Woohoo! Today we’ve got something a little different, but super fun! If you’re subscribed to PMT Emails or caught my Instastories, you might remember me sharing that some ladies from the PMT Challenges organized a meet up for a girls’ weekend a few weeks ago. Some were local to the city I live in while others drove or flew in from out of state!
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On the first night they organized a Favorite Things party and I hosted it in my backyard! (A backyard that we recently just finished landscaping after 4 years of living here.) I’ve been to a few Favorite Things party, and even did one for my birthday a couple years ago. I thought it’d be fun to share about what the heck a Favorite Things party is, and more importantly, share what people brought! Yall know from my Gift Guides that I LOVE sharing a good product, so I can’t wait to share with you the awesome items people brought! But first…
What’s a Favorite Things Party?
In a nutshell, it’s a party where everyone brings some of their favorite things, gifts are exchanged, and everyone leaves with a number of gifts equal to what they brought! But, details… I’ve been to several Favorite Things parties and they’ve each been a little different. Three main ways have gone like this:
- Everyone brings 3 of the same item, unwrapped, and puts them on a table. Before you start, everyone goes around and shares what they brought and why it’s one of their favorite items. Everyone draws a number from a bowl. Whoever is #1 gets to choose any item on the table as theirs. Then you continue in numerical order taking turns choosing a gift. You do this for 3 rounds, redrawing numbers for each round. Pretty straight forward! I’ve done this with a $5 per gift limit and a $10 per gift limit. The $5 had some pretty amazing gifts and great stories as to why they’re people’s favorite things!
- Everyone brings the same number of items as there are guests. I’ve never been to a Favorite Things party like this, but I have friends who’ve done this. This is better for smaller groups, otherwise it can get quite expensive even with a low $5 limit!
The third way was what we did at the PMT Meet Up. I hadn’t done it like this before but it was also fun! It went like this:
- Everyone brought 3 different gifts, wrapped. Similarly to the first way, everyone drew a number from a bowl and took turns choosing gifts in numerical order. But this time, we did it white elephant style. When it was your turn, you could steal a gift from someone else. An item could be stolen twice only, for a total of it being in someone’s possession 3 times (original opener, then two steals). You couldn’t steal back immediately after someone stole from you.
- Once an entire round was completed and everyone got to choose a gift once, all items were locked in. You couldn’t steal an item from a past round. Numbers were redrawn each round.
- We had a $20 per gift limit. But some people broke that! ?
Now that you know how it works, let’s talk about the goodies people brought!
No, baby Ella was not one of the gifts, but she WAS passed around and stollen! 😉
FAVORITE THINGS GIFT IDEAS
Since there were 17 of us and each of us brought 3 DIFFERENT gifts, there were a ton of things going around. I’ll highlight a few of my favorites as well as other things I like to bring to these parties.
(This one was different as we were asked to not bring food/snack items in caution of people’s allergies, and some of my favorite things are food, haha! We were also asked to not bring liquids to be mindful of people who were flying, so that they wouldn’t have to pay to check a bag. Gosh that was a little tough as many beauty and makeup products were out!)
FAVORITE THINGS $5 AND UNDER
- e.l.f. Under Eye Powder – I use this daily to set my under eye concealer.
- e.l.f. Makeup Mist Setting Spray – I use this daily as well to keep my makeup in place all day.
- Sinful Colors Nail Polish – only $1.99 and pretty good for that price!
- Snacks!! I typically bring Mini Peanut Butter Cups from Trader Joe’s–OMG I die–but you could bring gummis, Swedish Fish, cookies, etc.
- Journals from Marshall’s, Ross, or TJMaxx for $3.99. Those are for real my favorites, and they are usually $7.99-ish at Target but only $3.99 at Marshall’s.
- Favorite Recipe + Ingredients. One of my friends shared one of her favorite desserts, which was a special poached peach with cinnamon that you top off with ice cream. She packaged the ingredients for 2 serving sans ice cream and wrote the instructions. It was really cool!
- Mug or cup
- Pack of your favorite coffee or tea
- Suave Dry Shampoo – This is the one I use!
- Wet Brush Travel Size – Both Addie and I use these! Gentle on your hair!
FAVORITE THINGS $10 AND UNDER
- O.P.I Nail Polish – Red Haute has been my favorite for a while. This is technically $10.49 but you can get 5% discount with a Target Redcard–that works! 😀
- L’Oreal Voluminous Mascara + Your Favorite Cheapie Face Mask
- A combo of the e.l.f. Under Eye Powder + Real Techniques Setting Brush + e.l.f Setting Spray
- Voluspa Tin Candle – I love this one!
- Mug + pack of your favorite coffee or tea
- Paper Mate Flair Pens (THE BEST PENS) + $3.99 journal from Marshall’s
- Reloaded Eyeshadow Palette – someone brought this to the party! 4.5 stars and 70 reviews!
- Simple Modern 20oz Stainless Steel Thermos – only $10 and 3,400+ reviews with 4.4 stars. I received this at the party in the larger version!
- L’Oreal Paris Collagen Moisture Filler Day/Night Cream – someone brought this as their favorite!
- Aloe Socks – for continual moisturizing! Someone also brought these.
- Maybelline Super Stay Matte Ink Lip Color – PMTers are going crazzzzyyyy about these! Popular shades are Lover, Loyalist, Pioneer, and Ruler.
- GoTubbs – One of my favorite travel items for small things
- A few of your favorite snacks
- Favorite crafting supplies or crafting tool
- Favorite book – Someone brought one of Mindy Kaling’s hilarious books!
FAVORITE THINGS $10-$20
- Wine Tumbler – Someone also brought this. Keeps beverages hot or cold for hours!
- Color Switch Brush Cleaner – Someone brought this and I want it! Clean your brush without water(!!) so that you can switch from one color to another color with the same brush without having to clean it!
- Nickel & Suede Earring of the Month – Every month, a different pair of earrings goes on sale for $18 for the whole month.
- Essie Gel Set – Always a popular gift!
- Beauty Blender – Yall know I’m a fan.
- AirPufs Shoe Insoles – Read about them HERE.
- Your favorite artwork/prints. Even better if you bring them framed!
- Your favorite luxurious lotion
- Egg Cooker – I received this and my husband is super intrigued because he LOOOOVES eggs. Boil, poach, or steam eggs with barely any thought, perfect every time!
MORE FAVORITE THINGS
In the widget below I compiled some of the products above as well as additional ones from the PMT Meet Up that were over $20. There were some great items over $20 that I might need to include in Gift Guides later this year during the holidays! (If you are in Bloglovin’ and cannot see the widget below, click out of the frame HERE.)
Have you ever been to a Favorite Things party?
If not, throw one with your friends this summer! SO FUN!
Fantastic group of ladies from the PMT Challenges
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SUMMER STARTER KIT GUIDE NOW AVAILABLE
Pssst! In case you missed it, last Monday the Summer Starter Kit Guide came out! If you need want to build a small but super remixable casual summer wardrobe but don’t know where to start, go read all about it HERE!
