Favorite Things parties are typically held during the holidays, but we say, why wait? You can host one any time of the year! It’s a great excuse to get the girls together for a fun evening of wine, dessert and favorite things to share. We have all the tips, lists and links you need to easily host a summer favorite things party. For our summer favorite things we chose a “beauty” theme.
Today we are sharing all the details on how to host a favorite things party, summer and beauty edition.
Hosting a favorite things party is simpler than you might imagine and brimming with fun for you AND your friends. Today we are sharing all the how-to’s and tips to make your party planning a breeze!
Keep it uncomplicated because the joy of being together is what truly matters.
Don’t wait for the holiday season—host a favorite things party this summer!
Shop Megan’s Look // Shop Christa’s Look
Everything You Need to Know to Host Your Favorite Things Party
- How a Favorite Things Party Works
- The Favorite Things Party Invite
- Everything You’ll Need for Your Favorite Things Party
- A Favorite Things Party Planning Checklist
- How We Exchanged Our Favorite Things
- The $20 Favorite Beauty Items Our Guests Brought
- What to Serve for Your Favorite Things Party
- In case you missed it, here are the three downloads for your party planning.
- Need more party ideas?
- Pin this Post to Plan a Favorite Things Party
How a Favorite Things Party Works
A quick search on Pinterest will tell you there is no wrong way to host a Favorite Things Party! Generally, most people think of this as a holiday party or a Galentine’s Day get together, but we’re here to tell you that you can host this any time of year!
What is a Favorite Things Party?
A Favorite Things party is a fun gift exchange, where all the guests bring their favorite item to share with the group. It’s the ultimate “friends share the good stuff” party, because everyone is sharing something they love and buy on repeat. And it’s so fun to go home with new favorite things to try and enjoy.
Choose a Theme for Your Favorite Things Party
You don’t need a theme for your party, but a theme can definitely add to the excitement and make it less stressful for guests to select an item to bring. For our party, we chose “beauty products” and everyone was so excited to share their favorites. Megans favorite beauty product is the Londontown Nail Illuminator and Concealer in color Milky. Christa’s favorite beauty product was her Billie razor.
Other theme ideas include kitchen gadgets, books, accessories…pick something that works with your friend group. We generally recommend staying away from clothing for your theme, since sizes and fit are very specific, but fashion accessories like scarves, bags and jewelry would be fun!
Decide How Many “Favorite Things” Guests Should Bring
We decided that three items was a good number; then everyone would go home with three new things to try. If your group is small, you could ask everyone to bring one item per person. You could also try setting a higher price (like $50) and have everyone bring one “fancy” item.
Set a Dollar Amount Per Item
We decided to have a $20 limit per item. We asked that people spend as close to $20 as they could to be fair to everyone. So in some cases, friends brought 2-3 favorite things that totaled $20, which was also lots of fun!
Just for Fun — an Extra Prize Drawing
For an extra bit of fun, we asked everyone to bring a favorite $5 beauty item if they wanted to participate in a grand prize drawing. Everyone that brought an item was entered, and the winner went home with all the goodies, packed in a tote bag that we purchased. The $5 items included so many great treasures, and our winner was definitely excited about her bag of goodies to try!
The Favorite Things Party Invite
Once you have your party details, send out the invitations. Paperless Post has the cutest and easiest invites! Send your invitations about 4 weeks in advance, and be sure to include the details of what guests should being and how much to spend.
With Paperless Post, you can easily send a reminders to your guests. We found it helpful to send an email about a week before, reminding guests about the party details–how many fav things to bring, how much to spend, etc. This gave them plenty of time to shop or order their items if they still needed to.
This is the wording we used in our invitation to make sure the directions were clear to all our guests. Feel free to copy and paste it!
Bring THREE identical $20 beauty, makeup, or skincare items. (You can also combine 2-3 items totaling $20.) You’ll go home with THREE new products to try! Suggestions include makeup, haircare, organizers, skincare, lotion, travel products, or anything you love in your daily routine! YOU DO YOU and get creative! Please make sure your item is close to $20. OPTIONAL: Bring ONE $5 favorite item to enter to win a gift basket filled with all the favorite $5 items!
Everything You’ll Need for Your Favorite Things Party
A summer favorite things party truly is an EASY party to host, and it is easy on the budget, too. The list of what you need is short and we’ve linked it all to make planning a breeze!
- invitations
- your party “basics” – tablecloth, plates, cocktail napkins, cups, wine glasses, utensils
- food and drinks
- ice
- flower centerpieces (this vase from Amazon makes the best/easiest arrangements – we love it!)
- party favor tote bags (optional; see below)
- a bowl/vase, plus slips of paper and pens, for names to be written on
SHOP FOR YOUR PARTY
A Favorite Things Party Planning Checklist
We LOVE a checklist, especially when someone makes it for us! Checklists ensure that there will be no major hiccups and no fire drills the day of your event. Stress free party planning is what we’re all about!
How We Exchanged Our Favorite Things
As our guests arrived they added their beauty products to the display and wrote their name three times and put it in the vase. Christa started the evening off by telling the group why the Billie Razor is her favorite beauty product and then she pulled three lucky names out of the vase. The first name pulled went next. Each friend told about her product and drew three names. The show and tell of each product was the best part!
Party Favor Tote Bags
At Style Among Friends we LOVE a goodie bag, so we knew our party favor had to be a tote bag to take home all the goodies from the party. Etsy shop Finding Hope and Joy has great personalized products and Rebecca will do custom items (like our bags) as well. We have ordered from Rebecca several times and she is creative, fast, accommodating and a JOY to work with. Christa designed our logo, which we think is pretty amazing. As a little treat from us to you, we are sharing it with you all (see below) in case you want to download it for your party.
Download our free design for your own favorite things party totes!
The $20 Favorite Beauty Items Our Guests Brought
There was such a fun variety of items–and it was even more fun to have a little show-and-tell, with each guest telling why she loves the item she brought. (And yes, undies count as a beauty item…no one can feel their best with a wedgie!)
p.s. The undies are currently in the Nordstrom Anniversary sale, 25% off. Give ’em a try!
The List (and Links) of What Everyone Brought
What to Serve for Your Favorite Things Party
We served a chocolatey dessert and some summertime fruit kabobs. Plus, we had plenty of wine and refreshing non-alcoholic drinks on hand.
In case you missed it, here are the three downloads for your party planning.
- Party Planning Checklist
- Design for the tote bag
- List/links for what guests brought
Need more party ideas?
- How to Host a Flower Arranging Party + a Planning Checklist
- How to Host a Care Package Party
- How to Host a Book Club with Your Friends
- How to Host a Movie Night with Your Friends
Pin this Post to Plan a Favorite Things Party
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