Hosting Friendsgiving at Your NYC Apartment

Thanksgiving is around the corner, and that means planning travel, dinners, movie marathons, and maybe scouting some Black Friday deals (you can never start too early, right?). And that’s largely because while Thanksgiving is technically just one day, the holiday has grown to encompass days’ worth of social activities.

One modern addition to the season is the Friendsgiving celebration. Whereas Thanksgiving has become synonymous with trips home to spend time with family, Friendsgiving is wherever your friends are — and whenever all of your schedules allow.

Hosting Friendsgiving in NYC

While getting a group of friends together can be a challenge anywhere, in New York City there are a few additional considerations. Below, we’ve laid out a few:

Space

Finding a large enough dining table to fit all your friends that also accommodates a relatively small space is a challenge like no other. Fortunately, there are modular units that fold up snugly when not in use, and expand to comfortably seat guests when needed.

Check out this foldable dining table from Wayfair that converts into a desk and a space-saving console table for everyday use, and can seat 6 people when you have company.

Image from Wayfair

Food Prep

Having an apartment often means sacrificing counter space in the kitchen. You might even have a smaller cooktop and oven than you’re used to. Obviously, this can make cooking for a crowd difficult.

One option is to have one or two main hot courses (think turkey and stuffing), and a few chilled options that you can prepare ahead and store in the fridge or freezer. In addition to salads of all kinds (garden salad, pasta salad, green bean salad, etc.) as easy-to-prep sides, there are so many frozen dessert options to try.

Here’s an easy green bean salad recipe from Taste of Home that you can make ahead of time and serve chilled.

Video from Taste of Home

And here’s a no-bake, frozen pumpkin pie from Tastes of Lizzy T that all of your guests will be craving next Thanksgiving.

You can also host a potluck and have each guest bring a dish to share. If you go this route, be sure to make a plan so everyone is clear on who’s bringing what — having five trays of candied yams and no mashed potatoes would be a shame. And as host, expect to prepare at least the main course (and provide dishes, silverware, glasses, etc.).

Lodging

This goes along with the issue of space. If you’re having a group of friends over, do you have the room (or the obligation) to house people overnight?

Generally, while it’s nice for hosts to accommodate out-of-town guests, don’t feel as though you’re required to host people overnight. There are plenty of area hotels and Airbnb rentals to direct them to. Just make sure everyone has their plans set in advance.

If you do have people staying overnight and don’t have room for a futon or extra mattress, there are a few space-saving seating options designed for flexible arrangements.

This modern chair folds out into a bed, without taking up too much space, for example:

Image from Pottery Barn Teen

Finding a Restaurant in NYC to Host Friendsgiving

While it’s certainly possible to host Friendsgiving in a NYC apartment, we wouldn’t blame you for bringing the gathering to a more spacious dining room (where you don’t have to worry about clean-up, either!). There are countless restaurants in NYC that offer Thanksgiving lunch and dinner services. Many charge per person, but you can find a number that offer full dinner packages to order ahead.

Meeting friends at a neutral space designed to hold and feed large groups definitely takes the pressure off playing host. It also takes the pressure off guests, who are often left wondering what to bring to such gatherings.

And if you’ll be hosting Friendsgiving either before or after Thanksgiving Day, you’ll likely find fewer crowds and lower prices than you would on the holiday itself. It’s a win-win.