My Parties: How To Host a Friendsgiving Pie Party

I’ve wanted to host a pie baking party for my daughters and their friends for a few years now. This party was delayed when Baby A got sick and then again when Covid hit last year. So we were awfully excited to finally get to host our Friendsgiving Pie Party.

The idea was simple: over Thanksgiving break we have a week off and we don’t travel to see family so it’s a great chance for the girls to get together with their friends who are also still in town. Since we’re going to bake pies for the holiday anyway, why not invite friends over and do all our baking together?

This party worked great for teens, and I think it would work well for tweens also. Or, get together with your girlfriends and have a ladies baking day. It might make the holiday a little more fun and relaxing.

Now, I’ve turned this party into an easy-to-follow party plan, so you can host your own Friendsgiving Pie Baking Party!

Friendsgiving Pie party logistics

I went with four pie options: apple, pumpkin, pecan, and brownie pie. Whatever pies you choose, keep things simple: nothing that has to pre-cook on the stove, no parbaking crusts, and no fridge pies.

I bought enough ingredients for each guest to make two of which ever pie they preferred. But, I designed the invitation so that you could have your guest choose the pies they wanted before the party, which would save you a lot on ingredients.

You’ll also need to buy extra mixing bowls, etc. Ask your guests to bring their own rolling pin, if they have one.

When you decide how many people to invite, think about how many pies you can practically bake at one time and how much space you have for rolling out pie crusts, mixing the ingredients, and cooling the pies.

friendsgiving Pie Party table settings

We mixed our ingredients and snacked in the dining room, so I used a white tablecloth with brown butcher paper down the center of the table. Instead of a centerpiece, I used two three-tiered trays to hold ingredients. In between the two trays was my favorite charcuterie board full of snacks.

At each place I used a kitchen towel as a placemat/napkin. On top of the plates I added all the recipes we were going to make during the party, tied with an orange ribbon. Next to the place settings I had the mixing bowl with measuring cups and spoons inside as well as a spatula. 

Since our party was for Thanksgiving I kept the colors to neutral browns, blacks, and orange. But really, you could do this party for any time of year. You could use summer colors or patriotic colors and make berry pies in July.

friendsgiving Pie Party Backdrop

I used Canva to create and print a Happy Thanksgiving poster. It was simple to thumbtack that poster to a large bulletin board. I found a letter board at Tuesday Morning that we used as a menu board for our pie options.

Instead of flowers, I arranged a variety of pumpkins on the sideboard. TIP: Wash your pumpkins in a kitchen sink bath of dish detergent and a little bleach. It will help them last through the season.

Coordinating your pie bakers

The day before the party, my girls made homemade pie crust dough using my grandmother’s recipe. We wrapped up the dough in Glad Press & Seal wrap and stored it in the fridge. Our guests all tried rolling out dough, but I also had Pillsbury Pie Crusts (the kind in the red box) on hand just in case.

The girls all choose brownie pie as their first pie, which was great because it is the simplest recipe. Only about half the girls had ever made a pie before. Having everybody make the same pie for the first round also helped with coordinating baking times.

As you host your own pie party, you’ll see where you need to jump in and where are you can let the girls work on their own. The younger your guests, the more help they’ll need. You will definitely need to keep track of baking temperatures and times for the second round of pies, especially if people are baking a variety of pies at the same time.

Friendsgiving pie Party Snacks

The day before the party we picked up sliced salami, prosciutto, a few kinds of cheeses, green and purple seedless grapes, dried apricots, two types of crackers and a fig spread. Baby A did the charcuterie board arrangement and I think she did a great job. For more about charcuterie boards, check out this Thanksgiving post and this Christmas post.

In addition to water bottles, I offered cider because it seems like the perfect fall drink. For dessert, I ordered pie shaped cookies from the Cookie Riveter. Aren’t they cute?!

This party was not about me teaching everything there is to know about baking pies; it was really about letting the girls hang with their friends and go home with some yummy desserts. Half the fun for me was just listening to them talk and enjoy their own company.

If you try this for your Friendsgiving get together, I’d love to see your pictures. Send them my way using the contact form and you might be featured in a future post.

Vendor Resources:

• Party styling: The Party Teacher
• Photography: Barefeet Imagery
• Cookies: The Cookie Riveter
• Aprons, pie boxes, tiered trays, striped hand towels, pie tins, cookie cutters, pie crust mat, orange ribbon: Amazon
• Baking equipment: Dollar Tree and WalMart
• Felt pie banner: Purple Petunia Designs on Etsy
• Happy Friendsgiving image: Brittany Lettering on Etsy
• Recipe card template: Instant Invitation on Etsy
• Memo board and letters: Heidi Swapp via Tuesday Morning
• Orange plastic plates: Tuesday Morning
• Black cake stand: Home Goods