What is Friendsgiving?
In recent years, Friendsgiving (a mix of friend and Thanksgiving) has become the term for spending Thanksgiving with your friend group. Many consider their friends to be their true family, thus spending the holiday with their friend group!
For me however, Friendsgiving will always refer to those wacky Friends and their crazy Thanksgiving antics!
The One with a Little Backstory
When Friends hit Netflix in 2015, my husband and I binge watched the entire series in less than a month. Extreme? A little... but I would add that I was very pregnant and there wasn't much else I was able to do besides watch TV!
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Plus, he had never seen the series. Shock! So we had to remedy that right away.
As you can imagine, he fell in love with those crazy Friends before the end of the first season... so when I suggested watching all of the Thanksgiving episodes as a fun lead-up to Thanksgiving, he was all for it!
What started as a random idea for a little seasonal entertainment turned quickly into the highlight of the season!
It was so fun to catch a brief glimpse of the characters during that one episode from the season, and remember all the things that were happening to them that year.
We had a great time remembering who was angry at who, why that Friend was happy, and which ones were "on a break" at the time... though that last one was pretty simple!
Seeing a snippet from each season was like watching the whole series again, without the time commitment!
RELATED: 21 Must Watch Hallmark-Style Christmas Movies on Netflix
Start a Friends Thanksgiving Episode Friendsgiving Tradition
Now, if you've decided that this sounds like something that is right up your alley, here's how to get started!
You can start this tradition in one of two ways:
1. Watch 1-2 episodes a night in the week leading up to Thanksgiving. Be sure to finish the episodes the night before Thanksgiving so that you don't feel rushed to finish after a long day of eating, hosting, cleaning, and probably watching parades and football.
Also, finishing the night before allows you to start your Christmas prep right after the big meal ;-)
2. Watch them all in one sitting! This is the way we chose to go, and it was SO MUCH FUN! Really, it's not that much longer than a regular feature film (think Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, or The Dark Knight) and it was an enjoyable way to spend the Sunday afternoon before Thanksgiving.
Note: We chose to watch them straight through, but you could also check out this list of Every “Friends” Thanksgiving Episode, Ranked From Worst To Best by Buzzfeed.
List of Friends Thanksgiving Episodes
So that you don't have to do what we did and scroll through every episode on Netflix reading the descriptions, here is a list of all the Friends Thanksgiving episodes!
Season 1, Episode 9 - "The One Where Underdog Gets Away"
Overview: Monica cooks dinner for the group, while Rachel tries to make her trip to Vail happen. The gang gets locked out of the apartment after rushing to the roof to watch as the Underdog balloon floats away from the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Season 2, Episode 8 - "The One with the List"
Overview:The follow-up episode to the rainy Ross and Rachel kiss, this episode has very little Thanksgiving content. Chandler attempts to help Ross decide between two women, and Monica creates recipes using "Mocklate".
Season 3, Episode 9 - "The One with the Football"
Overview:The gang plays touch football while Monica roasts the Thanksgiving turkey. Distracted by a beautiful woman, Joey and Chandler aren't much help. Which leaves Monica and Ross playing dirty for the Geller Cup.
Season 4, Episode 8 - "The One with Chandler in a Box"
Overview: Joey's mad at Chandler, and things are made worse by Ross's attempts to get them to talk it out. Monica gets ice in her eye while making dinner and meets a new love interest at the optometrist.
Season 5, Episode 8 - "The One with All the Thanksgivings"
Overview: The group reminisces about past Thanksgivings as they enjoy a post-dinner food coma. Monica attempts to cheer Chandler up after a particularly bad memory by putting a turkey on her head.
Season 6, Episode 9 - "The One Where Ross Got High"
Overview: Mr. and Mrs. Geller join the group for Thanksgiving dinner as Chandler tries to win the favor of his future in-laws. Eventually it's discovered that they don't like him because they think he's a pot-head. And Rachel makes a terrible trifle by accidentally mixing two recipes together (one of which was shepherd's pie).
Season 7, Episode 8 - "The One Where Chandler Doesn't Like Dogs"
Overview: Phoebe is dog-sitting for a friend, but Chandler claims to be allergic when in reality, he just hates dogs. Rachel's assistant Tag joins them for Thanksgiving and the relationship escalates.
Season 8, Episode 9 - "The One with the Rumor"
Overview: Brad Pitt guest stars as a former classmate of Ross, Rachel, and Monica - who hates Rachel. Ross and Rachel both reveal things they did against the other in the past, making for a tense Thanksgiving.
Season 9, Episode 8 - "The One with Rachel's Other Sister"
Overview: Christina Applegate guest stars as Rachel's older sister Amy, whose married boyfriend cancels their Thanksgiving plans, so she crashes the friends Thanksgiving instead. Monica and Chandler use their wedding china during dinner and Joey forgets about a previous commitment.
Season 10, Episode 8 - "The One with the Late Thanksgiving"
Overview: Monica needs a break from hosting Thanksgiving as the stress of the adoption process gets to her. Rachel put Emma into a baby beauty pageant, and Ross and Joey have tickets to a Rangers game.
Additional Friends Fun
You could even make Rachel's famous trifle (with fake beef made from chocolate!) as a fun go along. "Custard, good. Jam, good. Meat, good!"
Or maybe you want to grab this fun "Monica's Turkey" hat - set of 3! I could see passing these around while you watch the show. Super fun!
Adrienne says
Victoria, I love this post! My husband and I also binged watched Friends when it hit Netflix last year. Thank you for listing all of the Thanksgiving episodes. I’ll be sure to mention this to my hubby. I’m sure he’ll be game to watch them all in a couple of months. Thanks for sharing! ~Adrienne
Victoria says
Adrienne, that’s so fun!! I hope y’all enjoy it as much as we did! It’s definitely a family tradition now!! Thanks for stopping by!