How to throw a “Favorite Things” party {Girls Night Out}

I wanted to follow-up with more details about the “Favorite Things” party  that I hosted last weekend. It was such a fun night! I wanted to share a bit more about the gifts since gifts are always the best part {well, along with the company and the wine…and of course, dessert!}. These gifts would be cute hostess, teacher or neighbor gifts for this time of year if you need ideas.

If you haven’t heard of this party theme the concept is simple.  You invite a group of friends and they bring multiples of a “favorite thing” to gift each guest. I had expected the gift part of the event to be fun because let’s be honest, everyone loves getting gifts, but the gifting was made all the better because we could hear why everyone picked what they did.

I have such creative and talented friends, before I show off the fun things they selected for everyone, first check out all the packaging! The presentation of all the different gifts was lovely, just look at the wrapping assortment on that table.

I’ll start with my gift for each guest, which was a small bottle of DIVA detergent from Tyler Candle Company. Christy got me hooked on this detergent {and I am sure many of you who follow us on facebook are hooked too since we’ve raved about it over there} and I knew my girlfriends would love it as much as I do.  The bottles were a bit more than the $5 limit I set for the gifts but since it was my party I figured I could break my own rule. I am going to guess that I wasn’t the only one who spent a little more on gifts either 🙂 but I did try to limit the amount everyone would need to spend. Anyway, since the party I have heard rave reviews about the detergent from the other guests so I consider it a hit. You just add a small amount to your wash along with unscented detergent when you wash your sheets and towels and they will smell heavenly, it’s particularly a nice touch for your guest room sheets if you’re having company.

On to the gifts the guests brought…One friend trekked miles away to a gourmet chocolatier and brought us each a box of handcrafted European chocolates. They were absolutely delicious, this is certainly a gift you can’t go wrong with. They were such a decadent treat, and she brought them in such sweet packaging too.

Another friend brought everyone a collection of these sparkly earrings, just in time for the holidays. Her sister works in the jewelry industry so she had some inside insight into where to find nice looking but inexpensive jewelry. Aren’t these cute? Would you believe they came from–wait for it, Walmart?!? We’re all wearing them all the time.

Again, the creativity and thoughtfulness of each gift really surprised me. This gift was beautifully packaged paper plates, cups and napkins to use for the holidays. My friend told each of us she wanted to give us the gift of an easy holiday meal, so we could enjoy using these pretty paper supplies instead of dishes for one occasion and forego clean-up. Isn’t this thoughtful? I think these would make an outstanding neighbor gift or hostess gift as well, who doesn’t need a break from dishes at the holidays, right?

We all really enjoyed this next gift. My friend said she wanted to bring us all her “favorite things” so she brought coffee, chocolate and alcohol 🙂  A Starbucks gift card, a chocolate square and an airplane bottle of Bailey’s were tucked in a red Starbucks cup and tied with a fun ribbon.  This one was pretty much a big hit all around!

Terry brought everyone a printed holiday planner to help organize our holidays, clipped with a fun gold arrow clip and a Thymes Frasier Fir candle. This is simply the most amazing smelling fragrance. I say it’s what Christmas Trees will smell like in heaven. Even unlit I stop and sniff the candle each time I walk by it, the scent immediately puts you in that perfectly happy holiday mood.

Another friend brought us each a personalized coffee mug.  She took the time to find out each guest’s initial ahead of time and purchased these cups for each of us. Aren’t they cute? She also framed a bible verse for each of us, super thoughtful and something I will always treasure.

I had tons of other ideas for gifts for the girls as I was planning the party, it was fun to think up things I loved and thought they would be happy to receive. Other things I considered gifting as my “favorite things” would be Divine Twine {perfect for holiday wrapping!}, Paper Straws {for holiday entertaining}, Lindt Chocolate Bars {because I just love them} and Honest Lavender Bar Soap {the only soap I use}.

I mentioned this in the first post about the party but I also made each guest a monogrammed tote bag for them to take home all their “loot”. I picked up these inexpensive shopping bags at Michael’s and Christy made gold monograms for them from our ETSY store. These were a fun little party bonus and made it easy for the guests to get everything home. {sidenote: we’ve also used these in the past for teacher gifts, just fill the personalized bag with gift donations from the class}.

I think the fun of the party is that you can bring a true favorite–favorite hair spray, favorite mascara, favorite coffee creamer etc. –it doesn’t need to be something expensive or fancy.  This by far this was one of my favorite events ever, I am definitely having it again next year, I am already looking forward to it!

EDIT: You can see our updated ideas post in 2017 HERE

OK, back to Thanksgiving now…and holiday decorating of course! It’s starting to look a lot like Christmas around here 🙂

XO,

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