Cozy Vibes for November: A Guide 🍂

Hobbies, recipes, dinner party ideas, and a Friendsgiving playlist!

November is for the girls who love the holiday season, who love fall, and can revel in celebrating them both at the same time. Admittedly, the second the last trick-or-treater left our doorstep is the moment I turned on a Christmas playlist. Can you relate? It’s tiiiiime!

Whether you’re decorating your holiday home this weekend or firmly staying planted in your fall vibes, November marks the start of the holiday season. The weather is brisk, our closets have officially turned to scarves and jackets, and our bellies are full of warm, spiced drinks and treats. Yum!

Here are a few ideas for making November the coziest month yet 🥰

Cozy November Hobby: Needlepoint

Omg forgive me for screaming, but I am IN LOVE with needlepoint and am recommending it to literally everyone. I finally got myself all set up with supplies last month and I’m completely obsessed. I shared my Ina canvas two weeks ago and she’s basically done now! It’s truly a hobby that’s made for winter, and a perfect replacement for scrolling your phone. If you’re new to it, I highly suggest investing in a beginner canvas kit that has everything included (this is the kit that got me started!). I truly love grabbing my canvas, curling up on the couch and stitching while I watch a show. Tbh I’ll even stitch in complete silence when I need to decompress 😂

Needlepoint projects can also be made into very cute ornaments for your tree, so it would be fun to jump in now! I just bought this Kirsten canvas—I was a HUGE American Girl fan and Kirsten, for obvious reasons, was my favorite. She definitely needs a spot on my tree this year, so once she arrives I’m going to get right to work. Needlepointing an American Girl canvas might be a peak millennial moment for me, and tbh I’m here for it. LFG.

Cozy November Baking

I’ve officially decided that October is for pumpkin, and November is for apple. It dawned on me that I hadn’t made any apple recipes last month, and I’m taking November to make up for it. Even though the holiday season enters with a flourish on November 1st, this month is still for fall flavors if you ask me. Here are some recipes I’m eyeing for this month!

Apple Fritter Cake: Omg I made this last night for a family dinner and it was a huge hit! Apple fritters are my husband’s absolute favorite, so when I saw this cake, I immediately knew I needed to make it. I kept snacking on the apples coated in brown sugar (oops hehe) because they were so delicious. My mom declared that this is a recipe I should keep and make again—the highest praise!

Apple and Cranberry Cake: An Ina recipe! What inspired my November mission to make apple recipes was this Ina Garten YouTube and the first recipe in the compilation is apple cranberry cake. I think this would be fantastic for Thanksgiving, and I love that the fruit seems to be the star of the show. It looks like a pie instead of a cake—it’s even baked in a pie plate! Will make this and report back. 🫡

Ginger cookies: Ok so not an apple recipe, but these ginger cookies are incredibleeee! I did a test batch for my micro bakery, The Cozy Crumb, and my husband said these are the best cookies I’ve ever made. They’re chewy and gorgeous and perfect for November! Ina’s secret weapon is crystalized ginger, but I made them without because I didn’t have any on hand and they still turned out amazing. What’s wonderful/dangerous about these cookies is they’re a perfect dessert, but also really good with a cup of coffee or tea in the morning. Cookies for breakfast? Sign me up!

Cozy November Dinner Party Ideas

Thanksgiving! Friendsgiving! November is dominated by the ultimate dinner party, so I thought it might be fun to share a few ideas I have for Friendsgiving. Kind of like a round-up of ways to celebrate with chill vibes, ya know?

Thanksgiving Minis: I saw someone share this idea on TikTok (if you know the creator, please share so I can credit them!) but the idea is a potluck, and everyone brings bite sized foods. Mini potatoes, mini pies, mini cornbread muffins, bacon wrapped brussel sprouts, turkey sliders with cranberry sauce—all finger foods! This idea sounds so fun to me and it requires a bit of creativity, which I love. If I were invited to this party, I’d bring something with cranberry and brie and puff pastry omg. Yum!

Pie Potluck: Dessert only! Everyone brings a pie! So fun! I’d serve bubbly and make this a cozy soiree—I don’t know why my mind immediately goes to like, fancy? This could also be a very casual dessert party, but I like the idea of elevating it a little with bubbly or a signature cocktail. Line up all the pies on a table, label them all accordingly and dig in. Style your table with candles, pumpkins and fall flowers. Have pastry boxes ready so guests can bring leftovers home, or ask everyone to bring Tupperware. So cute!

Pajama Party: On the flip side, hosting a Friendsgiving (or tbh Thanksgiving why not?!) where the dress code is pajamas sounds delightful to me. We’re all looking to be comfortable after an enormous meal, why not just embrace it and wear pajamas? Love!

Also! If you’re interested in joining a holiday themed cookbook club, TableWith is a cutie app that can help you! They generously gave me a code, you can use KRISTENGARAFFO3MONTHS to check it out and get your dinner party plans going over the next 3 months. A dream!

The embed link isn’t working, but you can listen to the playlist here!

Cozy November Playlist

I made you the coziest Friendsgiving playlist! If the Fall Feels playlist is quintessential fall (made for vibing, relaxing, pumpkin carving etc.) this playlist feels more like a dinner party. It starts upbeat and gradually becomes a little more chill, but it’s designed to be background music for chit chatting with your friends. It’s giving fall acoustic vibes, with lots of Noah Kahan, a little Mumford and Sons, and some of my favorite tracks from Red. I hope you love it!

A cutie reminder:

I’m dreaming and designing the holiday edition of my snail mail club, The Cozy Vibes Mail Club! I’m sending a holiday themed moodboard, recipe card, a seasonal surprise and a note to everyone in the club the first week of December! 🥰 I’m moving up the deadline to Sunday, 11/16 if you’d like to join— all the deets are here!

I’ve also decided to do a Thanksgiving themed digital-only Cozy Vibes Mail Club — exclusively for my paid Substack subscribers eeee! You’ll get a bunch of cozy vibes and printables like:

🥧 Thanksgiving-themed recipes and hosting inspo

📸 A curated moodboard you can print and display

💌 Journal prompts for staying calm + cozy amidst the hustle + bustle

This will go live towards the middle of the month, so be sure to upgrade to paid before then to join us. I’m so excited!

Sending you so much love! As always, thank you so much for being here. The community here on Substack is truly immaculate and if this month is all about gratitude, I want to share that I couldn’t be more grateful to be here writing in my pjs every weekend. The magic of this season is truly what you make it, and I hope these ideas will help you make this month a little extra cozy. Happy November!!

xx, Kristen