Move over, turducken, ‘Friendsgiving’ is the new Thanksgiving trend

I’m going to be super busy this weekend. And it has nothing to do with what you might expect: I’m not traveling long distances to visit family and my draconian boss isn’t forcing me to telecommute or, worse yet, come into the office in order to keep up with an imminent deadline.This holiday, I’ll be entirely wrapped up attending (and hosting) various “Friendsgivings” on top of my regular family celebration.

Why take the time to discuss Friendsgiving on a business blog? Because it provides more than adequate shading into that push towards individuality everyone talks about when they talk about millennials.

It’s actually a perfect representation of this trend: Thanksgiving is a staple, and conventional from head to toe. Friendsgiving is a way for millennials to take what they want from the Thanksgiving tradition and leave behind what they don’t.

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One article I found said Friendsgiving typically happens the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, but I don’t know where that comes from. Most people I know are at the bar the night before Thanksgiving. Since just about everyone is home visiting family, it’s a good way to run into old friends you haven’t seen in a long while. If that’s your thing.

Most Friendsgivings I’ve attended have been on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, though I won’t lay any rule-trip on you if you want to hold your feast on Friday or, heck, Wednesday if going out on one of the busiest bar nights of the year isn’t your thing (it certainly isn’t mine).

This year I’ll be hosting mine on a Friday to accommodate a friend who will be traveling on Saturday and to maximize the number of friends from high school. It also frees me up to attend another Friendsgiving on Saturday. Then, I’ll be sharing a meal with friends from college, some of whom I haven’t seen in years.

The food at these events also represent another millennial trend. A lot of what’s offered is vegan or vegetarian. As much as these diets are trending among millennials, I’d also like to add that many of us possibly don’t want to deal with roasting a turkey, either.

And rather than a traditional meal, the food is typically potluck and served in a buffet style, though I’m sure that varies from my experiences as the practices of this millennial holiday are determined on a case-by-case basis.

I guess that’s sort of the millennial thing.

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