Favorite Things All Girl Holiday Party

I have been hosting an annual all girl holiday party since 2006, this year I decided to change it up completely and make it into a favorite things all girl holiday party. I invited my nearest and dearest friends to try this party type out on, and I must say, this is by far my favorite party that I’ve hosted since starting these girl parties in 2006.

I wanted to make sure I had a good number of people attending so I sent out save the date cards two months in advance so my friends could get it on their calendars. The formal invitations with all the pertinent details were sent out about four weeks prior to the party, only 11 friends out of the 34 invited were unable to attend.

When each guest arrived they were instructed to find their name on the display board and retrieve all the materials that went with it, which included their name card for displaying with their three favorite things gifts that they brought, a blank card to write what dish they brought to share, three gold tickets to be used in the gift exchange, and one of our games.

Guests mingled and enjoyed the food for the first hour, and made some simple fun crafts at my Washi Tape Obsession table, I have a bit of a Washi Tape problem, so I thought I would share it with my friends. Guests could make as many as they wanted of each craft to take home. The crafts included a clothespin magnet or chip clip, a paper clip bookmark, a twist tie, a card, and a binder clip

We then played a getting to know you game where each guest answered the questions I had prepared on their cards they received when they first arrived, we then played it Scattegories style and got to know each other a little better.
Our second game was called Uniquely Us, I contacted each guest prior to the party and asked them to give me one unique thing about themselves, I put all the answers on one sheet and we had to guess which unique thing went with which guest.

After the games, we enjoyed dessert and a little more mingling.

Last but not least was our Favorite Things gift exchange. I had gotten kraft colored gift bags tied a thank you for coming tag, and tied it with a string (my version of brown paper packages tied up with string) for each guest to put their new favorite items in, inside each bag I included a notebook that I made, and one of my favorite pens as a party favor for each one of my guests to take home.
We drew names, and that person would go retrieve the three gifts they brought, would tell why it’s their favorite thing(s), and then they would choose three gold tickets and whosever name was on that ticket received that favorite thing.

I had so much fun planning and hosting this party, I cannot wait until next year!

• What People Ate

  Each guest brought a favorite appetizer to share

• What People Drank

  Cranberry Moscato Punch (Pinterest find), Wine, Water, Pop/soda

• Desserts

  All desserts were made by me (I own a sweet treat business) Maple pecan cake with vanilla frosting, stenciled sugar cookies, mini chocolate cupcakes, chocolate dipped pretzel rods, and Lindor Chocolate Truffles

• Party Favors

  Notebooks made by me, and one of my favorite pens

• Activities / Games

  Our favorite things game , and Uniquely Us game

• John

  Flower arrangements, house cleaning, table setup

  My husband is amazing! He is an architect and has amazing design skills, so he was in charge of making my loose fresh flowers into pretty displays. He also helped with getting our home ready for the party.

• Sharon

  Any and all things needed

  Sharon is my mother in law, and she is fabulous! She helped me with so much, she painted clothespins, wrapped little vases with gold ribbon, helped keep my kitchen clean, laundry done, and she watched my son so my husband and I could decorate for the party. This list just goes on and on! She is amazing!

• Phoenix Flower Shops store #1/Courtney

  Fresh flowers

  I LOVE this flower shop, I use them for all my floral needs. They never cease to amaze me with their beautiful flowers, and they are so wonderful to work with!
  www.phoenixflowershops.com

• www.facebook.com/cupcakecafeaz Cupcake Cafe

  Desserts

  This is my business, I make all kinds of sweet treats. All of my work can be seen on my Facebook page, www.facebook.com/cupcakecafaz