Friendsgiving Ideas 2016: How To Throw A Thanksgiving Potluck With Your Second Family

Pop quiz: What do you get when you take all the best parts of Thanksgiving, add a table full of friends and drink a bunch of alcohol? The answer is Friendsgiving.

Heading home for the holiday can be rough, especially given that your family is bound to want to talk about the presidential election while you're trying to stuff your face with turkey. That's why millennials have started the tradition of Friendsgiving, a Thanksgiving on your own terms with your best buds.

Here are five ways to make your 2016 Friendsgiving the best ever:

Don't cook all the food yourself. Ahead of your Friendsgiving potluck, Bon Appetit recommends you make a Google sheet where your pals can sign up for what they'll be bringing to the feast. This way you don't have to worry about having a crowded kitchen or trying to cater to that one vegan friend.

Schedule it on a weekend night. CNN Money (accurately) predicts that you'll be too busy on weeknights to coordinate everything. Use a service like Doodle to see when your friends are free, select an apartment and get cooking.

Make a punch. U.S. News and World Report suggests that, instead of buying a bunch of expensive boozes for your friends, you mix up an alcoholic punch everyone can enjoy. Try the Cookie Rookie's apple pie punch, made from apple cider, pear nectar, ginger ale and vodka. Or The Life Styled's autumn bourbon sangria, which incorporates wine, whiskey, apple juice and cinnamon.

Get creative. Cosmopolitan recommends using a paper tablecloth that your friends can draw on while they're hanging out. If you want to get fancy, use a Sharpie to create lined lists for guests to write out what they're thankful for. Or put out turkey coloring book pages with crayons.

Have to-go boxes on hand. Buy a bulk set of divided food storage containers so you don't get stuck with mountains of leftovers. Walmart has a 15-pack of the containers here for $15 — and, as an added plus, they're microwavable.