A “Favorite Things” party is the ultimate Girls’ Night. It’s high energy, full of discovery, and best of all, everyone goes home with presents!
Hosting the Ultimate ‘Favorite Things’ Party
How it Works: The Basic Rules
The beauty of this party is its flexibility. You can adjust the budget and the number of items based on your group.
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Pick Your Favorite: Choose one item you truly love that fits the budget (e.g., $10 or less).
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Buy in Multiples: If the goal is for everyone to take home four gifts, you buy four of that same item.
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No Wrapping Required: You don’t need to wrap the gifts, but feel free to dress them up with a ribbon, bow, or cute tag.
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To Name or Not to Name: The hostess might provide name cards to display with your items, or you can keep it anonymous and let everyone guess who brought what!
The “Shopping” Rotation
To keep things organized, guests are assigned a color upon arrival (solid-colored beaded necklaces work perfectly). This determines the shopping order.
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The First Round: The hostess calls a color group (e.g., “Red”). Those ladies “shop” the gift table and choose two new items.
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The Rotation: The next color group goes, and so on, until everyone has picked two things.
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The Reverse: To keep it fair, the hostess reverses the color order for the second round. Everyone shops for their final two items.
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The Result: Every guest leaves with four brand-new “favorite things!”
Pro-Tip: You can decide how many items guests should bring. I’ve been to parties where we brought six items (three of each) or even eight! Just keep the budget comfortable for everyone. For me, the more choices, the better!
How to Shop for Your “Favorite Thing”
For my first party, I was a little overwhelmed. How could I possibly pick just one favorite? Having a $10 budget actually helped narrow the field and took the stress off my wallet.
I started by listing things I consistently buy for myself: good food, entertaining supplies, and home decor. My “splurge list” usually includes candles, makeup, and pretty much anything from Home Goods.
Since Home Goods is the mother-land of all things beautiful for the home, I started there. Naturally, I got distracted by the pet beds (Focus, Meg! Focus!), but eventually, I found the perfect score: 8″ silver and glass cake stands. They were exactly $9.99 each. Wouldn’t it be cool to serve every meal on a statuesque stand?
The Presentation
I placed the stands in white cake boxes with a little tissue paper. I attached a ribbon only to the top lid so the ladies could peek inside without opening the whole thing. The hostess also provided cute gift bags with name tags for everyone to stash their “loot” as they shopped!
Favorite Things Inspiration
I was blown away by what people found for under $10! Here are some of the most popular items from the night:
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Gourmet Treats: Chocolates, specialty coffee, and wine.
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Self-Care: Bath and body products, lip gloss, and candles.
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Home & Style: Decorative items, cozy throw blankets, and even functional things like cute umbrellas.
I actually scored some cozy blankets and candles at a recent party—the blankets were a “pro-planner” move I snagged during an online Black Friday sale!
This party is a blast because you get to see your friends’ personalities through what they bring. I now find myself scoping for awesome deals throughout the year just for the next party.
I brought cozy throw blankets & candles at the recent Favorite Things Party – The blankets were actually scored from Macy’s during their online Black Friday Sale. Yes, I plan ahead.
