As the leaves fall and the weather becomes colder, students cannot wait for Thanksgiving break! While Thanksgiving is usually celebrated with family, a trend called Friendsgiving has become popular among people of all ages. So, what does Friendsgiving mean?  

“The most important part would be spending time with my friends,” BVU freshman Tillie Heithoff said.  

Many choose to celebrate Friendsgiving; however, being in college can sometimes affect whether some celebrate it or not.  

“It’s fun to celebrate it and fun to bring good food. Not celebrating [because of money] would be unfortunate. Thanksgiving is [about] people coming together,” BVU freshman Charisma Mendez said.  

As a college student, money for fun can be hard to come by. So, do you need a cheap way to celebrate Thanksgiving with your friends this year? Well, here’s how! Based off the Thanksgiving dinners I’ve attended, the gathering is usually hosted by one person, and that one person tends to makes everything that you end up stuffing your face with. Now imagine being the host, the one who has to prepare everything for your guests. Then imagine how pricy that may be, especially the food.  

Now as a broke college student, how do you plan to feed all of your Friendsgiving guests? Well a simple solution would be to host a potluck! Have each of your guests bring their favorite food item. To keep everyone from bringing the same thing, set up a Google Doc with categories (ex: side dishes, desserts, etc.) that your guests can sign up for. The host should be the one who prepares the bird, and hopefully no one forgets the pie!    

“I would bring scotcheroos,” Heithoff said.  

With the worry about food out of the way, the next step is decorating the table! One cheap option would be to use a plastic table cloth that can be from any store such as Big Lots or the Dollar General. Cheap and festive napkins can be bought at those stores as well. Plastic utensils can easily be bought at Walmart or the Dollar Tree. If you’re wanting to make your platters look fancy, Target or even Goodwill offers legitimate silverware than can be bought for not too much. Either way, no matter what route you choose to go for decorating, the table is sure to look nice, and your guests will be thrilled.  

After everyone eats and gains a few extra pounds, what are you and your guests to do? One idea could be playing games together. Some ideas could be:  

• Card games such as Uno, Crazy 8, or Cards Against Humanity  
• Board games such as Life, Monopoly, or Scrabble  
• Wii games like Mario Kart, Super Mario Bros, and even Bowling  

These are only a few ideas of the many games that are out there. With these slight suggestions on how to have a cheap Friendsgiving, hopefully your inexpensive and fun party is a blast! The only problem you should have is having too many leftovers! 

“Friendsgiving is great, and I think everyone should celebrate it,” Mendez concluded.