A recent Reader’s Digest feature reports that 87% of Americans have a "chosen family," and Thanksgiving-season gatherings like Friendsgiving are repeatedly cited as where those bonds begin and get reinforced.
What’s trending
Research covered in a recent Reader’s Digest feature found that 87% of Americans have at least one person they consider "fictive kin" — the academic term for chosen family — with the average person’s chosen-family network sitting around 7.5 people. The piece profiles several people whose closest support systems aren’t biological relatives at all, including one woman whose chosen family began with a simple Thanksgiving dinner invitation from her neighbors.
Why it’s resonating
A licensed psychologist quoted in the piece points to a deeper cause: despite constant digital connection, more people than ever report feeling genuinely alone, and chosen family fills a gap that scrolling can’t. That framing lines up with why Friendsgiving keeps expanding well past its original niche — it’s not just a scheduling workaround for people who can’t make it home for the holiday, it’s become one of the main rituals people actually use to build and maintain these chosen-family bonds in the first place.
Where the invitation fits
If chosen family often starts with exactly the kind of small gesture described in that story — an invite to dinner — then the invitation itself is doing more work than it gets credit for. It’s the actual first move. For hosts who want that first move to feel warm rather than like a group-chat afterthought, something with a bit of personality helps set the tone; the Funny Friendsgiving Invitation, Editable Canva Template is built for exactly that kind of casual-but-considered invite.