Friendsgiving has one major advantage over Thanksgiving: you get to make your own rules.
Celebrate on a Saturday. Make dinner at 8 p.m. Skip the turkey. Assign everyone a dish. Wear pajamas all day. Eat dessert first. Nobody's going to stop you.
And since Friendsgiving doesn't have to happen on Thanksgiving Day, why squeeze everyone into someone's dining room for a few hours when you could turn it into an entire fall weekend?
If you're looking for Friendsgiving ideas near St. Louis, a large vacation rental where your group can stay together, or just an excuse to get your favorite people in the same place for a couple of days, take Friendsgiving to Innsbrook.
Nobody Has to Volunteer Their House
There's always that moment in the group chat.
“Okay, but whose house are we doing it at?”
And then... silence.
Hosting Friendsgiving at home means cleaning before everyone arrives, finding enough places to sit, figuring out where people are sleeping and cleaning all over again when it's finished.
An Innsbrook vacation rental changes the equation.
Choose a cabin, chalet or vacation home that fits your group and make that your gathering place for the weekend. You'll have a kitchen for the Friendsgiving feast, space to hang out and, depending on the property you choose, enough bedrooms to keep the celebration going overnight.
Nobody has to spend Sunday morning wondering why there are six cars still parked in front of their house.
Pick a Weekend That Actually Works
Here's another Friendsgiving advantage: there is no official date.
You don't have to compete with Thanksgiving travel schedules, multiple family celebrations or everyone's plans for the actual holiday weekend.
Pick a Friday through Sunday in late October or November when most of the group can make it and claim it as yours.
That makes Innsbrook a great option if you've been searching for a weekend rental for a group near St. Louis, a Friendsgiving cabin in Missouri, or somewhere everyone can meet without turning the gathering into a major trip.
Innsbrook is close enough to St. Louis for an easy weekend escape, but once you're surrounded by lakes and woods, it can feel much farther from the normal routine.
Make Dinner Part of the Fun
Friendsgiving dinner doesn't have to be a formal production.
Make a group chat and assign the classics. Someone gets the turkey. Someone makes mashed potatoes. Someone inevitably volunteers for rolls because they know exactly what they're doing.
Or forget the traditional menu entirely.
Make chili. Build a giant charcuterie board. Have everyone bring their signature dish. Cook breakfast together the next morning. Bring enough snacks to feed approximately twice the number of people actually attending.
The point isn't creating a perfect Thanksgiving dinner.
It's getting everyone around the same table.
And when you're staying together for the weekend, dinner doesn't have to be the entire event.
Take Friendsgiving Outside
Late fall at Innsbrook gives you plenty to do before and after the feast.
Start the morning with coffee and a walk through the woods. Explore the trails. Bring fishing gear and spend a few quiet hours by the water. Take the long way back to your rental and enjoy the last of the season's fall color.
As the evening cools down, head back, light a fire where your rental's amenities allow, and break out the marshmallows.
You don't need a packed itinerary.
Sometimes the best group weekend is the one where everyone has nowhere else they're supposed to be.
Bring Back Game Night
Here's your chance to have the kind of game night everyone keeps saying you should have.
Tell everyone to bring a favorite board game or card game. Put together teams. Start a tournament. Keep score all weekend if your friend group is appropriately competitive.
Or don't plan anything.
Put on a favorite movie. Make drinks. Sit around the table talking until somebody realizes it's 1 a.m.
One of the best parts of turning Friendsgiving into a getaway is that nobody has to look at the clock and announce they should probably start driving home.
You're already there.
Make It an Analog Weekend
Friendsgiving is also a pretty good excuse to disappear from the internet for a minute.
Ignore the sales emails. Stop scrolling. Leave work at work.
Go hiking. Go fishing. Cook something that takes too long. Play cards. Sit outside. Make a fire. Drink your coffee while it's still hot.
You don't have to ban phones or dramatically announce a digital detox.
Just give yourselves enough to enjoy that nobody thinks about checking them quite as often.
A Friendsgiving Weekend Near St. Louis
Maybe you're trying to find a Friendsgiving getaway in Missouri. Maybe your group needs a vacation rental with enough space for everyone. Maybe you're looking for a cabin weekend near St. Louis in November.
Or maybe the group chat has been saying “we seriously need to get together” for the last six months.
This is your opportunity to actually do it.
Friendsgiving doesn't need a perfect date, matching dishes or someone's beautifully decorated dining room.
It just needs the people.
Book Your Friendsgiving Getaway at Innsbrook Escapes
Pick the weekend. Send the group text. Figure out who's bringing what later.
With an Innsbrook Escapes vacation rental as your home base, Friendsgiving can become more than one big meal. Make it a whole weekend of cooking, hiking, fishing, games, fires, late nights and time with the people you don't get to see nearly enough.
Browse available Innsbrook vacation rentals and find the place where this year's Friendsgiving stories will begin.