As the holiday season was winding up Candace and I decided to hold our annual Favorite Things Party a little earlier in the month, since December seems to be crazy for everyone. This year was one of my favorite, if not my favorite. Every year the gifts get more thoughtful and creative, and this year Candace and I had some experience so we were really on top of the prep and planning…we even sat around for 30 minutes before anyone got there just drinking our peppermint mochas and chatting- which NEVER happens. We are usually scrambling till the last minute.
Our first guest, Carly, myself, and Candace
It was a small group this year, which probably contributed to our less stressful state, but we definitely missed our friends who couldn’t be there. We kept it a little simpler with food and had a Mexican favorites theme. We had a party platter (quesadillas, burritos, and taquitos) catered from a local favorite restaurant. I also made 7-layer dip and chips and dark chocolate and sea salted caramel pots de creme. Candace made pasta tacos and browned butter and sea salt chocolate chip cookies. To drink we made margaritas with fresh citrus. Everything was awesome!
For the gifts we decided to do things a little different this year. We asked everyone to bring their gifts unwrapped. We wanted everyone to leave with items they were really excited about and it seemed that with the wrapped items and the way we had done it in the past, the pregnant lady always got the wine, so we switched things up!
Everyone brought three items worth $10 each. They could bring three of the same item, or three different items. We had a place for everyone’s items so we could see all of the goodies. We also provided the girls with gift bags to take their items home in (gift tag punch used for tags). Candace made these beautiful little wreaths from fresh herbs, which could be used in Christmas cooking!
These were my favorites, I’ll list all of the faves at the end of this post!
We drew names randomly for the first round. When your name was drawn, you got to go and pick your first gift. For the second round we went backwards in that order. So the first person in the first round went last in the second round, and the last person in the first round went first in the second round (she got to go twice in a row!). We thought this was the fairest way. For the third round we just did a random draw again. It worked out great!
After all of the gifts were chosen we chatted and finished our dessert and drinks. Everyone headed home with three new favorites, an herb wreath and a Bath and Body Works hand sanitizer favor (gift tag punch used for tags).
It was a lovely evening! I am so thankful for these ladies and this annual tradition we’ve started! I already am looking forward to next year.
Here are a few Instagram images of our take-aways.
Favorite Things 2014- most of us used coupons, sales, deals, ebates, amazon points, Cartwheel, or anything else we could to get things we loved within the $10 range.
Stephanie: Bali Sunrise Soy Candle, Mom’s Five-Second Memory Journal
Candace: Homemade essential oils hand-sanitizer, Revlon color stay lip crayons and mini wire lights.
Heather: They’re Real Benefit Mini Mascara
Chelsea K: Forever 21 oversized knit scarf (found in leopard print locally), Maybelline Define-a-Lash mascara, Urban Outfitter workout tank.
Sara- Cupcake Wine, Tea Tin Candle or Revlon Color Stay Lipstick
Krista- Banana Republic patterned scarf and Darrell Lea soft liquorice.
Chelsea S.: Bath & Body Works Oahu Lotion, Target Dollar Spot Note Cards, and Jo’s Dark Chocolate Sea Salted Caramels.
Carly T.: Pioneer Woman Holidays Cookbook
Vanessa: J. Crew leaf bracelet (a great Cyber Monday score!)
Carly: Ear Warmer head wrap, coffee cozy, Starbucks gift cards. Carly handmade the ear warmers and coffee cozy. Check out her Etsy shop!
Great post, Steph! It was definitely my favorite year – a real treat that my sis from SF could join us, even though I did miss our friends who couldn’t make it. Maybe we do this again for Valentine’s Day? Or Galentine’s Day, as Leslie Knope would say. Love this party and love you!
Oh Stephanie, how you inspire me! Its not even close to Christmas and I’m already planning my own favorite things party based on this post. Thank you! Its been ages since I’ve blog-hopped, and probably even longer since I’ve tapped into my creative side. These kiddos keep me busy on other things. But its fun posts like this that remind me how being creative brings me joy. Hope all is well with you and your family, my friend!