This Friendsgiving entertaining was hosted by Cambria Winery.
Thanksgiving is a wonderful time of year. A time for gratitude and giving thanks with your family. However, our friends can be family to us too. Even if we don’t get to spend the exact day of Thanksgiving with them, that doesn’t mean you can’t have a get-together to show how much they mean to you. Throwing a Friendsgiving means gathering your friends and enjoying the tastes of the delicious food, drink and their company. It can be a blast, and it doesn’t have to be too complicated to put together.
My husband and I love entertaining, but for our Friendsgiving event we wanted it to be an informal sit-down Thanksgiving dinner. We decided to make it a mingling event with good wine, delicious bites, lots of talking, laughing and an all-around fun evening.
I decided to create a small bites menu for easy eating since we wouldn’t be using a fork and knife to eat, and would more than likely be standing. I took all the main elements of a large Thanksgiving meal and made them into some finger food sizes.
It was fun creating this menu, and the guests loved it. We also enjoyed some delicious wine, which is always a hit. We wanted our guests to enjoy some of our favorite wine from Cambria Estate Winery. We served 2012 Cambria Julia’s Vineyard Pinot Noir, and 2012 Cambria Katherine’s Vineyard Chardonnay.
To save space and add flow to the room, we set up a buffet table with decor, plates, glasses, and utensils. We then used a round table to hold all the food and allow people to easily make a plate. We had plenty of wine on both tables because we all need easy access to that!
Menu
Cranberry and Sage Stuffed Turkey Roulade Bites
Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Crème Fraîche
Shaved Brussel Sprouts with Bacon in Fillo Cups
Maple Sausage Cornbread Stuffing in Baked Apples
Mini Vanilla Stuffed Spice Cakes with Caramel
For the “Falling Leaves DIY” instructions, you can check it out here.
This is an amazing Friendsgiving. So many great ideas for decorations, recipes and diy’s! I’ll definitely be putting Cambria wine on my shopping list!
What a spread! Can I come to your house?
wow can we be friends? Everything looks delicious and so beautiful, love all the small details.
You did an awesome job with this! I love your set-up, it’s so pretty and enticing. Im sure your friends appreciated everything you’ve done.
Super cute! I love the pictures and they canapés are making me hungry. The wine looks great. I would love some right about now! Your menu is gorgeous and the squash soup – oh my gosh so pretty!
Great photos! I especially love your black board menu, it’s so fun!
Oh my goodness, this is an INCREDIBLE post! Everything is so beautiful! You did an amazing job! Plus, I love the word “Friendsgiving!” :)
Wow this is absolutely beautiful!! :) I love the colors and how it makes it seem like FALL is everywhere :) great job!!
What a great party! I especially love your menu and the buffet. Gorgeous!
Wow, this looks so amazing! You did a fantastic job, everything down to the last detail is perfect! The menu board looks great and the falling leaves above the table give such a whimsical feel. I have to pin your post :)
Date and time please? Hehe. The food looks amazing and I love the set up!!!
You did a fantastic job. Everything looks so pretty and the food looks amazing. I like the idea of doing something non-traditional every once in a while.
I love the photos, everything looks amazing. I wish I could attend.
I love the hanging leaves and the pumpkin candles! I think it would be great to host a “Friendsgiving”. What a great idea!
Your photos are unbelievable! I love your menu board and decorate. The food looks fantastic. I am sharing this with my friends.
I love the set up, what a wonderful job! And those fancy glasses? Just perfect :)
Looks like an amazing party! Love the decor and table setting!
Friendsgiving is the best – almost better than Thanksgiving with the family because there’s (usually) no drama! All of the food looks so delicious. I really like the menu that you wrote out on the chalkboard. This is very well done and I can tell that you worked very hard on it!
Wow, I wanna be your friend and family. The decoration itself made me wonder if I’m reading about a home photo shoot of a magazine or something. And the finger food and wine is absolutely gorgeous. I’m an event planner besides my marketing job, so this kind of setup is really appreciated!
What a beautiful set up and the food looks absolutely delicious. I so want to be invited to this party.
Cambria looks like a perfect complement for parties. It would be nice to have small bites as it’s much easier to prepare and can be eaten by more people.
The menu sounds delicious. I have some Cambia wine I’m saving for Thanksgiving. I’d love to try some of your recipes.
Love the chalkboard menu you presented over the liquour cabinet. Your decorations were all so gorgeous.
I’m sort of having a freindsgiving too. My Canadian friends and I (We’re CDN too) are having thanksgiving together this year. It’ll be fun! I just got back from World Market stocking up on some decorations :)
Looks like an incredible menu! What an amazing party!
I won’t be hosting Thanksgiving this year, my sister-in-law will be, but I could definitely bring along some of the menu items you mentioned. I think the Maple Sausage Cornbread Stuffing in Baked Apples would go over well with the family! I’ll have to bring some Cambria Wine as well.
Everything looks so beautiful and delicious! I’m trying to think of how to do a Thanksgiving on a budget this year since our plans changed the past couple days :/.
What a great way to celebrate with friends. I love your bite sized snacks.
Such an amazing friendsgiving, the decorations look beautiful and the food looks so delicious!
Such a wonderful look at everything there – so classy perfect for this friendsgiving!
Wow this looks amazin! I want to go to Thanksgivin there! Picture perfect!
The chalkboard menu is AMAZING. I love the entire set up, and I’ve actually drank Cambria before!
Looks like a spectacular tablescape. I love having friends over during the holiday season.
Wow! You did an excellent job on your post and your pictures are awesome. Thanks for sharing.
First of all, how cool is the idea of having a Friendsgiving?! I think that your photos and setup is visually stunning. And the appetizers/drinks look tasty! Top notch, my friend.
You did so good on this! It looks so cozy and inviting. That chalkboard menu is to die for! Seriously!
I love the idea of having a Friendsgiving. Your spread looks amazing and I just love how you set it all up :)
I’ve seen so many great Friendsgiving posts & yours is so beautiful; i want to try this trend next year!
Love your tables cape, the pops of blue and the entire concept!
Small bites and wine…what a perfect combination. I would love to create an arrangement like this one of these days. Maybe when my friends come up to visit from out of town.
Your presentation is amazing! AMAZING! I love the small bites. I would love to come to this friendsgiving.
This looks so great! Beautiful party! I don’t think I could turn down a friendsgiving that includes wine, haha.
This is my kind of entertaining! Love to entertain with tapas or appetizers and don’t forget the wine!!! Everything looked perfect and really tasty, I’m sure your guests were impressed. Good work!
Your photos are to die for! Would love to go to such event
Wine and Cheese trays are all the rage in our family this year. I love your pics!
very pretty. I cant wait to use some of these ideas.
I love everything about this! I’ve wanted to do a dinner party like this, but we simply don’t have the space in our apartment. Choosing the small bite-sized foods was an fantastic choice.
Wow! Everything looks so lovely. Your guests are very lucky. I love your tablescapes and the chalkboard menu. The food looks delicious and I always enjoy a good Pinot.
That looks so good! My friends and I have a thanksgiving/Christmas together and this is a great thing to start doing instead of traditional dinner!
Oh my! These photos are amazing. Great ideas.
OMG i love love love all of this. Now that our home is finally coming together I want to host a friendsgiving or ugly sweater party. This is just more party inspiration. Beautimous!
Beautiful settings. The food looks delicious, too!
Fabulous! I think there are some great ideas for couples getting married and want that quaint intimate feel.