These Are a Few of MY Favorite Things!

It’s my FAVORITE time of year!

The holidays bring about my two favorite things: Friends & Family and Entertaining!

Each year I host a “Favorite Things” party for my “favorite peeps!” Check out the details of the day…

(and holiday decor below!)

Dinner was catered (less stress, no mess) by our favorite Mediterranean place!

We washed it down with some of our “favorite drinks”… champs (& cider for all the “preggos”)–we always have a few each year! 😉

I decided to keep things easy on myself, and do disposable place settings (different themes each year). There are so many beautiful sources I’ve found online to make disposable place settings look beautiful!

…and as they sat down, they were gifted one of my “favorite things” as a favor…

This year I found a beautiful ceramic mug commissioned by Rebecca Rebouche, a native Louisianan living and working in New Orleans, who creates nostalgic, emotive and whimsical art out of paint, mixed media and stitched soft sculpture; a practice best described as contemporary folk art. Topped with a cute edible gingerbread house! 🙂

After dinner the guests brought their mugs (one of my “Favorite things” as their favors) over to a coffee bar to find coffee of different flavors, seasonal creams, sweeteners, and of course…whipped cream!

Across the counter in my butler’s pantry was a dessert bar set up. A “favorite” of all of my guests in parties past is a dessert bar by my sister (and celebrity blogger/ chef “Dashing Dish”!)

This year she hosted a trifle bar..with gluten free cakes (healthier versions, which is what her cookbook and blog are known for), lighter versions of fillings, and toppings (some naughty, some nice–your choice!) The instructions–get a glass, layer it up with your “Favorites”, and enjoy!

After dinner and dessert, we headed to our lower level for our annual “favorite things” gift exchange!

Here’s how it works… each guest brings 3 gifts wrapped (this year we did a contest for who had the most creative wrapping!) We each put our name in a bowl 3 times, and picked 3 new names (not our own). The 3 names we picked were the 3 people we got presents from. Each person got to share why they were gifting that item as their “favorite thing”! It is so fun to learn of each other’s favorites, and leave with 3 new “favorite things”! This year I gifted a few of my favorite holiday candles & match strikers (wrapped in a cute Santa bag!)