Friendsgiving

Friendsgiving is my all time favorite holiday and one of my absolute favorite gatherings to host! So much so that my roommates and I have hosted a Friendsgiving every year since we moved into our house. It started off small and intimate but has continued to grow into a wonderful yearly gathering, with our last one having more than 50 people attend! Unfortunately due to Covid we did not host Friendsgiving in 2020, and when it came time to put together one for 2021 all of my roommates were unavailable. So in a semi-last minute decision, I decided to host a much smaller gathering and invited just my friends.

I knew this would make the gathering feel different, but it was also the first holiday gathering in this type of setting most of us had been to in 2 years, so I knew I wanted to make it feel special and intimidate. However I didn’t have a ton of time to put this together, and since I was the only one hosting (instead of me and my 3 roommates) I wanted to keep it simple while also fun and low-key! So I decided to rely on one of my favorite and tried & true gathering themes: color!

Luckily, I realized I already owned lots of tabletop items in the 4 most common Fall colors (yellow, orange, green and mauve/burgundy) and all I had to do was pick up a few new things! But instead of combining all of the items to create 1 colorful Fall palette, I decided to make each table it’s own individual color palette. This helped me easily identify what items I still needed to get (napkins, glassware and candles) without me having to buy 20 of the same colored item! To keep the tables cohesive while still in their color palettes, I used the same neutral plates, tablecloth and cutlery at each table while using the napkins, place cards, dried florals/greenery and even decorative fruit in each of the table’s color to accentuate the theme.

But really what made the gathering so special was the people! Most of those who came are consistent At The Lane dinner guests and all truly leaned into the festive spirit of the holiday. That and the fact that I didn’t have a ton of time to go all out on decor made this my favorite gathering of the year :)