Party: Favorite Things

I saw a Facebook post around Christmas 2012 from a friend of my cousin’s. She had attended a Favorite Things party and posted a photo of herself and about 6 of her girlfriends wearing matching winter hats. She captioned it Favorite Things Party or something like that. I was immediately curious as to what a favorite things party actually was. I mean, I had my guesses and common sense assumptions, so I mentally filed it away as a theme I definitely wanted to try.

I started doing a little bit of research on Favorite Things parties this past summer, I looked up different ways to facilitate the parties and pinned so so many cute party ideas. Prior to even planning the party, I had an idea of making it an annual event, but obviously wanted to see how the inaugural one panned out first.

As I always do, I initially began to have champagne dreams on a beer budget. I was envisioning tons of candles and sparkles and fresh flowers and luxurious gifts. Then, I got real. I told myself that I am first, a novice event planner. Second, pregnant. And third, on a tight budget because of aforementioned pregnancy. I decided to have a very small gathering and to try a few of the ideas I saw online (ones I felt I could manage) and add in some new, more impressive details each year.

I invited four of my close friends to a sleepover Favorite Things party. One place I decided to scrimp was on invitations, so I send them all an email with the following:

Friday December 13th @7 (sleepover- dress up and bring PJs)

Choose one or more of your favorite things, totaling $10-15, buy 4 of them, and wrap them. Expect to go home with four awesome favorites for yourself.

Favorite candy?

Favorite drink (alcoholic and non)?

Favorite chip/munchy snack?

Favorite scent?

I knew I wanted to do some sort of party favor, or extra little gift for my guests. One of my very favorite things is Baby Lips. I wrapped it in old wrapping paper, twisted the ends, and tied it with twine. They looked like candies or mints, so I decided it would be cute to place one on each girls’ pillow. I also made sure to have yummy scented candles, one of my absolute favorite things scattered throughout the house, even in the bedrooms. I wanted everybody to feel pampered, and while I can’t afford a luxury hotel suite for my guests, I could make their sleeping quarters feel as clean and cozy as possible.

You might be wondering what was up with the little survey I sent with the invite. Basically, I wanted to base the apps and drink menus around what the girls liked best. Remember, I wanted everybody to feel pampered, even if it wasn’t five star luxury. In my kitchen was the drink station. I had everybody’s favorite alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. Many of the items were stored in the refrigerator, but I tried to set a cute little table with some soda mixers, pretty stemware, fresh flowers, and chilled champagne, a surprise detail. Note the Christmasy place mat. Since this party was right before the holiday, and I was trying to save money, I let my Christmas decorations serve as the basis for the party decor and layered some small, pretty details over that. I was worried about things clashing, but it pulled off quite well.

I also set up a gift/snack table. I got some pretty teal and lilac decorations from party city and let the gorgeously wrapped gifts and yummy food do most of the talking. For my gift bags (center), I made name tags using scrapbook photo tags. I also printed a 2x3 black and white photo of myself with each of the girls. After punching out holes with a heart shaped hole punch, I attached the tags with twine to some basic teal gift bags. As the girls arrived, they added their gifts to the table, and these pictures just don’t do it justice. Each girls’ favorite munchy snack and candy were also on the table with plates and chinese take out cartons so they were easy to fill up and walk around with. Sure, our taste isn’t expensive, but even cheetos and twizzlers look fancy in glass vases and ceramic organizers. In addition to the candy and munchies, each girl brought her favorite appetizer, including loaded potato skins, cheese and crackers, veggies and dip, and jalepeno poppers. Yum, yum!

After a couple of hours, we decided it was time to open gifts. We moved all of the presents to the living room and began to open. Everybody was incredibly thoughtful, and it was a blast seeing what everybody had chosen. We got Panera and Dunkin Donuts gift cards, amaretto soaked cherries, Alex and Ani bracelets, and Jenny surprised us all by getting each girl different items. I gave the girls a Bath and Body Works body butter (normally a $20 item, but available around the holidays for half off) and 3 yankee candle votives (2 of my favorite scents plus one personalized scent based on their survey answer). It was an awesome night, and I look forwarding to improving it for next year.