Happy Thanksgiving friends! While I cannot get over how quickly this year has flown by, I am pretty excited about the holiday season. We kicked off our seasonal festivities with a Friendsgiving party on Saturday. Now I’m just waiting for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade until I can start blasting the holiday tunes. (Yes, I play Christmas music on Thanksgiving Day, sue me.)
I hadn’t actually planned on throwing a Friendsgiving this year, but my girl Kait offered to come down from Astoria and roast a lamb for us. Her cooking makes my taste buds dance, so I said “Heck YES!” We sent out a bat signal to friends and neighbors, and a celebration was born.
Kait made the aforementioned lamb and potatoes au gratin (both mouth-wateringly delicious). Ryan (love that man) roasted a couple of beer can chickens. Our guests brought fantastic brussel sprouts, homemade cookies, lard bread, drinks and more. All I had to do was make the world’s easiest salad.
All of our utensils, plates, napkins and cups were sourced at Dollar Tree. I also picked up some butcher paper at Michael’s in lieu of tablecloths. I’m a devotee to disposable when it comes to parties. Is it the classiest? No, but who cares? It’s so much easier, and I’m convinced that fun paperware keeps the atmosphere light and breezy. #nofuss
Side note: Can someone who’s an environmental expert weigh the pros and cons of using paper plates as opposed to using all that water washing dishes? I have it in my head that the impact is probably comparable, but I could be way off – let me know!
Do you remember spending hours crafting playlists and mixtapes as a teenager? What a fun thing to do when you have an abundance of free time, right!? As an adult, free time is such a hot commodity that spending an hour building a party mix just isn’t on my priority list. Instead, I let Spotify do the work for me. We put on Elvis Presley radio for the first half of the evening and Talking Heads radio for the rest – both were hits with our guests.
One of my favorite parts of the night was the “Forbidden Word Game.” Everyone started the night with three sets of beads (a little homage to Ryan’s NOLA heritage). Before our guests arrived, I put six words up on our fridge that were “forbidden words.” If you said any of the forbidden words throughout the night and another guest caught you, you had to hand over one of your beads. The guest with the most beads at the end of the night won a prize. I was a little bit concerned that folks would find it just a little too silly, but everyone got into it! (Thanks for humoring me y’all <3)
The icing on the cake was looking at all the photos the next day. We passed the camera around, and my friend’s talented five year old took over for awhile. I think he’s got a future in photography because he captured some awesome pictures!
If you’re looking to throw a great party this holiday season, but you’re pressed for time, here is my comprehensive guide to being a very lazy host:
1) Hand over your kitchen to a friend (or friends) who love to cook 2) Disposable everything 3) Outsource the playlist 4) Create a low maintenance game that makes your guests interact so you won’t have to drive the conversation 5) Pass the camera – crowd sourced photos are more fun anyway
Happy partying friends!
P.S. – Did you know that Drunk on Opportunity has a monthly newsletter now? Sign up (top/right) and you’ll get a digest of all the posts from the month plus additional insider content! I promise not to overwhelm your inbox, I’m too lazy to send lots of emails :).
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