We love the idea of Friendsgiving as a way to celebrate gratitude with your chosen family. While Friendsgiving is less rife with the social, psychological, emotional, and political landmines inherent in a traditional family Thanksgiving, we like to have a few activities ready to keep the conversation and fun flowing. These are some of our festive faves.
Take a Shot When
If you're bringing together a diverse group of friends who haven't all met, a little social lubricant can get the party buzzing (literally and figuratively). So we're not above adding alcohol to the mix (heck, it's how we get through our family Thanksgiving). Of course, you don't want anyone to leave your gathering totally smashed, so lower-alcohol cocktails or mocktails might be a good idea.
Related: 14 Thanksgiving Mocktails That Are All Flavor & No Kick
Start the party by providing a list of a few different words or events that become the "drink" words: think things like saying, "I'm stuffed," or someone asking for seconds. When these things happen, everyone has to drink. It's college shenanigans all over again, but with a Friendsgiving theme.
Finish the Song Lyric
My friends and I have a lot of common musical references, and we never gather without music playing, accompanied by our off-key singing. If you and your friends share a similar love of music, this quick, impromptu game is easy for everyone. No prep is needed... just take turns going from person to person singing a line from a song and then having everyone compete to come up with the next line.
A fun variation of this is to sing a line from a song and then have friends take turns inventing a funny or misheard lyric (think "'Scuse me while I kiss this guy" instead of Jimi Hendrix's "'Scuse me while I kiss the sky"). You can vote on the funniest — or just enjoy everyone's inventive lyrics.
Movin' and Groovin' Musical Chairs
Confession: My friends and I also often dance when we get together. It's not always pretty, but moving to music is always fun — which brings us to this grown-up version of musical chairs.
Place two rows of chairs back-to-back (one less chair than the number of players). Now, instead of simply walking around the chairs when the music plays, have everyone move in peculiar ways or dance. Whoever is left without a chair is out. Remove a chair, and do it again.
Name That Tune
It's always fun to try to stump your friends. And since everyone knows a few songs and humming usually feels a lot lower risk than singing, this game is always a winner.
Take turns humming the first few lines of a tune or even the chorus and let everyone guess what the song is. The first person to get it right wins and gets to hum the next song, and so on. You can always count on that one friend who knows all the obscure tunes and can stump everyone. Maybe let that friend go last.
Chaotic Cobweb
We played this game at parties when we were kids, but it's fun as adults, too. Buy a different color of yarn and an inexpensive gift for each guest, then designate one room for the game and get it set up before the guests arrive.
To set the game up, tie one end of each spool of yarn to each gift, unwind, and zig-zag the yarn across the room. Trail it under furniture, loop it over curtain rods, really anywhere. Just make it as difficult as possible for everyone to follow their yarn through the "cobweb" of different colors and find their gift. To begin the confusion, hand each guest their spool of yarn and let the mayhem ensue.
Let's Get Tipsy Scavenger Hunt
Share Friendsgiving "spirits" by having all your friends bring a gift bag filled with the items needed to make their favorite Friendsgiving cocktail.
Creatively spread the gift bags throughout the house. Once everyone finds one, gather in one room and have each person open the bag they found and try to guess the name of the drink and who brought the bag. Then, everyone can have fun playing bartender.
Going Once, Going Twice, Sold!
All your friends will surely get a bit competitive at a Friendsgiving auction! Set a price point and have everyone bring an unwrapped gift that costs about that amount. Display them for everyone to see.
Give everyone the same amount of fake money (Monopoly money?) and have each person stand up, show off the gift they bought, and ask for bids. The game continues until all the gifts have been auctioned off.
Friendsgiving Trivia
How much do all your friends really know about each other? Before the Friendsgiving gathering, make a questionnaire consisting of several questions. These could include things like nicknames, middle names, weirdest job they've ever had, where they were born or grew up, deepest, darkest secret, most embarrassing moment, etc.
Have each guest complete the questionnaire. Now, read the questions and answers and have everyone guess who the friend is.
Roast and Toast
This Friendsgiving activity has everyone sharing memories with a toast after each one. If you want some conversation starters, write a series of cards with prompts and place these at the group's center.
A few examples of prompts would be: "one fun night together," "the stupidest thing I've ever done," "the best thing I've ever done," "the most fun thing I've ever done," or "that time at so-and-so's house."
Two Truths and a Lie
It's an oldie but a goodie! If you want to learn some of your friends' secrets, this is the perfect game to play.
Pass out paper and pens, and ask each guest to write down two truths and a lie about themselves. Fold up the papers and toss them into a basket. Pull the folded papers out one at a time and read each to the group. Everyone must then try to identify who the person is and what their lie is.
The Times of Your Life
This is a simple game where friends gather to share memories and relive some of their favorite moments with their BFFs.
For this game, ask your guests to share a picture from their phone, showing off an important time in their life and telling a sweet story from that moment in time. Friends will be giggling and might even cry some happy tears.
Who Is It?
This game celebrates your bonds of friendship. Before the party, ask your guests to write an anonymous note containing some information about themselves that's special or memorable. Collect them at the door and read each one aloud when the time comes. Have everyone try to guess who wrote the note.
Mad About Movies
You can make your Friendsgiving party a blockbuster with . All your friends compete to answer trivia questions in five categories: Who's Who, Quotes, In the Movies, Reel Knowledge, and Directors. The movies cover a wide variety of Hollywood eras and genres.
The Voting Game - After Dark Edition
is a card game that's likely to uncover some disturbing and risque but often hilarious truths about your friends. It begins when the first question is asked.
The question could be, "Who would you ask for help if you must flee the country?" Then everyone anonymously votes for the player in the group who they want to answer to the question. Votes are then tallied, and the "winner" gives their answer. Caution: Some of the questions are wildly inappropriate, so maybe not a game to play with your grandparents.
Never Have I Ever
is the ultimate Friendsgiving party game for laughing with friends about the fun lives you've all lived.
It's a question-and-answer game that's hilariously entertaining and helps friends get to know one another in a more humorous way. Still, beware, don't play this game with people who you don't want to know about your deepest, darkest secrets.
Truth or Drink
The rules of are simple: set out various drinks, have each player shuffle and draw a card, and read aloud the question the card asks.
Would they rather down the drink of their choice or tell the cold, hard truth? That's up to the player! Buyers beware. This game can lead to saying things you never thought you'd say aloud and memories you might not be able to get out of your head.
Happy Friendsgiving!
Enjoy all the good food, fun, and games at your Friendsgiving gathering! But don't DYI (do yourself in), or let your friends DUI (drive under the influence). Make sure everyone gets home safely or has a place to sleep their good time off before heading home!
