Fall Favorite Things 2018-2020
How do you have a party where everyone feels special? How do you celebrate all friends all at once? Have a Favorite Things party! What is a Favorite Things party?
Melanie sent me a link about a Favorite Things party a couple years ago that was thrown around Christmas. All the friends were to dress in their favorite PJ's, bring 3 gifts, and have some fun exchanging gifts. A couple weeks later, Melanie said that she wanted to throw one. Daniel and I had just moved into a new house, furniture was purchased (with delivery due to be in mid-October), so why not plan a party for the weekend after we should have furniture delivered? Yes, we took our chances, but had determined that if the furniture hadn't arrived, we would set up like a fort in the living room with air mattresses and folding chairs. Still feel like that would be a fun way to have the party, but the furniture arrived. Melanie loves fall, and creating a Favorite Things in fall was not going to be a stretch with all the fall favorites we could come up with.
I created the invitations with all the apple cider and pumpkin pie feels to get everyone excited about future seasonal party. We asked that everyone dress in favorite lounge wear, bring 3 wrapped gifts (could be 3 of the same or 3 different) that totaled $60 or less, and bring a food or drink item that was specified on the invitation. RSVP is actually important in a Favorite Things party so that you make sure that you have enough of the food & drinks brought by others. We asked that some bring their favorite desserts, add on's for tacos and drinks because if people can't come that were to bring something like the guac, you would want to either ask someone else, or make sure that you supply.
We went with buffalo check in black and red for the color scheme and because I have a black Christmas tree and would look for any reason to start decorating for Christmas, I set up the tree with everyone's name and food/drink product so when they walked in, they could mark what they brought. I liked the idea that people would know what others brought and could ask where they got it or how they made it.
After marking their favorite thing that they brought to share, they would then put their wrapped gifts on 3 tables; one on each table. While people arrived, they could then grab some tacos and drinks to distract them from what gifts people brought in to try to keep the secret of who brought what bag. Everyone can take some time to eat, drink and mingle to get to know each other; always good to bring friends together.
Once everyone was there, fed, and happy, they were all asked to gather in the living room and grab a pair of fuzzy socks!
The process to pick your gift is white elephant style, so to determine the first round order to pick, there were numbers rolled up in the fuzzy socks. Felt like that was a fun way to start the party (then collect in a bowl the numbers, and pass around for the next rounds). Melanie and I decided that the first 2 rounds of gift selection would not have any stealing or switching, but didn't tell anyone that until after they had already separated their gifts on the tables. As gifts started to be picked, it was fun to hear the reasons why the gifts were purchased and picked. Even if it isn't the gift you end up with, you get to hear about why someone likes it, where they got it and you could pick one up sometime to try it. It was fun to hear people's disappointment in the person one number ahead of them pick up the gift, based on the bag alone, that they had their eye on.
When we got to the third round, we decided to allow there to be stealing when your number came up. I believe there were only a couple that did that, but I think we are all too nice to steal the gifts someone else was so excited to have picked. If you figure out the trick to having people steal from one another, please let me know.
The Favorite Things party, to me, take the least amount of work on the hosts part. Making tacos was super easy for food, but you could even have a tapas style where everyone brings something different to share in appetizer style and it would give you even less to have to prep. I was debating on throwing the 2020 party in July, however, that didn't work out the way that I anticipated, just to change things up this year. If you live in an area that you could throw together a Favorite Things party quickly to create a fun, girls only get together, do it! It's a great way to pamper yourself and others all at the same time. It would be fun to see how different peoples favorite things are now having been through covid. There are new things that became my favorites during this pandemic than what my favorites even were last year when we had our second annual. Hoping that this fall, we can come together again for some fun celebrating and sharing.
Melanie sent me a link about a Favorite Things party a couple years ago that was thrown around Christmas. All the friends were to dress in their favorite PJ's, bring 3 gifts, and have some fun exchanging gifts. A couple weeks later, Melanie said that she wanted to throw one. Daniel and I had just moved into a new house, furniture was purchased (with delivery due to be in mid-October), so why not plan a party for the weekend after we should have furniture delivered? Yes, we took our chances, but had determined that if the furniture hadn't arrived, we would set up like a fort in the living room with air mattresses and folding chairs. Still feel like that would be a fun way to have the party, but the furniture arrived. Melanie loves fall, and creating a Favorite Things in fall was not going to be a stretch with all the fall favorites we could come up with.
I created the invitations with all the apple cider and pumpkin pie feels to get everyone excited about future seasonal party. We asked that everyone dress in favorite lounge wear, bring 3 wrapped gifts (could be 3 of the same or 3 different) that totaled $60 or less, and bring a food or drink item that was specified on the invitation. RSVP is actually important in a Favorite Things party so that you make sure that you have enough of the food & drinks brought by others. We asked that some bring their favorite desserts, add on's for tacos and drinks because if people can't come that were to bring something like the guac, you would want to either ask someone else, or make sure that you supply.
We went with buffalo check in black and red for the color scheme and because I have a black Christmas tree and would look for any reason to start decorating for Christmas, I set up the tree with everyone's name and food/drink product so when they walked in, they could mark what they brought. I liked the idea that people would know what others brought and could ask where they got it or how they made it.
After marking their favorite thing that they brought to share, they would then put their wrapped gifts on 3 tables; one on each table. While people arrived, they could then grab some tacos and drinks to distract them from what gifts people brought in to try to keep the secret of who brought what bag. Everyone can take some time to eat, drink and mingle to get to know each other; always good to bring friends together.
Once everyone was there, fed, and happy, they were all asked to gather in the living room and grab a pair of fuzzy socks!
The process to pick your gift is white elephant style, so to determine the first round order to pick, there were numbers rolled up in the fuzzy socks. Felt like that was a fun way to start the party (then collect in a bowl the numbers, and pass around for the next rounds). Melanie and I decided that the first 2 rounds of gift selection would not have any stealing or switching, but didn't tell anyone that until after they had already separated their gifts on the tables. As gifts started to be picked, it was fun to hear the reasons why the gifts were purchased and picked. Even if it isn't the gift you end up with, you get to hear about why someone likes it, where they got it and you could pick one up sometime to try it. It was fun to hear people's disappointment in the person one number ahead of them pick up the gift, based on the bag alone, that they had their eye on.
When we got to the third round, we decided to allow there to be stealing when your number came up. I believe there were only a couple that did that, but I think we are all too nice to steal the gifts someone else was so excited to have picked. If you figure out the trick to having people steal from one another, please let me know.
The Favorite Things party, to me, take the least amount of work on the hosts part. Making tacos was super easy for food, but you could even have a tapas style where everyone brings something different to share in appetizer style and it would give you even less to have to prep. I was debating on throwing the 2020 party in July, however, that didn't work out the way that I anticipated, just to change things up this year. If you live in an area that you could throw together a Favorite Things party quickly to create a fun, girls only get together, do it! It's a great way to pamper yourself and others all at the same time. It would be fun to see how different peoples favorite things are now having been through covid. There are new things that became my favorites during this pandemic than what my favorites even were last year when we had our second annual. Hoping that this fall, we can come together again for some fun celebrating and sharing.