How to Throw a Favorite Things Party

If you’re looking for a different type of party idea this holiday season, try throwing a Favorite Things Party with your friends. For the past few years, one of my friends has thrown an epic “Favorite Things Party” in December and it’s a party I look forward to every single year.

The concept is simple, everyone brings their favorite things, wrapped, at a decided upon price limit and you do a swap! By the end of the night, you leave with amazing and thoughtful gifts. What I love about this versus a white elephant party is that you’re not buying junk. I’m at a phase in my life where I don’t want to buy random stuff, nor do I want excess stuff in my house. For me, a gift exchange with gag gifts is simply a hard no, but coming home with someone else’s favorite items is so much fun!

You can do this type of party around any holiday—Christmas, New Year’s, Valentine’s Day or just for fun. The holidays are so fun though! As moms, we’re constantly thinking about gifting for other people and it feels like such a special treat to get thoughtful fun gifts from your friends who most likely love the same types of things as you do.

How to Throw a Favorite Things Party

What is a Favorite Things Party?

A favorite things party is a really fun gift exchange event where guests bring identical gifts of their favorite products, allowing everyone to share and receive gifts that they genuinely love.

It’s a perfect holiday party as it creates a warm, inviting atmosphere for friends to connect, celebrate, and discover new favorites together. This also can take the place of buying gifts for every friend while still celebrating the holiday season together!

First things first, set your budget

You’ll want to set a budget for the gifts so that the exchange feels even and fair and everyone leaves with equal gifts! The budget can really be whatever you want, but you’ll want it to be reasonable and at a price that everyone can afford and feels comfortable with. If you’re not sure, as your group of friends what everyone is comfortable with and go with that. Since you’re typically buying several gifts, this is important!

Our group does 3 gifts at $50 or under. We love doing a higher price point because it allows you to leave with 3 truly awesome gifts! If $50 is your max budget, you could do 1 gift at $50, or 2 at $25! Do whatever works for your group. Having at least 2 rounds, or 2 gifts is ideal!

Invitation

Next, you’ll want to send out an invitation far enough in advance for people to respond and also plan out their gifts! At least one month in advance, but if you plan on hosting in November or December when calendars get full, try planning 2 months in advance so everyone has it on their calendar! This will also allow people to snag gifts on sale during Black Friday and Cyber Week!

You can send an evite, invitations in the mail or via text. Here are some cute options to try:

Food & Drink

To make it easier on the host, we all chip in and bring wine, sparkling water and appetizers. Small, easy bites are perfect. I love Trader Joe’s frozen section for snackable bites that are easy to prepare, and this simple bruschetta that’s a crowd pleaser!

Wrapped or Unwrapped Gifts?

Personally, I find that wrapping them is part of the the fun! When you do the gift exchange, no one knows what’s inside, which makes it extra fun. Plus, who doesn’t love unwrapping a gift! This can also help prevent any hurt feelings if one gift keeps getting overlooked.

Wrapping Paper and Gift Bag Ideas

How to Play: Favorite Things Rules

Having a set of rules that’s in place from the beginning and sticking with it is honestly KEY to keeping the game fun, fair and civil. Before the gift exchange begins, the host should explain the rules fully!

I’ve created printable rules & festive paper slips or numbers so you can easily download and have on hand as the host so there’s no arguing! Grab them here:

We’ve had times when the rules aren’t clear or got changed mid-game (thanks to too much wine probably) and some guests were upset. Now that we’ve done this a few times, I know which areas got sticky, so I’ve made it clear so no one gets confused or frustrated!

Gift Rules

• Every guest brings 2 or 3, depending on what you decide, of their favorite things wrapped. Each gift must equal the budget. If the budget is $25 and one person brings 3 gifts that are $5 each, it won’t feel fair to the other guests, so get as close to the budget as possible, even if it means combining a few smaller items! If a guest arrives with no gifts, the can obviously hang out and watch, but do not include them in the gift exchange to keep things fair.
• When you’re ready to play, tally your number of guests. Let’s say there are 12. You’ll write numbers 1-12 on slips of paper and put in a bowl. Everyone draws one. The person who draws 1 will get to pick first, 12 will go last.

Gift Exchange Round 1

Starting with whoever drew number 1, that guest will pick a wrapped gift and unwrap it. The giver can explain why it’s their favorite thing! This gift is yours to keep! No trades from round 1 are allowed.

Gift Exchange Round 2 (stealing allowed)

For round two, number 12 gets to start. They pick a gift and then number 11 will pick. That person can pick a gift that’s available or steal a gift that’s been opened that round—no gifts from round 1 can be stolen.

If they choose to steal a gift, the player who was stolen from gets to pick a new gift. Then it will move onto the next player.

Each gift can only be stolen ONCE in this round. For example, if the second player steals the first players gift, it can no longer be stolen again. This prevents the game from going on too long and keeping it civil and kind and fair!

The last player to choose a gift can choose the final gift or steal any available gift from that round that has not already been stolen once. If that player steals a gift, the person that they stole from will take the final available gift and the game/round is complete. No more steals are allowed. Again, ending with a final swap here avoids the game dragging out, going on with too many steals and having feelings hurt.

Gift Exchange Round 3, if you have 3 gifts per person

If you decided to do 3 rounds, put all numbers back in a bowl and redraw to keep things as fair as possible! Starting with the person that draws number 1, they’ll get to pick a wrapped gift. At this point, you know what’s in each gift, so you can pick something you don’t already have or something you saw and loved. Whatever you pick, you keep—no stealing in the final round. Again, this keeps the game from dragging out longer than necessary and avoids any hurt feelings.

Simpler Gift Exchange Rules

While we find this style of opening and stealing really fun, it can get contentious! I say this from experience. There’s a simpler way to do this party that has less of a focus on the gift exchange and allows guests to hang out and talk more.

To play this style:

• To play, guests will sit in a circle with the wrapped gifts they brought.
• The host will start by pulling one name from the bowl, they will gift one of their items to that person. That person can open the gift. Once opened, pass the bowl to the next player to the right of them and repeat.
• If you draw your own name, put it back and draw again.
• Once the bowl goes around once, repeat again until all gifts are given. After the first round, you can either let guests open their gifts, or leave them wrapped to take home.
• *No gifts are stolen in this version of the game.
• You’ll all leave with two amazing gifts and less of the stress from the stealing rounds!

Favorite Things Party Gift Ideas

When thinking of your perfect gifts, think of your favorite kitchen gadgets, skincare or make-up item, gift sets, wine glasses, a bottle of wine, or even a gift card, though personally, I’d try to avoid a gift card and go for something more personal.

Remember, grab the printable rules and paper slips here!

This is such a fun party to throw during the holidays with your favorite people. Everyone goes home with other people’s favorite gifts and has a fun night with their friends!

BTW, gifts for her, and cute and festive holiday outfit ideas.