Friendsgiving is a Thanksgiving-themed feast meal typically eaten prior to or instead of a family
Thanksgiving dinner
The centerpiece of contemporary Thanksgiving in the United States and in Canada is Thanksgiving dinner (informally called turkey dinner), a large meal generally centered on a large roasted turkey. Thanksgiving could be considered the largest ...
in the United States. Those gathering are typically a group of close friends, often
millennials
Millennials, also known as Generation Y or Gen Y, are the Western demographic cohort following Generation X and preceding Generation Z. Researchers and popular media use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 2000 ...
, although participations has broadened.
The meal began as an alternative to the traditional family Thanksgiving gathering for people who could not or did not want to go home for the holiday. It has since developed into an additional celebration on a separate day during the Thanksgiving season.
History
While the concept isn't new, prior to the early 2000s there was no term for it. According the Merriam-Webster, the first use was in 2007 and referred to an informal meal. In 2011 a liqueur advertisement with a Friendsgiving theme appeared and the concept was a plot point on an episode of a popular reality television show. Early Friendsgiving meals were often gatherings of friends as an alternative to a family Thanksgiving for those for whom traveling home for the traditional meal was logistically or emotionally difficult. The evolution of the concept into an additional (rather than alternative) meal came later, according to Merriam-Webster.
By 2013 the Emily Post Institute started receiving etiquette questions about the meal. According to ''
The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'', the term wasn't frequently searched on Google prior to 2012, but by 2013 was being searched regularly and from then, searches on the term increased "exponentially" in following years. The growth in popularity is attributed to several social elements, including the
chosen family
Chosen or The Chosen may refer to:
The chosen ones
*Chosen people, people who believe they have been chosen by a higher power to do a certain thing including
**Jews as the chosen people
Books
* ''The Chosen'' (Potok novel), a 1967 novel by Chaim ...
portmanteau
A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words The Washington Post called it a "curated" holiday.
Description
The meal itself is often produced
potluck
A potluck is a communal gathering where each guest or group contributes a different, often homemade, dish of food to be shared.
Other names for a "potluck" include: potluck dinner, pitch-in, shared lunch, spread, faith supper, carry-in dinner, ...
-style, with each participant bringing items. Those celebrated on Thanksgiving Day generally replicate a Thanksgiving dinner, while those that are additional gatherings may or may not, depending on the situation. In 2022 Joe and Jill Biden celebrated with a traditional turkey dinner several days before Thanksgiving at a
Marine
Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean.
Marine or marines may refer to:
Ocean
* Maritime (disambiguation)
* Marine art
* Marine biology
* Marine debris
* Marine habitats
* Marine life
* Marine pollution
Military
* ...
base. Some people use Friendsgiving to test out new Thanksgiving recipes.
Participants are generally close friends who live in the same area; when produced on
Thanksgiving Day
Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden a ...
the meal is most common in cities with many transplants for whom traveling home for the holiday is logistically or emotionally difficult. The meal is also often celebrated among groups of coworkers as a potluck holiday party.
In popular culture
In 2020
Nicol Paone
Nicol Paone (born March 11, 1971) is an American comedian, director, writer, and actress. She is bisexual.
Background
Nicol Paone is an alumna of the Groundlings Sunday Company. In addition to performing on ''The Big Gay Sketch Show'', she has ...
wrote and directed the
comedy-drama
Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...
''
Friendsgiving
Friendsgiving is a Thanksgiving-themed feast meal typically eaten prior to or instead of a family Thanksgiving dinner in the United States. Those gathering are typically a group of close friends, often millennials, although participations has broa ...
'' for
Saban Films
Saban Capital Group LLC is an American investment firm based in Los Angeles, California focused on media, entertainment, and communications investments. Formed in 2010 by Haim Saban, Saban Capital Group owns Saban Films, part of Univision Commun ...
.
Analysis
Journalist
Malcolm Harris
Malcolm Harris (born 1988) is an American journalist, critic and editor, based in Philadelphia. He is an editor at ''The New Inquiry'' and wrote ''Kids These Days: the Making of Millennials'' (2017). Harris was involved in the Occupy Wall Street mo ...
argues that Friendsgiving "is a propaganda weapon used by the ruling class to further their plans for wage stagnation."''Reason Magazine'' called it "cultural flourishing, not cultural decay".