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    Great Eight Friendsgiving Dinner Party

    November 1, 2020 by Kyle 3 Comments

    Bring your Friends together for Friendsgiving to celebrate Thanksgiving! We did and are sharing with you our invitation, table setting, decorations, and menu!

    Clay 'Circle of Friend' as the centerpiece of a table.

    Celebrating many years of Gr8 Friends, Gr8 Food and Gr8 Fun!

    Our Gr8 dinner one year was in November. Eventhough we have had November dinners in the past, Thanksgiving had never chosen as a theme. Joel and I decided a Thanksgiving dinner was in order.

    What a perfect time to celebrate each other and our many years of friendship. Therefore, "Great Eight Friendsgiving" became our theme!

    The Friendsgiving Invitation

    The next step was to create a way to invite our Gr8 friends. I had recently taken a class to learn to make an interactive card. While attending this fun class, I realized how perfect this card would be to use as an invitation.

    I have always loved the clay model of friends in a circle with their arms around each other. To present with the paper invitation I went online to find one with eight people in a circle.

    The meaning of the “Circle of Friends” was the perfect representation of the evening.

    Circle of Friends Poem- Ancient native legend says that at the end of the evening, friends would gather around a bonfire and share their hearts.

    We dropped off the invitation to each home a week before the dinner. Each couple opened their door to find the invitation and this “Circle of Friends” with a (battery powered) candle. Included in the invitation, like always, each couple found out the dish they were assigned to bring.

    Clay 'Circle of Friends' with a small battery operated candle in the middle.

    Decorations

    I decided that I would incorporate as many photos as I could gather from our years together and include them both on the invitation and in the decorations that evening.

    This is a display of many photos.

    Hanging photos with mini clothes pins was an easy way to display many of our past years of memories.

    Table Setting

    Knowing that my “Circle of Friends” would be the centerpiece and focal point of the table, I also used items from my own Thanksgiving decorations.

    Place cards included a fun photo of each guest from a past Gr8 dinner.

    A Friendsgiving table setting with a photo next to the plate of the guest assigned to sit in that place.

    Menu

    Before completing the invitation we decided on the menu.

    Spinach Balls are one of Gr8 Friends favorite fall appetizer so of course we included this tasty make-ahead snack.

    Spinach balls on a round white platter with a small bowl of dip in the center.

    Then we were all delighted with Anna’s “Creamy Butternut Squash Soup…with no cream.”

    Butternut squash soup in a pot with four other small bowls filled with the light orange soup.

    As Joel is the master Turkey chef, he and I prepared the dinner together.  Joel was excited to prepare the turkey on the grill. This is the perfect way to roast your turkey and give more oven room for other dishes in the kitchen.

    A man with a red apron on holding a roasting pan with a roasted turkey in it.

    Along with the Turkey we served sage stuffing, Wild Rice Stuffed Squash, brussels sprouts, glazed carrots and an herb muffin.

    Acorn squash cut in half and stuffed with wild rice.

    And what Thanksgiving dinner would be complete without pumpkin?! We ended our meal with a sip of Jurga's Pumpkin Irish Cream and a piece of Pumpkin Pie. YUMMO!

    Gr8 Gift Giving

    As tradition carries on, our evening ended with the exchanging of gifts. Jurga surprised us with these amazing and cozy blankets. Another Gr8 treasure!

    Four women wrapped in a white blanket embroidered with eight stick figures and GR8.

    Anna gave us a basket of ingredients to make “Cubano Sandwiches” which was an appetizer served at her "Hot Havana in Miami" Gr8 dinner.

    Many wrapped gifts on a table in front of a roaring fire in the fireplace.

    Debbie gave us a small purse wrapped in this very creative box she made by using her Sizzix "Big Shot machine”; and I gave each gal the latest Ina Garten cookbook, Make It Ahead.

    Three white boxes with 'Gr8' cut out on the top decorated with a straw bow.

    Our Friendsgiving evening was perfect as we ate, drank, reminisced and gave thanks for each other, our families, our friends and our story!

    Celebrate someone or something EVERYDAY!

    Eight people standing on a staircase smiling for the camera.

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    Full-Flavored Wild Rice Stuffed Squash »

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

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    1. Kyle

      December 08, 2020 at 3:00 am

      Hi Dorry! It really was a fun way to celebrate our years of friendship. The photos were a fun surprise and a Gr8 decoration. Thank you for being a Gr8 Friend!

    2. Dorry

      December 07, 2020 at 9:11 am

      Lovely and creative way to build GR8 memories and friendships!

    3. Claudia Kerns

      November 12, 2015 at 7:34 am

      Love it!!

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