You’re hosting your first Friendsgiving! Congrats, you’re such a Monica. But, in the event you’re less Gellar, and more Buffay, we’ve put together a Friendsgiving guide so cohesive and easy to replicate that even a Joey could do it.

So, gather your favorite people, find a table big enough to hold them (pro tip: if you unhinge and remove the door of your dorm closet and balance it on 2 desk chairs, it makes a pretty legit table… but you didn’t hear that from us) and get ready to host a Friendsgiving you and your friends (assuming you have any) are sure to remember.

1. The essentials

The devil is in the details, so make sure you’re all set with the basics before you start worrying about the decor and the food (it’s okay to think about the food at the same time, we love thinking about food). It’s unlikely that you’ll have matching versions of plates and cups or anything fancy like that, so paper/plastic will absolutely suffice. We are in college, after all.

2. DIY FTW

Money is tight and there are Christmas presents to be bought! Don’t you worry, we gotchu.

When it comes to setting the table, we can’t stress enough how much we love a sturdy paper tablecloth or runner. A paper tablecloth makes it easy to assign seats (if that’s your thing), label the food (if that’s your thing), and it pretty much turns the tablecloth into an event once you get everyone to jot down what they’re thankful for and trace their handprints into turkeys (obviously). Splash some colored pencils/crayons around and watch as your brilliant and well-fed friends turn your table into a work of art.

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While there are all sorts of fancy kits available to help you achieve blogger-status perfection with your decor, they’re generally just not in the budget. Good thing Pinterest exists and we were able to find fun and free printables that you can run down to the library to print out. Check out some more great ways to decorate your table on a budget here.

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3. Would you light my candle?

Trite as they may seem, pumpkins and gourds still make for the ultimate center pieces and when coupled with a bit of light, they really shine. They’re cheap, they’re cute, and you can find all sorts of ways to reimagine them. Same goes for sticks, twigs, berries, leaves, and anything else that happens to be in season or found around campus. Think outside the box to rack up the Instagram likes and help set the tone for what will inevitably become a hallowed holiday tradition with your squad.

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4. Share the wealth

The best way to execute a Friendsgiving at this level is to go Potluck. You take care of the turkey and have everyone else bring a side dish; easy peasy. Create a Google doc so you can lay out the framework of what you’ll be needing, and then have everyone else sign up for a dish (one year, we had 5 different people bring sweet potatoes so we learned our lesson the hard way).

If you’re looking for an easy way to replicate Thanksgiving favorites in a dorm room setting, or just looking to put a spin on some of the classics, check out our handy Friendsgiving food guide here. We’re talking bacon wrapped turkey, fireball jello shots and no bake pies for all!

Here’s a portion guide that takes the guesswork and math out of the equation (math is the worst).

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5. Eat me!

Cooking your first Turkey definitely falls under the umbrella of Adulting 101, and it’s quite a milestone. For all of those visual learners, here’s a life saving tutorial made just for turkey virgins.

Dorms aren’t exactly known for their ovens/oven space, so make sure you plan accordingly. If you’re looking to improvise, just know that there’s no shame in cooking up some pan seared turkey cutlets. No matter what you do, just make sure there’s plenty of gravy. It hides a multitude of sins.

If you’ve done Friendsgiving right, you’ll have tons of leftovers. Stock up on cheap tupperware, festive to-go boxes, or invest in some more of those cute printables. Everyone knows that the secret best part of any Thanksgiving meal is the turkey sandwich the following day, complete with extra stuffing. What’s that? You never put stuffing on your sandwich? You do now, my friend.

6. Stream team

What’s pumping over your jambox on Friendsgiving makes or breaks the party. This is fact.

We turned to our music Mecca, Apple Music, to compile a playlist so perfectly curated you’ll be listening to it all year round. It should be easy enough to listen to without stealing the show and because we are nerds we incorporated some friendship favorites. Enjoy.

7. Activities

Flower crowns are all the rage during festival season, but you can turn this season’s pickings (and whatever is leftover from your centerpieces) into autumnal crowns of glory with the help of some wire, flowers, vines, leaves, pinecones and anything else you can dream up/find in your yard/around campus.

We hit the gold mine when we discovered these Thanksgiving themed games to play at our up and coming Friendsgiving. We’re def going to torture our friends by making them play Face the Pie & The Goblet Gobble, and you should too! If that all sounds a bit too physical, here are some more fun suggestions that you can sit around the table and enjoy while you fall into your tryptophan-induced coma.

8. Create a custom snapchat filter

Did you even Friendsgiving if there’s no documented proof on Snapchat (and Instagram)? Make this little shindig an EVENT by either designing your own filter or by turning to Etsy to help you find something perfect for your day. It’s not like the goal is to create FOMO or anything, but I heard that Taylor down the hall doesn’t have a Snapchat filter at her Friendsgiving.

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