If they like Woodchuck then it's going to be a little more complicated. Woodchuck is a sweet-ish cider and if you are wanting to bottle carbonate it, you will have to bottle it when you like the flavor, (SG: 1.020? - but thats subjective) let it carbonate and then stovetop pasteurize it to kill off the yeast. If not, they will pop. (There is a thread at the top of the main cider forum page)
Another method would be to sorbate it to stop yeast production and then force carbonate by kegging. If you are going to drink all three gallons in a long weekend or so, you could even skip the sorbate and keep it cold.
The third option would be to start the cider a couple of weeks before they arrive. Make as much as you think you guys will drink and once it gets to the final gravity you like, put it back in the original containers and put in the FRIDGE. It will be 'still' cider, but thats the easiest approach. (just don't leave it sitting in the original containers for more than a few days without burping them)
Try keeping your original gravity on the low side for drinking young cider. (1.050 or so) This way you aren't making apple wine and it won't require extended aging to mellow out the hot alcohol. Just pitch some ale yeast into juice (with some sort of nutrient) and let it chug along in the low 60s.