A Modern Friendsgiving Potluck Lunch

Hosting a formal Thanksgiving is a lot of hard work between prepping the house, cooking a turkey, and making all the sides and the desserts. So host a Modern Friendsgiving Potluck Lunch instead which is a lot less formal and you only need to provide water, a beverage, an appetizer, and the main course. Then simply ask friends to bring the rest!

How to Throw a Modern Friendsgiving Potluck Lunch

Including the grocery shopping and decorations, you can have this potluck lunch set up in 3 hours or less! I am all about the quick set-up!

Because it’s a more casual event, you don’t have to set a formal table and instead can simply set up a buffet for all the potluck dishes to go on. And again, because this isn’t a formal Thanksgiving dinner, you don’t even have to serve a turkey! I went with gourmet turkey cranberry sandwiches instead!

To set up my table, I started with a mint cranberry spritzer, appetizers in case early guests are hungry before lunch time, and individual turkey sandwiches for each guest.

Be sure to also leave room on the table for your friends to put their potluck dishes and maybe even include a cake stand or two for the desserts!

I set out a cranberry mint spritzer for guests to grab as soon as they walked in the door! They only require a few ingredients and are quick to make in case anyone needs a refill!

And for an early appetizer, I served my Hot Spinach Artichoke Dip for dipping with some quick and easy crackers, pita chips, or even mozzarella sticks.

To be extra festive, I served the artichoke dip out of artichoke bowls. Here’s the link to the recipe for the Hot Spinach Artichoke Dip – you only need a few ingredients and about 20 minutes to make the dip, but hollowing out the artichokes to use as bowls takes a bit longer!

And I didn’t want to make a turkey for the main course since I’ll be doing that on Thanksgiving, plus turkeys are a bit hard to find in stores until a few weeks before turkey day, so I made gourmet turkey sandwiches for each guest with bakery fresh rolls, freshly sliced turkey from the deli, cranberry sauce, and all the sandwich fixings and wrapped them in a modern, pink-striped food paper.

Then I put out some plates, napkins, and silverware, but keeping it less formal, so no setting the table!

Plus, I kept the decor simple. No ugly dark brown, orange, and red colors! Instead I went with pink, gold, and orange, and put up a “Thanks A Lot” banner garland.

Then, I spray-painted a thrifted wicker cornucopia bright pink and added some gilded pomegranates and pears and then threw in some gold confetti. You can usually find a vintage wicker cornucopia at the thrift store or on eBay.

Simply just ask friends to tell you what dish they’ll be bringing so you don’t end up with 4 mashed potatoes and no pumpkin pie! Since I was doing a lunch, I asked for lunch time potato-based sides such as french fries and chips, as well as some mac and cheese, a green been salad, and simple desserts such as cookies or pies.

With a super simple set-up, easy main course, and fast appetizer, and with friends bringing the sides and desserts, you’ll get your Friendsgiving party set up in no time!

Looking for more Thanksgiving or Friendsgiving inspiration? Check out more right here: