Favorite Things Party

Out of all of the parties I've planned, this is one of my favorites, no pun intended. I originally found the idea on Pinterest (since I can't come up with ideas on my own) and got additional inspiration here, here, and here. Oh and did I mention I've been planning this party since November? Much easier, well maybe not easier, to plan a party in three months than three days.

The idea behind the party is based on Oprah's Favorite Things shows where she talked about her favorite things and then gave the audience a copy of each one. Since I couldn't give everyone a 7-day cruise (one of Oprah's gifts), I thought I'd come up with a little surprise of my own well because I can't just copy someone else's idea exactly.

The general idea behind the party is that everyone brings three copies of their favorite thing (i.e., if mascara was your favorite thing, you would bring three things of mascara) up to $10. Each person's name then goes into the bag three times. On your turn, you tell about your favorite thing and pick three names out of the bag and those three people get your favorite thing. Everyone goes home with three other people's favorite things.

It was so much fun, kind of like a late Christmas. Even though everyone knew that they would get three gifts, it was really fun to watch how excited people were when their name was called. It's definitely something that could easily be done once every few months since everyone could easily come up with new favorite things.

That's the basic idea behind the party. But of course, I couldn't stop there. I thought it would be fun to not only share our favorite things but also to introduce the women to new things in the area. So I contacted a ton of local vendors and Etsy shops that make things local to the area and asked if any of them would like some free advertising to women in the area. I had about 40 vendors respond and donate gift cards, handmade jewelry and gifts, discount codes, and other great items to put in swag bags for the women. So every woman received not only their three "favorite things" from the party but also a fun gift and swag bag made up of the items generously donated by all of the vendors. So really, it was a little like the Oprah show except not quite as extravagant. Come back throughout the next week to see what awesome items were in the bags!

And now for the pictures! Since it was my favorite things party, I  had to make some of my favorite foods.

Boston Creme Pie

Mini Frittatas

Fruit and Fruit Dip

Citrus Water + Orange Juice

Pizza Loaf and Dipping Sauce

Striped Delight

And I invited some of my favorite people.

Becca and her Bedhead Dry Shampoo

Chelsea and her pillow pet

Elissa was the most excited

Excited about the swag bags

Ashley opening her free massage

Opening the swag bags

Danielle and her new pillow covers

People brought all sorts of favorite things - pillow pets, lip balm, dry shampoo, iTunes gift card, Anthropologie soap, water cup, olive oil mister, spoon rest, scrapbook paper, room fragrance, wool socks, and Aveeno lotion. 

And while I would have loved to get any of those things, I love the three I eventually ended up with. I definitely needed one of the purse hangers and I can't wait to try the top coat nail polish and listen to the CD!

My gifts wrapped

My Gifts 

More tomorrow on the second part of the party, the swag bags and presents!