This is a new tradition that we started this year as a way to exchange gifts without having to buy gifts for everyone. The idea came from TikTok and was super easy for us to coordinate. I posted a video over on my TikTok and Instagram and everyone seemed to like it so far.
We all got together on a few weekends ago for Valentine's Day brunch and it was so much fun. So let's chat a bit about a Favorite Things party!
What is a Favorite Things Party?
It kind of is self-explanatory, but the whole premise for everyone is to bring three of their favorite things to the party. The concept is that you should bring three things and leave with three things. Everyone will leave with hopefully their new favorite thing.
I noticed Favorite Things parties popped up a lot around the holidays and I think it may be a good way for people to do a gift exchange without totally breaking the budget. The best part is you get a chance to share one of your favorite things with your friends (or family).
Deciding on a Budget
For this year's gift exchange we kept the budget around $10 a gift. That way everyone is spending around $30 for the whole party. Of course, you did not have to spend $10 on each item and could go less if there was something you really love at a lower budget point. This helped keep the cost down for everyone.
For this year's gift exchange we kept the budget around $10 a gift. That way everyone is spending around $30 for the whole party. Of course, you did not have to spend $10 on each item and could go less if there was something you really love at a lower budget point. This helped keep the cost down for everyone.
How does it work for large groups?
We usually have between four and six people at our brunches and this year we had five (including me) so keeping the limit to three gifts per person worked perfectly for us. But for larger groups, I have seen suggestions to increase the number of gifts everyone brings to keep the variety up. In general, you want 1/2 the amount of gifts for total gifts. So if you have eight people, everyone brings four and so on and so forth.
Since this was my first year, I did my best to come up with a few things that I really love and ended up getting a Hearth & Hand coffee mug, cold brew pod and nail stickers. I use the nail stickers all the time and of course I had to find a way to include coffee because I love coffee.
Where do we exchange gifts?
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Do you wrap the gifts?
I have also seen this done both ways - wrapped and unwrapped. We decided to not wrap the gifts so that everyone could see what was brought. If you want to wrap the gifts, it could easily make for an interesting exchange because people would not know what they're receiving.
How does exchanging gifts work?
Again, this area is a matter of preference, but we had everyone draw a card and pick from the cards to determine selection order. Then we went one-by-one selecting gifts from the table of options. The person who brought the gift gave a background as to why it was a favorite thing of theirs which was so fun. Once everyone selected a prize, we shuffled the cards and drew again and went in numerical order again. This gave everyone a chance to pick and didn't leave one person picking last every time.
What kinds of gifts did you give/receive?
This was our first time doing an exchange, but it was so much fun! I took the approach of getting a few things and combining them into one gift. While others brought one single item as their favorite gifts. Below are some of the things that we exchanged as part of the gifts:
- Coffee mug with coffee and nail stickers
- Cold brew coffee with whipped cream and electrolyte packet
- Starbucks gift card
- Bottle of Champagne
- Mini spatula with Reese's heart
- Scrub Mommy
Below is a photo of all of our gifts together. It was so much fun and I'm hoping we can do it at least one more time this year. I may even suggest we do it for the Christmas party in December.
Well that is all for today!
Have a wonderful day,
Jackie
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What a fun and great idea for a get together!
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