Easy Friendsgiving Ideas

Let me show you just how easy Friendsgiving ideas can be. It doesn’t have to be difficult to host your own harvest ladies lunch.

This holiday season have a good time with your closest at a friendsgiving party with a dinner table full of our favorite fall recipes. We are sharing some of our favorite Friendsgiving celebration ideas showing you a great way to start a new tradition.

Easy Friendsgiving Ideas…

I am sharing some Friendsgiving ideas with you all because I personally love this modern, fun take on a classic holiday and thought you guys might as well.

Below you will see how to host a harvest ladies lunch or Friendsgiving. We will cover everything from fun activities, food, decor and more!

November is more than just a time for gathering with cousins you only see once a year and that uncle you barely know.

I love that Friendsgiving has been given the spotlight it deserves. I mean, who doesn’t love creating their own unique guest list and getting some of their closest friends together for an evening, or brunch of delicious food and company?

Friendsgiving Decor

This one we did is a really modern take on a harvest gathering with lots of fresh white, jadeite and rustic wood. There is very little brown or orange and that’s ok. 

That’s actually my first of the Friendsgiving ideas I will share… Get out of the box with your decorating. Try your hand and lighter colors that you wouldn’t traditionally see on a Thanksgiving table.

Forage some pinecones or place light green and white gourds on the table. Foraging your own tables decorations makes this gathering extremely affordable as well.

While the food is what really shines at any November gathering, there are some fun little decorations that will definitely make your tablescape pop.

We chose to use mint and white velvet pumpkins to keep the gathering soft and feminine but also still with that harvest theme. However, for more life on the table, give those foraged light green and white pumpkins I mentioned a try. 

The 16 x 20 gather print from Lily and Val fit perfectly with our color scheme as well… I knew I just had to have it! They even had little matching cards with envelopes then I got to gift my friends with.

The center piece is a simple arrangement I found at my local TJ Maxx. As a rule of thumb, I never use anything but fresh florals at my parties.

However, this one seem to fit perfectly and is now one of my best Friendsgiving ideas… you don’t HAVE to always use fresh flowers especially since that time of year can be hard to find ones you want.

Pro Tip: Send home the floral arrangements with a guests at the end of the night as a nice little parting gift. Nothing says happy Friendsgiving quite like a nice arrangement they can then use on their own Thanksgiving day!

I especially loved that the leaves were textured to match the velvet pumpkins.You could even do a virtual friendsgiving and create a gorgeous digital backdrop complete with pumpkins and leaves. It’s a good idea to also send virtual invitations than over paper invitations.

Friendsgiving Food Ideas

Remember that Friendsgiving dinner and ideas include FOOD! Don’t feel limited to only serving up meals after 4pm. A Friendsgiving brunch would be a lovely idea and easy way to enjoy your holiday meal.

You will be a hit when you serve up delicious main dishes like these. Our gluten free turkey is perfectly crispy on the outside and moist and juicy on the inside whole turkey.

Plus, it’s oh so flavorful and great for leftovers as well! It’s also easy so you don’t spend all day taking care of the turkey.

The rolled tacos definitely brings the heat and provides bold new flavors to your harvest ladies lunch.

And what would a harvest gathering be without ham right? Yes, even on turkey day. Our gluten free funeral potatoes are another dish that everybody will love.

We used vintage jadeite bowls to serve our buttered carrots and corn. It’s also what we used for the fresh baked rolls. Although, our gluten free crescent rolls are my favorite especially when served with gluten free corn casserole and gluten free green bean casserole.

For dessert you can make little brownie bites with whipped cream or make our gluten free apple pie jars. Razzleberry pie, Thanksgiving cookies and gluten free apple cake and some dessert menu items that we love!

I chose jadeite cake stands for serving up the other dishes. My gold rimmed turkey plates are another T.J. Maxx find that I love to use every year on Thanksgiving.

I added some depth and texture with copper cups and a copper pitcher for serving sparkling apple cider or our Thanksgiving mocktails.

Have some little board games, get to know you party games and place cards. This is a fun way for everyone to get to know each other and a good way to make sure guests don’t have to fret in remembering anyones names.

Whatever good food you choose to serve, find the color scheme that works great for you and build around that. Remember to prep ahead with things like the savory bread pudding so you can enjoy visiting with everyone too.

You may even consider asking your friends to each bring a dish. This makes planning so much easier on you as the host for your Friendsgiving turkey day.

It also makes for a great conversation starter as everyone shares their dish and why they love it so much. They could even bring a recipe card for everyone with the recipe on it. This gives them the perfect opportunity to try new dishes on actual Thanksgiving day.

I hope these Friendsgiving ideas have helped you in the planning of your own pre thanksgiving meal and gathering with good friends. I know it will be a huge success!

Be sure to check out recipes that we used on our table…

Here’s another fun gathering and a few things to help you with your harvest ladies lunch…

Rustic Italian dinner party
Simple white flower arrangements
Cheese and charcuterie board

Photos and video from the harvest ladies lunch by Amie Pendle

Originally published on October 17, 2017, updated October 5, 2022 with better sized photos and more information.