How to Throw a Favorite Things Party That’s Absolutely Fabulous
A favorite things party is something certainly born out of the “Favorite Things” episodes of Oprah Winfrey’s iconic former talk show. But on a personal, non-celebrity level, a “my favorite things party” is a chance for friends and loved ones to share what they really enjoy. Favorite things party gift ideas can be anything from small items that make day-to-day life a little easier (like a kitchen gadget or organizing tool) to simple indulgences (like a beloved chocolate bar).
Because when you’re trying to figure out how to throw a favorite things party, nothing has to be particularly extravagant. It really just needs to come from the heart. And when you invite your favorite people to share all of their favorite things, everything kind of comes together in the most magical way. And, yes, we’re going to share all of our best favorite things party ideas to help you bring your own event to life.
Whether you’re planning your favorite things party as a lunch or brunch or if it’s more of a cocktail party situation, we’ll explore everything you need to create an incredible experience.
How To Create a Favorite Things Party
So the first question you might ask yourself when trying to plan your event is, “How do you do a favorite things party, anyway?” Well, the answer is actually quite simple. Create a guest list, preferably a small one that is no more than 10 people, then ask each of those guests to choose one of their favorite things to share with another guest. Alternatively, you could ask your guests to bring enough of their chosen favorite thing to provide one for each guest. However this can get incredibly costly and most of us do not have Oprah budgets. So if each person brings one favorite thing, you can actually give them away grab bag style, where every guest blindly chooses something from a box or bag that is the favorite thing of someone else in attendance.
What are the rules for the 3 favorite things gift exchange?
More gift ideas for a favorite things party is to ask each guest to bring a total of three of their favorite things to share with others. This way every guest walks away from the party with three fun gifts. You can either ask invitees to bring three of the same favorite thing, or three different favorite things if they’re feeling a little indecisive. Either way, these should be affordable items they love—snacks, beauty products, gadgets or anything fun. Gifts can be labeled with each guest’s name, and the exchange usually happens either by drawing from a pile or taking turns picking gifts. The goal is simple: share things you enjoy, discover new favorites and have fun. There should be zero pressure to spend a lot or compete. Optional twists include setting a theme or adding a short note explaining why each gift is a favorite.
Favorite Things Party Gift Ideas
If you’re struggling to come up with what to bring to a favorite things party, or what to provide for your own favorite things party, the options are quite endless. Let’s go through some categories and you can take a peek at a few ideas for each.
Snacks
Who doesn’t love a sweet little treat or a salty, savory snack? When coming up with your favorite thing to bring, don’t discount the power of food. This can be anything from a specialty chocolate bar (again, not too expensive) to your standard mid-afternoon indulgent bite (hello, giant oatmeal raisin cookie) to a bag of salt and vinegar chips. If it’s your favorite thing, chances are it will become someone else’s too.
Beauty Products
If you have a go-to lip balm, a beloved sheet mask or a “can’t-live-without-it” hand cream, then that’s what you should bring. These can be travel sizes to keep the cost low, or full-size if they’re products on the more affordable end of things. Either way, fellow guests will appreciate getting the secret to your radiant glow.
Gadgets
We all have at least one gadget or simple tool that just makes our daily life easier. It could be anything from a kitchen tool you love, like an avocado masher, to a beauty gadget like a face roller. Or maybe it’s a favorite calendar notepad that keeps you organized. Whatever it is, if it works for you it could be the life hack another guest is looking for.
Place a Minimum and Maximum Range For Favorite Things
No one wants their guests to feel obligated to spend a lot of money to attend a party that’s supposed to be fun and a chance to socialize. Keep everyone’s budget in mind when placing a price range on what to bring as their favorite thing. Ideally, these items will be no more than $5 – $10, particularly if you’re asking people to bring more than one of their favorite thing. Make sure you’re sensitive to everyone’s financial situation. The more inclusive your party, the more special it will be.
Create a Favorite Things Christmas Party
The winter holidays are a great time for a favorite things bash—it is the season of giving, after all and Christmas gift exchanges are so common this time of year. You can really use all of the other tips here that apply to a favorite things party happening any other time of the year. Or you can make it a Secret Santa situation, where each guest gives one of their favorite things to someone they’re assigned.
You could also opt for everyone to bring their favorite thing wrapped as a gift and place it under the tree. Guests choose a number and that’s the order in which they get to choose their present. It’s a festive spin on the favorite things party idea.
What Do You Do at a Favorite Things Party?
Well, you exchange your favorite things, of course. But you also chat, enjoy some food (light bites and desserts work) and enjoy one another’s company.
The easiest way to share everyone’s favorite things is to have each guest explain what they brought, and why they brought it, before people start choosing gifts. Then, behind the scenes, number each favorite thing, and place those numbers in a grab bag or box. Have each guest pull a number, then the correlating numbered favorite thing is their “prize.” You can do this once for each person if everyone brings just a single item, or three times if each guest has contributed three favorite things.
Food & Drinks For a Favorite Things Party
When you have your guests RSVP, ask them to share their favorite food or beverage with you. This way you can make sure you have a little something that each person enjoys. Of course if their response is caviar or expensive champagne, you can politely skip over that request. After all, you’re trying to make this affordable for everyone, including yourself.
All jokes aside, it would be fun to put a note next to each favorite food or drink that correlates with a guest, so everyone learns a little more about each other and their most coveted things.
If you’re worried people might all say the same thing, ask them to tell you one sweet favorite food, one savory favorite food, one non-alcoholic beverage and one adult beverage (if you’re serving those—no pressure if not) so that you have a variety to choose from.
How to Decorate
You can go as big or as simple with decorations for a favorite things party as you like. It also really depends on the time of day you’re hosting. If this is a brunch or lunch gathering, sprinkle tables with a few bud vases of your favorite flowers. Have a favorite color? Incorporate that into your event’s color scheme through plates, napkins, table cloths and other accessories.
If you want to get a little kitschy, you can always find some garland that boasts your favorite things, like donuts, purses, shoes, pizza—there are lots of paper garland options out there.
Hosting this as an evening cocktail party? Feel free to go a little glitzier with glimmering tea lights, gold or silver accents and maybe even a red carpet, with the favorite things being the “stars” of the show.
Your Favorite Things Party Is an Event to Remember
Regardless what favorite things your guests bring, spending time getting to know your loved ones and special people even better is such a sweet way to make new memories. And, of course, the first step to getting your guests excited about the party is with a great invitation. Greetings Island specializes in offering an impressive variety of invites for all of life’s occasions, from birthdays to retirements and, yes, favorite things parties. Be sure to browse our invitation collection today and lock in the guest list for your soiree before social calendars fill up. No one is going to want to miss this heart-warming event. In fact, they’ll probably be begging you to make this an annual thing … because the party is now one of their favorite things.
Photo by: Content Pixie, Jerome Maas, Val Vesa, Woliul Hasan, Olivie Strauss, Anita Austvika on UnSplash
