Friendsgiving
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Friendsgiving is a Thanksgiving-themed feast meal typically eaten prior to or instead of a family Thanksgiving dinner in the United States. Gathering are typically a group of close friends, often millennials, although participation has broadened.
The meal began as an additional holiday or as an alternative to the traditional family Thanksgiving gathering for people who could not or did not want to go home for the holiday. For some celebrants, Friendsgiving has evolved from a pre-Thanksgiving gathering to replace traditional Thanksgiving entirely. Most celebrate it as a separate event during the Thanksgiving season.
History
[edit]A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, released in 1973, centers around a Thanksgiving meal among friends that closely resembles what would become Friendsgiving, with Woman's World commenting in 2022 that the special portrayed "perhaps an early example of Friendsgiving."[1]
The term Friendsgiving, a portmanteau of 'friends' and 'thanksgiving', was coined in the early 2000s.[2][3] The first known reference to the term "Friendsgiving" was in 2005 on a Facebook event page with a small group of friends in Westerville, Ohio hosted an ironically formal dinner with friends only, no family, the day before Thanksgiving. These founders started the tradition to cement their friendship and have fun with their chosen family. Some of these founders include Dylan Childs, Steven Clark, Tyler Rowland, and Wooz Swiger. According to Merriam-Webster, the first use was in 2007 and referred to an informal meal.[4][5] In 2011 a liqueur advertisement with a Friendsgiving theme appeared[6] and the concept was a plot point in an episode of The Real Housewives of New Jersey.[4][7] 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.[4][8][6] The evolution of the concept into an additional (rather than alternative) meal came later, according to Merriam-Webster.[4]
By 2013 the Emily Post Institute started receiving etiquette questions about the meal.[2] According to The Atlantic, 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.[2]
The term was added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary in 2020.[6]
Description
[edit]The meal is often a Thanksgiving-themed feast meal eaten prior to or instead of a family Thanksgiving dinner in the United States.[2][4]
The meal itself is often produced potluck-style, with each participant bringing items.[2][6] Those celebrated on Thanksgiving Day generally replicate a Thanksgiving dinner, while those that are additional gatherings may or may not.[6][9] In 2022 Joe and Jill Biden celebrated with a traditional turkey dinner several days before Thanksgiving at a Marine base.[10] Some people use Friendsgiving to test out new Thanksgiving recipes.[5][11]
Those gathering are typically a group of close friends, often millennials,[2] although participation has broadened. Participants are generally close friends who live in the same area; when produced on Thanksgiving Day the meal is most common in cities with many transplants for whom traveling home for the holiday is logistically or emotionally difficult.[4][5][3] The meal is also often celebrated among groups of coworkers as a potluck holiday party.[2]
As of 2018 the event was particularly popular in urban areas.[7]
In film and books
[edit]In 2019 Emily Stephenson published The Friendsgiving Handbook.[12] In 2020 Nicol Paone wrote and directed the comedy-drama Friendsgiving for Saban Films.[13][5]
Analysis
[edit]The growth in popularity is attributed to several social elements, including the chosen family, the coining of the portmanteau and the evolution of Thanksgiving in the United States from a single-day event into a Thanksgiving season.[2][5]
Michael Hendrix of the Manhattan Institute called it "a table set with lonely millennials practicing traditions of their choosing", arguing it had developed partially a result of delayed household formation among that cohort.[7] Pete Wells wrote in 2019 that the many published 'How to' and 'Rules for' hosting a Friendsgiving are a result of so many of those embracing the event not being experienced at hosting large dinner parties.[12]
Malcolm Harris argues that the use of a "cutesy" portmanteau for a "scraped-together, potluck-style event popular with Millennials...implies approval by the powers that be of Millennial adults’ lower income and lower living standards compared with those of prior generations" and that its development is "an expected manifestation" of that lowered living standard; he called the event "a propaganda weapon used by the ruling class to further their plans for wage stagnation."[2][14][15]
Reason magazine called it "cultural flourishing, not cultural decay".[3] The Washington Post called it a "curated" holiday.[7]
References
[edit]- ^ Bender, Abbey (November 22, 2022). "The Charming Nostalgia of Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving Dinner". Woman's World via Yahoo!. Retrieved November 25, 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Fetters, Ashley (November 15, 2018). "How Friendsgiving Took Over Millennial Culture". The Atlantic. Retrieved November 24, 2022.
- ^ a b c Shackford, Scott (November 24, 2022). "Friendsgiving is cultural flourishing, not cultural decay". Reason. Retrieved November 24, 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f "Where Does 'Friendsgiving' Come From?". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved November 24, 2022.
- ^ a b c d e Asmelash, Leah (November 21, 2021). "How Friendsgiving found its place in the holiday season". CNN. Retrieved November 24, 2022.
- ^ a b c d e Morillo, Alex (October 12, 2022). "What Exactly Is Friendsgiving And Where Did The Holiday Come From?". Delish. Retrieved November 24, 2022.
- ^ a b c d Hendrix, Michael (November 21, 2018). "Young Americans' loneliness sets the table for Friendsgiving". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved November 24, 2022.
- ^ Dulot, Genia (November 24, 2022), "Coming Together for 'Friendsgiving'", Voice of America, retrieved November 24, 2022
- ^ Fleischaker, Emily (October 23, 2013). "17 Rules Of Friendsgiving". BuzzFeed. Retrieved November 26, 2024.
- ^ Jones, Dustin (November 21, 2022). "The Bidens spend Friendsgiving with Marines, sailors and their families in N.C." NPR. Retrieved November 24, 2022.
- ^ Sychinsky, Tanya (November 7, 2024). "No-Rules Friendsgiving". New York Times.
- ^ a b Wells, Pete (November 26, 2019). "Friendsgiving Has Become Just as Fraught as Thanksgiving". New York Times.
- ^ Presecky, Georgi (October 23, 2020). "New Jersey Native Makes Directorial Debut With 'Friendsgiving'". Patch. Retrieved October 30, 2020.
- ^ Jennings, Rebecca (November 16, 2018). "Friendsgiving: Because friends are the new family". Vox Media. Retrieved November 26, 2024.
- ^ "Friendsgiving is just what America needed". Milled. November 25, 2024.