Throw Down: Misfits Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a time to share in the bounty of the harvest, give thanks for our loved ones, and kick off a glorious long weekend with a day of feasting, carousing and swapping stories. If you're lucky. Thanksgiving can also be a time of epic indigestion, scorched turkeys, and family dysfunction playing two shows daily.

Whether you are choosing to abstain from Thanksgiving this year, you can't escape working black Friday, or you just don't have the money for plane fare, I will take you where Martha Stewart fears to tread: to a Misfits Thanksgiving.  Click here for a Black Friday playlist. And click here for an Italian Thanksgiving photo gallery.

                                        Decor

This is your chance to flip the script. A freshly-ironed cream tablecloth on a card table looks like a sad version of traditional Thanksgiving. Instead, have an awesome version of a rock & roll Thanksgiving. Try a black tablecloth and red votives. Make a centerpiece out of strange found objects in your house. Phrenology head? Check. Candleabra with dripping red candles? A cornucopia made out of an empty plastic skull? A hookah with apple-cinnamon- or pumpkin-pie-flavored shisha? Go crazy.

Buy a bunch of shot bottles and attach placecards with little bits of ribbon - or write names out on little labels and slap them on.


Entertainment
Odds are, you'll have to dig pretty deep to find friends who are planless on Thanksgiving. There's a good chance they won't all know each other beforehand. It couldn't hurt to have some icebreaking games on hand to get things rolling. Tuck some Trivial Pursuit cards into the napkin at each place setting. Consider other games for after the meal - Scruples is a great one for getting to know each other.

Food

The joy of a Misfits Thanksgiving is that you do not have to work that hard. You are free to discard every tradition - or don't, if frying a turkey is something you've been itching to do. Choose the menu that suits you perfectly - whether you are passionate about slaving in the kitchen, or you can't cook to save your life. Your fellow misfits would be perfectly happy doing it up potluck style if that's what you're leaning towards.

Personally, I love Thanksgiving, but I hate traditional Thanksgiving food. Turkey, cranberry sauce, gravy, BLURG. No thank you. Here's what I've got a hankering for:

Molly's Roasted Figs with Gorgonzola and Honey

Cara's Butternut Squash Soup with Sage Browned Butter and Candied Ginger

Liz's Butternut Squash Risotto with a Lake of Pesto

Cara's Bacon-Dressed Spinach

Cara's Boozy Apple Cider

Molly's Apple Betty