Friendsgiving
By: Janis Adams
For 2021, I am not following the traditional Thanksgiving trends, with the old school pre-ordained last Thursday of the month set date and prescribed menu as the only day and the way to celebrate the holiday. Let’s all stop for a moment and admit this past year has left us all in need of more celebrations and less confinements.
The answer?
Well, Friendsgiving is one!
What is Friendsgiving?
In 2007, or thereabout, the non–traditional holiday of Friendsgiving popped up. A day to hang with friends, and be thankful, and relax, and celebrate surviving another year.
Cooking and cleaning be damned, there is no need for it. This is the cool, hip millennial tradition that has become a mainstream deal. It has become the ad hoc celebration – a widely acknowledged American holiday in its own right – one that is a necessity now more than ever!
The Rules of Friendsgiving
There are no deemed rules. Friendsgiving is about coming together. Its recent popularity has caused Thanksgiving to expand into something more like a Thanksgiving “season.”
University of Oregon Emeritus Professor Matthew Dennis, who has studied the 400 plus years tradition of Thanksgiving, says that it has become the custom for holidays to sprawl into the days and weeks leading up to the traditional date. The “friends” part of Friendsgiving, however, is a somewhat novel element added to the traditional holiday, Dennis says.
Why is This?
The reality is the United States has become a completely mobile society, and people are moving and spreading out everywhere. Friendsgiving has become an opportunity to reconstitute our idea of family. Family is more than those who are blood related; family is the people who we do life with and celebrate with and those for whom we are thankful.
The big house and dishes and linen napkins are abandoned and replaced with this unofficial event which can look and feel anyway the “friends” deem fit.
Bonding is what Friendsgiving is ALL about. What way better to bond than over shared laughter, mixed in with some fright, wild screams, shock and free-flowing adrenaline. Literally grab your friends.
Step out, celebrate and come together with anyone on your friends and family list.
Celebrate Friendsgiving with Trap Door
No cleaning, cooking, or stressing necessary, we do it all for you. Book a spread of food, something to up the mood from our distillery, and an escape from the ordinary offered. Call here for more information!
Did you know that there is no official date to celebrate? So, that means you can come any day to one of our three locations and celebrate this legit holiday.
Trap Door Escape Company
Trap Door Escape Room has 4 locations: 3180 Route 611 in Bartonsville, PA in the Poconos; 60 White St. in Red Bank, NJ; 34A Speedwell Ave. in Morristown, NJ: and 77 Wind Creek Blvd in Bethlehem, PA. The Red Bank location was the first of the 4 locations, opening in the fall of 2015. Morristown followed in the summer of 2017, and Bartonsville opened during the holiday season of 2018. Wind Creek is currently undergoing construction and will be opening in September 2022.
History
The idea came to Tone Purzycki back in 2011 after he wrote a screenplay that developed into a live-streaming game. The game revolved around an actor trapped in a situation and the audience had to solve puzzles to figure out where he was trapped. The “Find Me Event” had more than 1,000 people playing over the course of several hours. After the success of several other streaming events, the idea of an escape room was born.
Location
Each location has different rooms from which to choose. Our Morristown location is home to Day of the Dead, Witch Hunt, and The Greatest Freakshow. In Bartonsville, you’ll find Cure Z, F5 Tornado Escape, Fear the Bogeyman, Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, We’re All Mad Here, and Prisoner Z. In Red Bank we currently have Everest – our first 2 story escape room. Ripper of London is also available at this location. Our pirate themed games will soon be open at Wind Creek.
Trap Door Escape Room also offers team building, streaming events, and birthday parties. For more information on any of our games, prices, and locations, explore our website or call 570-234-3366