How to Frenchify Your Thanksgiving (aka Frenchgiving)

Thanksgiving is a purely American holiday, so no, the French do not celebrate it. Most of my French friends still find the idea of one giant meal built around a turkey and five side dishes a little bewildering, and a few have asked me, quite seriously, why anyone needs three kinds of starch on one plate. That has never stopped Mr. Misadventures and me from throwing our own version of the holiday, one with a distinctly French accent that I call Frenchgiving.

It means keeping everything you already love about Thanksgiving, the gathering, the gratitude, the general excuse to eat for three hours, and layering French style into every part of it, from the aperitif hour to the very last bite of dessert. None of it requires starting from scratch.

Here is exactly how we do it, so you can Frenchify your own Thanksgiving this year.

Quick Frenchgiving Swaps

If you only have a few minutes before guests arrive, start here. None of these require a special trip or a new skill, just a slightly different set of choices on a table you are already setting. These small swaps go a long way toward a proper Frenchgiving:

• Swap the pitcher of soda or beer for a French 75 or a glass of Champagne
• Add a cheese course between the main course and dessert instead of going straight to pie
• Play a French playlist instead of whatever game is on in the background
• Pour one bottle of French wine per course instead of one bottle for the whole meal
• Finish the night with Calvados or Cognac instead of coffee alone
• Trade the paper napkins for cloth ones, even if nothing else about your table changes

Pick even two or three of these and your table will already feel different before anyone takes a bite.

Our Own Frenchgiving Tradition

When Mr. Misadventures and I are home, or staying somewhere with a proper kitchen like a good Airbnb, we skip the turkey entirely and roast a pintade instead. A pintade is a guinea fowl, a smaller and richer bird than turkey that is a genuine French classic for special occasions, the kind of thing you see on French tables at Christmas as often as at any American Thanksgiving. You can find one at a place like La Grande Épicerie or from a good traiteur, and it roasts beautifully in a fraction of the time a turkey takes, which frees up the oven for everything else on the menu.

If we spend the holiday out at a restaurant in Paris instead, we look for a traditional bistro that serves Poule au Pot, Chicken Chasseur, or Coq au Vin. These dishes are rich, slow-cooked, and built on wine, the kind of thing a French grandmother would have simmered all afternoon, and they always make us forget the turkey. We have never once left one of those dinners wishing we had ordered something more American instead.

Cultivating a Relaxed Atmosphere

Aperitif Hour with French-inspired Cocktails and Appetizers

Before anyone sits down to eat, give your guests something to sip and nibble on. This is the single easiest way to slow the whole evening down, since people naturally linger over a drink in a way they never linger over a bag of chips. A French 75 is my go-to pre-dinner cocktail, all Champagne, gin, and lemon, and it pairs beautifully with a proper cheese plate of Camembert, Brie, a crusty baguette, fresh fruit, and honey.

If cocktails are not your thing, a simple Kir Royale, Champagne with a splash of crème de cassis, takes about ten seconds to make and looks far more impressive than the effort involved. A charcuterie board of cured meats, pâtés, and terrines rounds things out, and if you want to go all in, a small dish of foie gras makes an easy, luxurious starter that needs almost no effort to serve.

For more ideas beyond the French 75, my full roundup of French drinks and cocktails has two dozen more worth trying.

Crafting a Sophisticated Playlist

Skip the generic dinner jazz playlist and reach for the real thing. A mix of Edith Piaf, Stacey Kent, and Nouvelle Vague sets a genuinely French mood in the background without ever feeling like elevator music, and it gives your table something to talk about between courses. Keep the volume low enough for conversation and let it run through the whole meal rather than switching to something else once dinner starts, so the mood never breaks.

Art of Table Setting

Fine China and Crystal Glassware

Pull out the good china and the crystal glassware you normally save for a special occasion, because this is exactly that. Mismatched vintage pieces work just as well as a matching set, and French tables have never worried much about perfect uniformity anyway. If you inherited a set from a grandmother and have been waiting for a reason to use it, this is the reason.

Incorporating Silverware Etiquette

French place settings follow a simple logic once you know it: forks on the left with tines down, knives on the right with the blade facing the plate, and any dessert silverware set above the plate rather than beside it. It looks fussy, but guests will notice the polish, even if they could not tell you exactly why the table feels more put together.

Subtle Elegance with Seasonal Blooms

A low, loose arrangement of seasonal autumn blooms- think dahlias, chrysanthemums, and a few dried grasses does more for a French-feeling table than anything tall or formal. Keep it low enough that guests can still see each other across the table, since a centerpiece that blocks conversation defeats the entire point of a shared meal.

The French Art of Balanced Decor

French decorating leans on restraint rather than abundance. A single Diptyque candle down the center of the table does more for the mood than a dozen mismatched votives, and one thoughtful centerpiece beats a table crowded with knickknacks. If you are torn between two decorations, choose the one you can explain in a sentence and skip the other.

If keeping every one of these details straight feels like too much to juggle, my Thanksgiving Planner walks you through the table, menu, and guest list so nothing gets forgotten.

Elevating Your Menu by Incorporating French Culinary Techniques

Sous Vide Turkey: A Succulent Centerpiece

If turkey is still the centerpiece of your table, cooking it sous vide is the single biggest upgrade you can make. The technique keeps the breast meat perfectly moist while the exterior still crisps up beautifully in a hot oven or under the broiler at the end, so you get the texture everyone actually wants without the usual anxiety about a dry bird.

Or Skip the Turkey for a Pintade

If my own tradition above sounds appealing, look for a guinea hen, called pintade in French, at a specialty butcher or a well-stocked gourmet market. It roasts in about half the time of a turkey and brings far more flavor to a smaller table, which makes it a genuinely practical swap if you are hosting fewer than eight people. Treat it like a small turkey or a large chicken, with butter, herbs, and a hot oven; it needs very little else.

Delicate Sauces and Reductions

A red wine reduction poured over sliced turkey or pintade instantly makes the plate look and taste more considered, and a Chasseur-style pan sauce built from mushrooms, shallots, and white wine- the same sauce behind the Chicken Chasseur I ordered on our last Frenchgiving out- works just as well over chicken or turkey. A simple Béchamel is also worth keeping in your back pocket, since it turns leftover vegetables or a gratin into something far more finished with almost no extra work.

Truffle-infused Sides

A Gratin Dauphinois finished with a few shavings of truffle turns simple potatoes into something worth talking about, and classic mashed potatoes stirred through with truffle butter get you most of the way there with a fraction of the effort. Roasted Brussels sprouts finished the same way make an easy truffle-forward side if potatoes are already spoken for elsewhere on the table.

Seasonal Dishes

Start the meal with a small cup of French Onion Soup or a tray of warm Gougères instead of the usual bowl of chips, and work chestnuts into your stuffing or serve them as a simple roasted side, the way they turn up across French bistros every autumn. A small dish of caramelized onion confit alongside the turkey or pintade is an easy, very French stand-in for plain cranberry sauce if you want to lean further into the theme.

For more ideas along these lines, my roundup of French dinner recipes has two dozen more to pull from.

Wine Pairings for Each Course

A light Beaujolais or crisp Chablis works beautifully through the aperitif course; a fuller Bordeaux or Burgundy carries the turkey or pintade; and Champagne never needs an excuse to make an appearance. Pull reds out of the fridge or cellar about half an hour before pouring so they are not served too cold, and keep whites and Champagne chilled right up until you pour them.

If you want to go deeper on the lighter reds, I have a full guide to Beaujolais and why it is one of my favorites.

Sweet Endings

A Tarte Tatin, that upside-down caramelized apple tart, served warm with a spoonful of crème fraîche is the single best way to end a Frenchgiving meal, and a small glass of Calvados alongside it turns dessert into its own event. A simple chocolate mousse or pear tart makes an easy alternative if apples aren't your guests' thing, and either one keeps the French thread running straight through to the last course.

If you want more French dessert inspiration beyond Tarte Tatin, my roundup of French dessert recipes has two dozen more to choose from.

Hostess with La Mostess

Engaging Guests with Lighthearted Banter

A good host keeps the conversation moving without dominating it. Ask questions, tell a story about yourself, and let the table find its own rhythm rather than steering every minute of it. The goal is a table that feels easy, not a table that feels managed.

The Importance of Savoring Each Moment

French meals move slowly on purpose. Let each course breathe, resist the urge to clear plates the second forks go down, and let dessert and coffee stretch out rather than rushing toward the end of the night. If a meal has run three hours in France, that is not a sign anything went wrong; it is the sign everything went right.

Effortless yet Stylish Attire

You do not need a formal dress code to look put together. A well-cut sweater, good trousers, and one nice accessory will always read as effortless rather than overdone, which is the whole French trick. Comfort and polish are not opposites; they just take a little more thought to combine.

Accessorizing with a French Flair

A silk scarf, a great pair of earrings, or even just a red lip does more for a hosting look than an entirely new outfit. Pick one thing and let it do the work, rather than making every element of an outfit compete for attention.

Encouraging a Dress Code for Guests

You do not have to make it formal, but even a simple note on the invitation, something like smart casual with a French twist, gives guests permission to make a bit of an effort, and it sets the tone before anyone walks through the door. People tend to rise to whatever expectation you set, so set one worth rising to.

Frenchgiving Hostess Gift Ideas

If you're arriving as a guest, skip the usual bottle of wine and bring something with a little more Frenchgiving spirit instead. None of these need to be expensive; they just need to feel considered rather than grabbed off a shelf on the way over:

• A bottle of Crémant or Champagne instead of still wine, since it works as both a gift and an aperitif pour
• A jar of good French honey or a proper Dijon mustard, something the host will actually use long after the holiday
• A small box of French chocolates or macarons for the host to enjoy after everyone else has gone home
• A set of simple linen napkins, which double as a gift the host can put straight to use on the table
• A single well-chosen candle, Diptyque if you want to spend a bit more
• A French cookbook the host can actually cook from, rather than one that mostly looks nice on a shelf

Any one of these signals that you put a little thought into it, which is really all a hostess gift needs to do.

Frequently Asked Questions

How about you? Do you Frenchify your Thanksgiving, or are you planning your first Frenchgiving this year? Tell me in the comments what you are trying this year. If you enjoyed this, you will probably also like how I Frenchify my home year-round, and how I Frenchify Valentine's Day every February.

How about you? Do you Frenchify your Thanksgiving? Do tell! What do you do? Do share!