in charge of it? How many people were coming? Did I have enough tableware? Were we going to have enough food? This had grown from a small “family dinner” to a major church event—and I certainly did not consider myself an event organizer.
Emergency meetings were called, and adjustments were made. Many hitches and complications happened along the way—some that we laugh about now. But after much prayer, work, prayer, discussions, prayer, and scrambling, we hosted Friendsgiving and had a wonderful time with over thirty people attending. The reflection time drew out testimonies that connected us in new ways and led to a deeper knowledge of our individual journeys. Although the event turned out far different than expected, it was clear God had led us to organize something special.
Tips for Making Friendsgiving Manageable
Now the Young Professionals Friendsgiving is an annual event that is a special time of fellowship and outreach. It is an event that gives me a lot of joy to organize and prepare. In the next few posts, I am going to share ideas for hosing a Friendsgiving or adding special elements to your family’s Thanksgiving celebration.
Let’s start with some tips for making hosting a Friendsgiving manageable and special.
1. Identify your friends’ expertise and ask for their help. The more people you involve, the more fun it is for everyone. I am not good at asking people to bring food and organizing a potluck. But there is a man in our group who is. Another friend is artistic. One year, she created a couple of shadow boxes as prizes and organized the prize table for the event. Another man in our group enjoys making memes about all kinds of things the Young Pros experience. So the second year, I asked him to put together a slideshow presentation of all the Young Pro memes from the year. That was quite entertaining. Think about what things your friends enjoy doing and ask for their help in one area. But beware! They may go rouge on you. While downloading my Friendsgiving playlist, two friends sneaked in a Veggie Tales song to blast over the speakers in the middle of dinner.
2. Use decorative disposable décor when possible. The first time my church hosted Friendsgiving, I wanted to use cloth place mats and napkins I had collected. But there was not enough, and it seemed best to keep those items in my hope chest after all. Also, Friendsgiving would be more enjoyable with minimal clean-up. Thankfully, stores such as Hobby Lobby and Walmart have beautiful disposable place mats, napkins, and tablecloths. This makes it so that the event can be special and beautiful. Once it is over, people can roll up the tablecloths and all and trash it. Less work. Less stress.
3. Keep your food contribution simple. Since I gather items for decorations and do a lot of organizational work, I keep my potluck contribution simple. I make stuffing. And when I say I make stuffing, I mean that I use the stuff that comes from a box. Before I came to Cleveland, I did not even realize that making stuffing from scratch is a thing. But considering how much of my boxed stuffing gets eaten each year, I think it all works out. If you love to cook and want to make a big contribution that way, plan ahead and go for it. But I recommend that if you are organizing the event yourself that you choose an easy food item to bring. Someone else may be happy to cook the turkey.
4. Make prayer your key ingredient. Friendsgiving is a wonderful opportunity to pull people together and encourage each other. But you can have a lot of personalities that can clash, and there can be a lot of stress in organizing an event. Pray for God to give you wisdom as you plan. Pray for a unifying spirit in your group. Pray for God to connect people in new and special ways. Pray for people to be encouraged during the event. For a Friendsgiving to be successful, the Spirit of God must be present and working both during the preparation and in the execution of the event.
The Purpose of Friendsgiving
Ultimately, Friendsgiving is not about the decorations, the food, or the activities. Friendsgiving is about worshiping the Lord as a unit of believers. It is about pointing people to the God “who giveth us richly all things to enjoy” (1 Timothy 6:17 {KJV}). When we host a Friendsgiving that accomplishes that, whether we host thirty people or only four, our celebration truly is a big one.
Know someone who is thinking about hosting a Friendsgiving? Share these tips with them.
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Friendsgiving is one way to practice our biblical calling to hospitality. Find more ideas for practicing unconventional hospitality in my book Opening the Hope Chest: A Single Girl’s Guide to Homemaking.
Great tips! Love the pictures!
Thank you for giving guidance and encouragement to others!
You’re welcome. I pray these tips are a help. 🙂