5 Easy Steps to Planning an Amazing Friendsmas

Urban Dictionary defines Friendsmas as a special time of year when close friends get tighter to consume large quantities of delicious food stuff and exchange gifts. Who wouldn’t want to celebrate this?

Friendsmas is a tradition for my friends and I — The Bougies(that’s our group name). We started this tradition 4 years ago and each year has been a little different while withholding the same theme…have fun and cherish our friendship. 

Friendships hold a very special place in my heart. There’s nothing like have a group of women who you can laugh, cry, speak your mind and be yourself without any judgement. As we are all very different you can only imagine how our group chat thrives. I just love it all. 

Celebrate the friendships that you have and cherish them wholeheartedly. Here are 5 easy steps to have an amazing Friendsmas even in quarantine. 

1. Location 

As fall began approaching, so did our conversation about Friendsmas. The past 3 years we lavished in one of our living rooms, but this year we wanted to take it up a notch. 

When it comes to picking a location, you want to keep a few things in mind: 

• Space
• Other people
• Noise restraints

Homes work really well to comply with these things. 

When we were thinking of a location this year, we finally agreed upon Charlotte, NC. The search for the perfect AirBnB began. We started with about 5 options. We narrowed it down to two. One was absolutely beautiful, but out of our immediate price range (we all have very big financial goals right now.) and the other had our names written all over it.

This AirBnB was a modern and chic condo at the heart of downtown Charlotte. It had two bedrooms with two bathrooms, kitchen, living room, and balcony. It was perfect. 

2. Gift Exchange 

After the location was pretty much finalized, we initiated our gift exchange. We have used DrawNames for this process since we started our Friendsmas tradition. 

This website works great and is super easy to use. 

Once the host signs up and sets up the group, they are able to send the other participants emails in order to sign up, set the date of the exchange, and even the gift limit. 

After everyone responds to the email invitation to join the group, then the names are drawn out of the virtual hat. Each group member will receive an email with their drawn name. Once the names are drawn, you can then add gifts to your wish list and even ask questions anonymously as secret Santa. 

The process is smooth and seamless and a great addition to any Friendsmas celebration. 

3. Food/ Drink 

When it comes to planning for the food, you have to take everyones palette into consideration. 

Originally we thought of doing a two on two seafood competition, but we decided to save that for a later date. 

We decided upon wings for our festivities for the evening. You just can’t go wrong with wings.

As for our drink of choice, we always have a signature drink for the evening and this evening was no different. 

I found the recipe on Pinterest. Our signature drink was not only a hit, but super easy to make with 4 main ingredients: cranberry juice, pineapple juice, frozen lemonade, and sprite. We made it fancy with our own addition but it’s amazing on its own. 

That was it for the evening festivities. 

Simple and easy. 

4. Itinerary

Since we decided to stay over night, we had to come up with an itinerary. We wanted to keep it super simple. 

We went to the mall to satisfy our holiday shopping itch, went to Littlespoon for an amazing brunch  and then closed out our day by visiting a bomb black owned winery called Davidson & Co where we each split a bottle of wine and shared a charcuterie board.

When coming up with an itinerary, keep it light yet keep it interesting for everyone. 

Each place we visited satisfied us all. Some of us didn’t want to shop, but we enjoyed the mall and walked around, got coffee and people watched. 

The purpose is to have fun and enjoy each other while doing it.

5. Be Present 

With so much going on in the world, make sure to be present in the moment. So many times we take away from quality moments by trying to capture every moment on the phone or miss moments by texting others and being distracted. 

We had an intentional “be present” moment. At the winery we put our phones down and really talked to each other without any distractions. We talked about our goals and what we wanted 2021 to look like and it felt good to share and get the support of friends. 

It’s moments like that that I’ll never take for granted. 

All in all when it comes to planning an amazing friendsmas or any get together with friends use these simple steps. They are sure to make your planning easy and concise. 

Until next time,

Love LC