How to Host a Friendsgiving Dinner

Thank you to Oriental Trading Company for sponsoring this post. Product and/or compensation was provided to me to share my ideas and tips, however, all opinions are fully my own. 

Thanksgiving is literally a few short days away and you may find yourself looking for last minute ideas for hosting a small gathering of friends....also known as a Friendsgiving. 

A Friendsgiving is a great way to host your friends for the Thanksgiving holiday, but you don't have to break the bank or do a lot of work to get ready - especially with my easy and affordable tips for setting a beautiful tablescape and preparing a delicious meal.  Below are some ideas and tips that I have on how to pull together a quick tablescape and meal for your closest pals.

With the right combination of decorative pieces, you can create a beautiful tablescape  that looks like you put in a ton of work....(but you really didn't)....I used a gold shimmer burlap table runner, a faux boxwood garland, mirror glass votives and metallic string placemats as the foundation of tablescape.  Using the votives creates a very intimate space and provides an extra element of lighting.  Spacing out votive candles with autumnal elements, like decorative pumpkins, down the center of your table, you can create perfectly natural looking centerpiece that will certainly wow your guests. 

Little details like burlap bows hot glued to the ends of the runner add another level of dimension to a simple decorative piece.  I just love, love, love mixing elegant pieces with more casual pieces and the combination of metallics and burlap completes this look perfectly.

Make it easy for guests to find their place at the table.  I painted wood cut gourds gold and white and wrote down the names of my special friends.   This is a simple DIY and if you add a magnet to the back of the place cards, your guests can take them home to attach to their fridge or magnet board as an instant thank you gift!

Instead of florals, I used a faux boxwood garland to fill in the middle of the table along with decorative pumpkins from my fall decor stash.  There is so much you can do with a few decorative pieces.  Keeping special occasional dinnerware on hand will always come in handy.  

These 'Thank You' gift tags make perfect napkin rings.  I plucked a few pieces from the garland to bring in some of the greens to my linen napkins I already had on hand.  

Place a wall sign or framed quote out to remind your closest friends how much they truly mean to you and how thankful you are for their friendship!

If you need an affordable idea for feeding your guests, my quick and easy tip for preparing a Friendsgiving meal is to keep it super simple. 

I went to my local Aldi and Trader Joe's and found a full meal to feed 4-6 people for less than $35.  Trader Joe's had a Turkey En Croute with cranberry sauce and gravy for $12.99!  That's a major score.  I also found frozen green beans and pearl onions, and frozen sweet potatoes...I doctored the side dishes up with spices and herbs and turned out a delicious meal!  I was even able to find mini pies from Aldi that were a perfect treat for dessert.

What makes this idea THE BEST is that there is very little clean up and the time to prep and cook everything was less than two hours!

Pulling together a last minute Friendsgiving is totally doable.  Just remember my tips when  setting it up:

• Simple decor can go a long way, a few elegant pieces mixed in with casual everyday tableware and linens will give you a stunning tablescape.  

• Dress up your place settings with cloth napkins, thank you tags and a few botanical sprigs (faux or real).  

• Make gifts serve a dual purpose by personalizing take home name cards....they'll mean a lot to your besties because you made them (and they take no time at all to make). 

• Make meal prep effortless with heat and go dishes that you can easily flavor with flair!

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Thanks again to Oriental Trading for always providing festive elements for my holiday entertaining ideas! 

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