Favorite Things Party - Oh Ya!

After seeing A Favorite Things Party posted on a favorite blog a few years ago I vowed that one year before Christmas I would host my own. Almost attempted it last year but didn't happen so this year at the beginning of November I decided this would be the year and I sent out a save the date before I could change my mind. Everyone loves to throw a fun holiday party but sometimes when everything else starts to hit and the calendar starts to fill up it gets a little hectic but I wasn't about to let that deter me this year. Plus what other time can you have a party where the house is already decorated??

It ended up being such a fun night and a hit with everyone...they were already brainstorming gift ideas for next year and kept asking to make sure this would be an annual thing. And honestly it was super simple...I didn't start doing anything until the week before because of traveling and once I always start party stuff I love the details. I felt so blessed that night and that's one of the things I love about hosting....I get to create and open up this house God has given us to friends and pray that the night is a blessing to them and I end up closing the door saying good-bye to the last friend and feel overwhelmingly blessed that I just had the privilege of having all of these wonderful woman over to celebrate such an awesome time of year. 

Some new friends, old friends and friends in between - I think that's what was so great about this group...not everyone knew each other but when you left the room that night everyone felt like they had known each other for longer than just one night. Such genuine, fun, caring moms and friends!

Kendall, me, Julie & Stacy

Julie, Stacy, Beth & Kendall

Casey, Ellen & Dawn - fun friends from B's school for the last few years. We are enjoying getting together for girls nights, with hubbies and families too. Dawn and I have known each other since Brooklyn and Grace were babies and Zach and Carter are have so much fun together!

Shauna & Cortney - some of my first friends from our old church back in the day.

Shawna, Erin & Karin - some more first friends

We were able to turn our craft room into the favorite things room - Tim made me some plywood pieces that we were able to stack and use to display all the things the girls brought. I didn't take any pictures of the details of food and kitchen stuff that I wished I would have because it was a fun time of year to do anything food/drink related. But you can see the fun pink filled chalkboard glass...that was what I had for the girls to use as cups with their name written in chalk and then they got to leave with one of my favorite things-anything chalk related puts a smile on my face. And the drink inside...a girly girl's dream. It's frozen pink lemonade mixed with champagne. The perfect drink for a Favorite Things Party

Each person picked their favorite item that cost $10 and brought three of that item. They then displayed them with the name card next to their items. Each one of us shared what we brought and why which is always a fun way to get to know people.

This was a hit...Origins Ginger Body set with lotion, scrub and body wash. I didn't get it that night but when I took care of Dawn's kids for an overnight during a neighborhood party they had the following week she snuck one in the bag she packed for the kids with a note - LOVE this stuff!

These fabulous cupcake holders that are a hot and hard item to find at our local grocery store. Ellen found three of them and snagged them. Such a great way to take treats to schools/park etc and they don't get smooshed. She even filled them with cupcakes :-)

Love these frames that Cortney brought...and you can stack them with a smaller sized one on top to display if you choose.

A bigger picture of the craft room before everyone arrived. And you see my lone favorite thing sitting on the table...the bath and body works candle that literally is STILL burning in my house and manages to even make the dog smell hidden!!
And you can see in the back the simple brown bags with name cards that matched the favorite things table cards - each of us had a bag to fill with the new goodies we would take home.

Some more favorites included, insulated travel cups, Jesus Calling Devotional (a favorite of mine already LOVE), scarves, soap/lipgloss. 

One of the only decorative pictures I took - Pinterest idea and loved it because I already had everything for it and it was just the right size to sit in the middle of the food table - wish I got a picture of the food table because it made me smile. It was FILLED with every girly appetizer that you would imagine - absolute heaven!

TIm came down from putting the kids to bed and snapped some group pictures for us - and of course in standing by our family tradition lately asked for silly faces - loved that half of us did it and the other half didn't. The half that did are the ones who are my Bible Study group that has met for 7 years now - love you girls!!!

Some of the appetizers were pins from Pinterest of course and a favorite was the Spinach and Feta stuffed crescent rolls. I also had set up a Hot Chocolate bar with hot chocolate in the crockpot and apothecary jars filled with fillings...marshmallows, chocolate chips, candy canes, etc. And then my favorite find this Christmas - PEPPERMINT whipped cream from Target - Archer Brand. Took some polka dot scrapbook paper and wrapped the bottle so it looked pretty and yumm! Everyone was laughing because we almost went through an entire can and I thought some of the girls were going to start squirting it in their mouth.

Counting down until Favorite Things 2013!