How ‘Friendsgiving’ Went From a Casual Potluck Dinner to a Reinvented Cultural Mainstay

Vox producer Gina Barton and reporter Rebecca Jennings looked into the history of Friendsgiving", specifically how a casual potluck dinner for those who didn't or couldn't go home for the holidays turned into a reinvented cultural mainstay.

Friendsgiving has opened the door to do things a little bit differently. The intention is to have a laid-back, low-pressure (or over-the-top, totally up to the host) potluck-style dinner with friends and other people in your chosen community - because as cheesy as it sounds, friends are the new family.

They looked at where the phrase came from and how the concept is old, although the name for it is much newer.

The concept of having dinner with your friends on or around Thanksgiving does show up in media earlier than Friends", but it didn't quite have a name yet. You can see the concepts of it, however, on 1973's A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving". This delightful movie centers around a Thanksgiving meal shared amongst friends.

It was social media and reality television that put Friendsgiving" into the shared lexicon.

So, it turns out Friendsgiving comes from the early era of hashtags, which is really funny. It goes to show like how much a snappy name for something can really contribute to its rise in the culture. ...and then they said it on the Real housewives of New Jersey" and then you know a cultural phenomenon was born.

Frendsgiving" is also a good excuse for Millennials (and subsequently Gen Z) to opt out of real life for just a little while longer.

I feel like Friendsgiving is the most millennial concept to ever exist. ...and probably now Gen Z concept of just delaying these traditional markers of adulthood, which is buying a house to then host Thanksgiving for your nuclear and extended family ...the Millennial tradition is like staying in your rented apartment and hosting a potluck for your friends.

A Mickey Mouse Friendsgiving

A Lovely LoFi Video of Mickey Mouse and Friends Enjoying a Nice Friendsgiving Meal Together

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The post How Friendsgiving' Went From a Casual Potluck Dinner to a Reinvented Cultural Mainstay was originally published on Laughing Squid.