1 Holidays

How to Host an Easy and Epic Friendsgiving

This content is sponsored by American Express.

Fall Bar Cart

If you’ve been following along with me in the past, you’ll probably remember that we throw an epic “Friendsgiving” each year (and always try to top the year before). Our friends are scattered all over the place and are in all different stages of life, so it’s basically just an excuse to get a few couples together to hang out for a few hours (because, #thisis30). Since this time of year can be SO insanely busy (with this one seeming even busier than ever), I wanted to throw a more casual weekend night this year — no sit downs, no full-on feast like past years…just the basics. This year I wanted to throw an easy (but still very GLAM) Friendsgiving, with the main focal point being our bar cart and a fun, festive drink menu!

Thanksgiving Bar Cart Decor
Friendgiving Bar Cart

Thanksgiving Bar Cart Decor

Fall Bar Cart
Friendgiving Bar Cart

I’ve had this bar cart for years and it was one of my favorite impulse purchases ever — I legit rolled it out of the store, across the parking lot to my car, and never once regretted it. It comes in handy when I want to create a beautiful (but functional) display, and Raj and I are always known for the creative drinks we love to serve our guests… so, it’s the perfect showcase. I’m typically a neutral lover, and that very much carries into our home décor. I love a lot of greenery and my favorite flowers are hydrangeas — so I was excited to see my local shop still had them available, since it is a little late in the season. I created these whimsical arrangements using white hydrangeas and seeded eucalyptus (the smell is divine), and mixed together pinecones and mini white pumpkins for a fall touch. I pulled out some copper accessories — including these moscow mule mugs and fun rose gold wine glasses, and my hand-made rose that my father-in-law made me out of real copper when we got engaged a few years ago! It’s one of my favorite décor pieces and I love the way it looks on top as a little conversation piece. I made our bar cart the focal point of the entire night — you don’t even need to go overboard decorating the whole house to make it feel festive. Sometimes just a little accent corner can go a long way!

DIY Hydrangea Eucalyptus Arrangement

Friendgiving Bar Cart
Refinery 29 Cotton Candy Surprise Drink

For drinks, we always try to come up with fun, festive recipes for the occasion to serve to our guests and LOVED taking inspiration from Refinery 29 this year — this recipe didn’t disappoint, and made for a couple of fun Instagrammable moments! This drink proved to be a fun party drink that my husband can now pull out of his pocket!

Cotton Candy Surprise Recipe

  1. Take a puff of cotton candy in hand and fold 6-8 cranberries inside
  2. Mix ginger ale and cranberry juice
  3. Cotton candy gets added to the martini glass
  4. Top with seltzer
  5. Pour over the cotton candy
  6. Watch as the cranberries rise to the top! (Surprise!)

To top it all off, I was able to stock up on the flowers, pumpkins, and drink ingredients with 3% cash back by using my #BlueCashEveryday Card from American Express at my local US supermarket ! You can visit americanexpress.com/friendsgiving to make your own and find more recipes and holiday hacks from Refinery 29!

SHOP THE POST


1 Comment

  • Reply
    Shannon
    December 31, 2017 at 1:19 pm

    Since reading this post and after obsessing over bar carts for years now, my boyfriend got me this exact Target one for Christmas. I’m so excited to put it together and start decorating it, and setting it up for parties or even just for my new rose gold French press and an electric tea kettle for tea.

  • Leave a Reply

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.