Ahh, the holiday season is upon us. A time for many families to gather, reconnect, and celebrate together. It really is the most wonderful time of the year and by far my favorite.
I am lucky enough to not only have a wonderful, close knit biological family, but I also have a tight circle of girlfriends that are just like family. Over the years, as we have grown into “adulthood” (wow- that word makes us sound old) we have started our own holiday traditions with each other. The holidays are a BUSY time of year. For most of us, we are booked with events for our kids, as well as extra work engagements, and more travel but we have made it a point to take time to gather together each year.
FRIENDSGIVING
We started having a friendsgiving a few years ago and it is the BEST. Each year, we take turns being the host. We then are all assigned different food items to bring and we gather all around the table with us girls and our spouses. I have a feeling if we would have told our teenage selves “some day you guys are gonna throw a party and eat really nice food that you all make and drink wine, and play games and you’ll go around the table and each share what you are thankful for and then be tucked into your beds by 11pm and call it a REALLY fun night” we might think we were a little lame. But it is SO MUCH fun.
FAVORITE THINGS
Another tradition we have is our favorite things party. This consists of just us girls this time (no hubbies involved). Our favorite things party consists of yummy food, lots of holiday cookies, some delicious beverages, our favorite things gifts, and girl time. It honestly is a bit of refresher during the midst of holiday chaos.
Here are the steps below to throw your own favorite things party:
Think of something over the past year or so that has been one of your favorite things that is around $5.
Go out and purchase 5 of that $5 item.
You can choose with your group if you wrap your gifts or not.
At the start of the party, each guest should have an empty gift bag with their name on it.
Every guest writes their name on 5 different pieces of paper and all of the names go into a bowl.
Then, each guest draws 5 names (not their own and no duplicates) and those names are the people who get your favorite things.
Deliver your gifts into the labeled bag.
Guests can then open up their bag and see all of their goodies!
*This is the best way to do it if you have a group larger than 6 people. For my group of friends, there are exactly 6 of us that do the exchange so we skip the gift bag and drawing names part and we also choose to wrap our gifts. Because we have done it with the same group of friends each year, some of our gifts have gotten more personalized.
It is so fun to see what everyone thinks of and chooses to bring! We have had some pretty creative ideas. Here is a list of potential ideas:
-nail polish
-chap stick
-succulent
-kitchen gadget
-magazine subscription
-makeup
-nothing bundt cakes mini’s
-coffee gift card
-game
-luggage tag
-coffee mug
-ornament
-lotion
-socks
-wine stopper
-wine charms
-jewelry
-candle
-candy
-stationary
-tea towel
-scarf
-hair accessory
-book
-journal
Make it a point to take time to connect with your friends during this holiday season. I know it is a hectic time of year where we are often feeling rushed, but the time we take to focus on what is important during this season will really help realign our hearts.
Share with me what are some of you favorite holiday traditions with your friends!
