The tastiest holiday of the year is right around the corner. For many couples, Thanksgiving means more than spending time with family. It’s also a great time to gather your best pals and have them over for Friendsgiving.

If you want to put together a fantastic Friendsgiving, look no further! We’ve included the basics of hosting, fun ideas, gourmet markets in Tampa Bay to put together the perfect meal, plus ideas on games to play and other things to do for Friendsgiving.

How to Create a Fantastic Friendsgiving

Our guide to hosting Friendsgiving includes the following sections:

• Theme ideas
• Friendsgiving food you can easily pick up
• Go out to eat with friends instead of cooking at home!
• Game ideas and activities

Choose a Theme

Setting a theme for Friendsgiving can help break the ice and put a fun and unique spin on your celebration. How crazy you decide to go is up to you!
Some of our favorite Tampa Friendsgiving theme ideas:

• Pirate (think of it as prep for Gasparilla)
• “Champa Bay” – Bucs, Lightning, Rays
• Taylor Swift Eras – Bring a fun dish that compliments each era – Lover, 1989, etc.
• Pop Culture TV – Think favorites like Game of Thrones, The Office, Schitt’s Creek, etc.
• TikTok Made Me Do It – You know all those foodie TikTok videos you saved? Time to put them to use.
• Fall colors
• World cultures (get each friend to bring a dish from their heritage or a traditional drink)

Friendsgiving Food

It just isn’t a proper Friendsgiving without delicious food. Between classic charcuterie boards, plus grazing tables and more, there are so many ways to entertain! You can easily put together some amazing Friendsgiving appetizers and grazing boards with these options in town.

If you’re hosting Friendsgiving right around Thanksgiving itself, then consider making it easy on yourself and order Thanksgiving dinner to go at these local restaurants.

Friendsgiving Restaurants

Speaking of restaurants, you may decide it is easier to head out for dinner together. If that is the case then booking a private dining room for Friendsgiving is the way to go. That way you can have great conversation without interruption.

Gourmet Delis and Markets for Friendsgiving

Mazzarro Italian Market
2909 22nd Ave. N, St. Petersburg, FL 33713

This one-of-a-kind Italian gourmet market is a Tampa area favorite. Fresh, handmade pasta, an array of cheeses, meats and seafood, and incredible bakery items are perfect for feeding a crowd. They also have an assortment of gourmet imports and hard to find specialty items like truffles, exotic spices, artisan and hard to find chocolates and candies, and the largest selection of over 300 olive oils and vinegars from around the world. You can also pick up pre-made deli items or order off their catering menu.

Fig & Julep
1621 W. Snow Circle, Tampa

This gourmet shop in Hyde Park offers a selection of specialty foods, premium olive oils, balsamic vinegars, sweets, and more. You can also get your hands on unique items such as Spanish olives and French mustards.

Order Grazing Boards

Life is Gouda

This boutique company serves up a lot of wow with its graze boards. Life is Gouda is up for a challenge, with unique themed boards constantly gracing their IG feed. We can’t wait to see what they dream up for this year’s Thanksgiving grazing boards.

Adored Boards

Adored Boards is all about making each board as unique as their clients. From a grazing board for two to a 12-foot board fit for a feast and everything in between, Adored Boards makes some gorgeous grazing boards, complete with bread, crackers, fruit, and all the extra accouterments.

READ MORE: Where to order Grazing Boards & Delicious Goods

Friendsgiving Desserts

Tampa has tons of amazing dessert spots. You can’t go wrong with classic spots like Goody Goody or Wright’s Gourmet Deli, or unique places like Dough.

Check out Local Bakeries in Tampa to Grab Your Thanksgiving Desserts to find the best places to grab those sweet treats.

Friendsgiving Games

You can’t go wrong with classic board games but taking advantage of the beautiful weather we have in November is even better. Cornhole and giant Jenga are always crowd favorites.

If you haven’t already jumped on the pickleball bandwagon, it’s the perfect time to do so. The game, which is a cross between ping-pong and tennis, is the perfect team spot that’s easy to catch on to and perfect to play outdoors in the fall.