By Tonya Smith
If there is anything that we have learned from National Lampoon’s “Christmas Vacation,” sometimes the holidays send us spiraling into a hectic and chaotic frenzy. The need to please family begins during the Thanksgiving season and often leaves us exhausted. And let’s be honest…sometimes we even begin to hate the holidays for all of its trappings. Enter the new holiday that is sweeping the nation…Friendsgiving!
What is Friendsgiving, you ask? It is a stress free/ family free meal with your closest friends. And it is becoming a thing.
There are menus, invitations, Pinterest ideas and group game tutorials that are available to allow you to have a fun and memorable evening with your ride or die crew.
According to Merriam-Webster, the term “Friendsgiving” was first seen in and around Twitter in 2007. It blossomed a few years later and now the feast of friends is usually held the weekend before Thanksgiving but not always. You can serve traditional Thanksgiving fare or tapas or pizza. The beauty of this meal is that everyone brings a little something, the wine is served and nobody is feeling the pressure of the holidays. Some people are even exchanging traditional Thanksgiving for this laidback and lesser known cousin. Can you blame them?
Though many feel that Friendsgiving came into fruition because of the wildly popular TV show “Friends,” the truth is that it didn’t. The image of Monica with a turkey on her head definitely comes to mind. And the entire “Friends” cast joining together to avoid other familial obligations does seem like it is the beginning of this trending tradition but this has been quietly going on for more than a decade.
So, get your besties together and dine/laugh/ love your way to a happy and healthy Friendsgiving. We all know what’s next and it isn’t as low key or stress free. In the immortal words of Aunt Bethany, “Play Ball!”
