How to Host a Fabulous Friendsgiving

How to Host a Fabulous Friendsgiving – everything from a copper and navy table design to easy menu ideas, including a spicy cranberry cheese dip recipe!

Thanksgiving is my FAVORITE day of the year. In fact, if I had my way, I’d celebrate it at least monthly all year round! We got an early start on the Thanksgiving season this year by hosting a Friendsgiving last weekend. I just love throwing a good party, and I tend to completely immerse myself in the planning leading up to an event. Amazing food was a given, but I also wanted to have a lovely table setting that would wow our guests and make the mood really festive.

Navy & Copper Thanksgiving Table Decorations

I settled on a navy and copper table theme, which was easy to decorate for, as copper is super trendy right now. Target was the perfect place to shop for all of our holiday needs, from napkins to serving trays. They also have a whole line of gorgeous acacia wood products that are affordable but still very high quality.

Planning the Perfect Friendsgiving Menu

Target was a one stop shop for all of our holiday entertaining needs. When I finished my hunt for the perfect copper accessories, I headed over to Target Grocery to get all the ingredients we needed for our menu. Target’s Archer Farms lines makes all sorts of items that make entertaining easy. I used their Cinnamon Glazed Pecans as a topper for the sweet potatoes, their Cranberry and Almond salad topper mix to top the green beans. Hosting any large dinner can be a bit overwhelming, so I was really grateful to have these halfway homemade tricks up my sleeve.

Creating an Easy Table Garland with Fresh Produce

Instead of spending a bunch of money on professional florals, I picked up a bunch of green branches at our local flower market and filled things in with some decorative gourds and fresh fruit (pomegranates, lemons, and persimmons). To make the garland, I placed the branches in an overlapping fashion in one direction and at the end switched directions and hid the ends of the branches. With the leftover branches, I clipped off the leaves and used them even things out. Because I didn’t have to transport the garland, I didn’t worry about wiring things together or securing them. The nice thing about working with branches instead of flowers is they can live without water for several days. This meant I could set everything up the night before.

Beautiful Thanksgiving Desserts

For dessert, I made Archer Farm’s pumpkin toffee cupcakes the night before (so convenient!), pumpkin pie, and of course my famous salted caramel apple pie. For a little extra flair, I used cookie cutters to cut out leaf shapes from extra pie dough and baked them on a cookie sheet. I then used them to decorate the cooked pumpkin pie.

Easy Friendsgiving Appetizer

To help you kick your Friendsgiving off right, here’s an appetizer recipe for a spicy cheese dip made with fresh cranberries. It’s super easy to make and has just a few ingredients. It was so popular with our guests the pan returned to the kitchen completely scraped clean. When you’re out shopping, don’t forget crackers for serving! The Archer Farms Entertainment Assortment is perfect.

There is lots more Thanksgiving inspiration headed your way! I’ll be sharing more DIYs and recipes from our celebration all month.

Photos by Melissa de Mata for A Side of Sweet

Cranberry Spicy Cheese Dip Recipe

Cranberry Spicy Cheese Dip

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A spicy cranberry cheese dip recipe that is easy to make and fun to it. It’s the perfect appetizer for your holiday table. Recipe via the Target Test Kitchen.

• Author: Kelly Egan - A Side of Sweet
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 20 minutes
• Total Time: 30 minutes
• Yield: 8 servings 1x
• Category: Appetizer
• Method: Oven
• Cuisine: American

Ingredients

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• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 (8-ounce) package pepper jack cheese, finely shredded
• 1 cup fresh cranberries
• Archer Farms Entertaining Crackers for serving

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Instructions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Beat cream cheese and shredded pepper jack cheese on low speed until very well mixed. Stir in cranberries. Spread in 1.5-quart
2. baking dish. Bake about 20 minutes until edges are bubbly and cranberries are soft. Serve with crackers or crostini for dipping.

Notes

This creamy, cheesy dip gets gorgeous color from fresh cranberries and a kick from pepper-jack cheese.
Don’t be tempted to stir the ingredients together with a spoon. Using a mixer actually helps blend the cheeses just right so they stay smooth and creamy in the oven.

Cranberry Cloth Napkins // Antique Copper Party Tray // Copper Pipe Place Card Holders // Bamboo Ash Bowl Set // Marbleized Navy Salad Plates // Marbleized Navy Dinner Plates // Tree Cross Section Serve Platter // Acacia Wood Cutting Board // Acacia Wood Bowl with Handles // Acacia Wood Serving Board // Glass Gravy Boat

Thanks for reading A Side of Sweet! For more Sweet in your life, you can find me on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, YouTube, Bloglovin’, Snapchat (@asideofsweet), or Twitter. You can also subscribe to receive a weekly email with new posts and random musings from me.

Our Friendsgiving meal was a collaboration with Target. Thanks so much for supporting me and the partners that allow me to keep bringing you beautiful content! 🙂

Need more Thankgiving inspiration? Check out these posts:
Spray Painted Copper Pumpkin Decorations
Bacon Wrapped Brussels Sprouts Skewers
Copper Foil Place Cards DIY