4 Easy Ways to Brighten Up Your Friendsgiving

The holiday season is here. To help kick it off, I thought I’d share four easy ways to brighten up your Friendsgiving. These simple yet beautiful ideas are sure to add a little sparkle to your celebration with friends.

For the past three years, I’ve been sharing ways to help you and your crew have a Friendsgiving to remember. One year we made Apple Pie Moonshine, and last year I created a craft-inspired table. I’m thrilled to be back to add a few more inspired ideas to your repertoire.

This post has been sponsored by PHILIPS HUE. I received product and compensation, but all opinions are my own.

This year I’ve teamed up with my friends at Philips Hue to bring a little light and color to your Friendsgiving celebration. In case you haven’t heard of Philips Hue, it’s a smart lighting system that you control and personalize through the Hue app on your smartphone or tablet, or even your voice if you have Alexa, the Google Assistant, or Siri.

Whether you desire to create the perfect traditional lighting for a dinner party or want to bring in fun and excitement with color, with Hue, you can do it all. Choose from over 16 million colors or every shade of white light to match your mood, support your routines, or in this case…celebrate Friendsgiving!

I set up a fun, functional, and colorful Friendsgiving table to walk you through some bright and creative Friendsgiving ideas. I hope they inspire you to create a little magic with lighting and table decore during your own holiday gatherings. Let’s get to it.

Keep It Fun

I think the overarching idea behind Friendsgiving is to keep things fun and light. There’s no need to dust off the fancy china or polish any silverware (unless that’s your thing). Here, I used my everyday white plates and dressed them up with cotton napkins and gold flatware.

For Friendsgiving (and most entertaining events), I recommend mixing high and low. For example, cover the table with a tablecloth but top it with a kraft paper runner. Serve the main course on standard plates and then use paper ones for dessert. At the end of the day, it’s all about enjoying time with friends.

For the rest of my decor, I stayed within the color scheme of orange and brown kraft paper. And, since it’s fall, I used leaves as my theme. Even though the goal is casual, having some sort of theme or direction definitely helps when planning your table.

Use What You Have

Speaking of leaves, as I was planning this tablescape I was feeling a tad discouraged because I couldn’t find exactly the right flowers to dress up my table. Then, while I was doing my dinner dishes the evening before the shoot, I looked out the window and saw just what I needed – leaves! Nature was putting on a color show right there in my backyard, and until that moment, I hadn’t noticed.

You don’t need to go out and buy all new things to set a table. Look to what you have (or what’s in your own backyard) to create something special, simple, and colorful.

Change the Light

Here’s where the fun comes in! I used the Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance starter kit to add a bit of lighting magic to my table. (Plus, it’s a really cool treat for your friends when the lights start changing colors.)

You can use the Hue app (available for iOS and Android) to create the perfect Friendsgiving scene. You can quickly set the scene with white or colored lights or even use one of the pre-set lighting options. For example, “Relax” will create a warm, cozy white light which is perfect for entertaining!

I’m more of a traditionalist when it comes to colored lights, so I found a cool white light to be best. However, if color is your game, you can go from purple to orange with the swipe of your finger.

So cool, right?

Lighting is a quick and easy way to completely transform your space and give your decor a refresh. (As you can see!)

Be Thankful

At the end of the day, it’s less about how you decorate and more about how you make people feel. Create opportunities to let your friends know you’re grateful to have them in your life.

Here I set out paper leaves and a pen so dinner guests could jot down what they are most thankful for. The kraft paper runner also provides opportunities for folks to write a message, play a game, or just doodle something funny.

My overall goal was to keep the atmosphere light, colorful, and happy to allow everyone to feel welcome and cozy! Welcoming banners, colorful paper decorations, and turkey salt and pepper shakers helped to bring the look together.

And that’s it, my friends. You now have four more ways to brighten up your Friendsgiving!

No matter how your celebrate Friendsgiving (or even if you use these ideas for Thanksgiving), I hope my tips and tricks help you create a fun and memorable holiday with the ones you love.