Gather ’round, mamas, and summon your inner Julie Andrews.
Now, sing with me to the tune of “These Are a Few of My Favorite Things” from The Sound of Music! 
Hand soaps and Wet Brushes, Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day
Skin care to keep all those new wrinkles at bay
Lipstick that looks good on everyone,
That holiday nail polish sure looks like fun!
Tweezers and champagne and magnetic bingo
Trader Joe’s seasoning with avocado
Epsom salt and ornaments on a string,
These are a few of our favorite things!
When the food’s good
When the drinks flow
And the company’s fab,
I know you’ll agree after hearing from me,
A “Favorite Things Party” is rad!
Now if that doesn’t make you feel like you can “climb ev’ry mountain,” I don’t know what will … other than throwing your own Favorite Things Party!
Last year, my Pokeno group started a tradition of having a Favorite Things Party each year around the holidays. This party has quickly become something we look forward to all year, and it’s a perfect way to kick off the holiday gift-giving season. But honestly, any time of year is perfect for a party like this!
So what exactly IS a Favorite Things Party?
Well, I’m glad you asked! It’s a get-together where everyone brings their favorite items to share with each other. There are a number of different ways you can do this, so I’ll share our way and a few other ideas. With a Favorite Things Party, anything goes – as long as you’re all having fun together.
In a nutshell, everyone brings multiples of the SAME favorite item to share with party attendees. But that’s where the similarities end!
My group sets a spending limit of $40, because budgets. (Ugh, I hate that word!) That means we are each required to bring FOUR of the same item(s) that cost $10 each, i.e. FOUR $10 nail polishes, FOUR $10 sets of tea towels, and so on. Each of us only ends up spending $40, which is a pretty reasonable amount.
We have a fun little show-and-tell session where we each show our item and explain why we chose to share it with the group. Honestly, that’s my favorite part of the evening! We then draw numbers from a hat in four rounds. Number One in round one has their pick of any gift they’d like. Number Two has second pick, Three has third, and so on. Once all four of a gift have been chosen, that item is off the table. Then we all draw numbers again so Number Nine isn’t stuck being last for all four rounds.
My friends this year opted for the items we sang about at the beginning of this post. Keep in mind that the prices in these links won’t always be the $10 limit, but we find sales/bundles/Amazon deals to make it work!
- Favorite English muffins, Trader Joe’s Everything But the Bagel seasoning, and an avocado (avocado toast, anyone?)
- Favorite hand soap and hair brush (your bathroom countertop dream team)
- Favorite travel-size tweezers (for those sunny days in car line when you spot the stray chin hair)
- Favorite Clinique Chubby Stick in Super Strawberry (it looks good on everyone!)
- Favorite mini skincare kit (back off, wrinkles)
- Favorite Essie Polish (in a fun color for the holidays!)
- Favorite magnetic bingo chip wand (this was a hit for our group because we lose Pokeno chips like crazy!)
- Favorite cleaning set (the honeysuckle scent makes doing dishes so much more pleasant)
- Favorite champagne and stopper (for those nights you don’t need to drink the whole bottle)
- Favorite Epsom Salt and Bubble Bath (with the cutest handmade ornament because she loves to sew)
And of course, you can go all-out and come up with a theme! Favorite beauty item, favorite book, favorite cocktail, favorite kitchen tool, favorite socks … the sky is truly the limit. Some groups who don’t have to worry so much about icky things like frugality can even bring an item for everyone in the group. That could get expensive quickly if you have a larger group, but keep in mind, you leave with more goodies that way!
The first year we did this, a friend hosted us at her home which was so lovely. Our second year, we were lucky enough to have the use of Bon Fete for our party thanks to our hostess Lauren who won a giveaway, which really elevated things to a new level! We decided to dress up for the occasion this year, but it’s up to your group if you want to fancy-it-up or go casual.
Food and drink are important elements of any party (hellooooooo South Louisiana, the land of feasting for any occasion). Each friend brought a dish / snack / appetizer / dessert to share, which works out quite nicely. You could even suggest that everyone bring their favorite thing to cook / assemble / purchase / eat! See what I did there? Lauren made a signature drink for the evening, which made things really special, too.
Now all that’s left is to host your own Favorite Things Party!
