Friendsgiving Potluck and Pie Bar Party

Friends are family, right? Whether you are unable to travel home for Thanksgiving or you are looking to supplement tradition with something new, this Friendsgiving Potluck and Pie Bar Party is the perfect way to celebrate and give thanks this Thanksgiving.

The key to a successful Friendsgiving is two-fold, good food and organization. The holidays are already a stressful time but you can eliminate some of that stress if you plan ahead and simplify your celebration with the ease and convenience of Chinet® brand.

We will be celebrating Thanksgiving Day with our family, but I still wanted to find a way to spend time with the special friends who are a big part of our tribe so I planned this Friendsgiving Potluck and Pie Bar Party for the Saturday after Thanksgiving. In order to ensure everything runs smoothly, it’s key to plan ahead and communicate with the guest. Here are my top tips for hosting the ultimate Friendsgiving.

How to Host the Ultimate Friendsgiving

Have a Plan

Plan to keep the guest list intimate. While it may be tempting to invite everyone from your co-workers to cousins plan to keep the list small to make sure you maximize the quality time spent chatting with friends. You want to celebrate friendships and create memories with these special people you are so thankful for, not be stuck in the kitchen cooking and cleaning for a crowd.

Cover Your Bases

Since you are planning to keep the guest list small make sure everyone has a specific dish that they will bring. You don’t want three people showing up with mashed potatoes and no rolls. Cover your bases and ask friends ahead of time to share what they will be bringing so everyone knows what they can help with.

Keep It Casual and Cozy

Don’t go overboard with kitschy decorating, keep it casual and cozy so your friends can feel relaxed and at ease as they sip toasty drinks and eat pie. While I don’t want to go overboard I do want the celebration to feel festive and special. Display fresh flowers with your fall pumpkins. Use home decor pieces that can do double duty, like a blanket ladder. It adds height and visual interest to the Pie Bar, but guests can also grab a blanket and get cozy on the couch.

Set the Table

Keep the casual feel of the party going by serving the meal potluck style. Create a buffet where guests can get up whenever they are hungry or need a refill and help themselves. Since everyone is bringing different dishes, it’s a good idea to label all of the dishes. You can do this with chalkboard labels or make your own with wine corks and cardstock.

Don’t forget to set the table with the essentials, Chinet^® Cut Crystal^® cups, and cutlery add a touch of elegance without the fuss of having to hand-wash fine china. That’s what I love about using Chinet brand products at my Thanksgiving celebration—they make serving and clean up easy so you can spend more time enjoying the meal and friends!

Leave Room for Pie

Let’s be honest we are all really here for the best part of Thanksgiving, the pie! A pie bar is an ultimate way to end an unforgettable afternoon with friends! And it’s my favorite part of this Friendsgiving potluck.

I set up a simple pie bar in my living room to display all of these yummy treats. Like everything else I wanted this celebration to be about connecting with my favorite people, so I kept the decorations simple and used items from around my house to make this little corner feel festive and fun.

I used tiered serving trays and a shelf to create hight and extra space to display all of those tasty pies.

The drawer on the vintage desk held all of my favorite Chinet® brand products. Not only do the Chinet® Cut Crystal® Dessert Plates look elegant, but they’re also environmentally conscious too, which makes them ideal for this Friendsgiving party.

Give Thanks

When we aren’t sitting around the Thanksgiving table it can be easy to forget how thankful we are for our friends. Create a gratitude board and as guests arrive, have them write down a few things that they are grateful for. Snap a photo of the board and send it out in a group message so that everyone can always remember the good times and how they are blessed with good friends.

I’m so thankful for my tribe of friends and I can’t wait to celebrate them with a festive Friendsgiving Potluck and Pie Bar Party! Do you celebrate Friendsgiving? I’d love to hear what you do to make it special or what traditions you’ll be incorporating into your celebration this year.

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Mariah

Mariah Leeson is the creative mind behind www.gigglesgalore.net. With a passion for celebrating, Mariah created Giggles Galore to inspire families to celebrate life’s little moments with creative, budget friendly ideas. She loves cooking, reading, crafting, hosting parties and most of all spending time giggling with her family.