Hello Cupcake

Mmmmm . . . Cupcakes . . .

This year I put together a gift for the Favorite Things Exchange that combined my love for baking (and for eating baked goods), with my love of party planning, my love of paper crafts, and my love of spending time with friends. It was a Party in a Box--a kit for throwing your very own Cupcake Exchange.

It included invitations, paper goods, a garland, party favor boxes and tags, a cookbook, a cakestand, and of course . . . cupcakes! I had so much fun putting it together, and I think I might have to go ahead and throw a similar party myself.

Classics

I just found ModCloth, and I admit, I would like to buy soooo many things from them! These dresses are so cute and feminine.

You've also got to check out the swimsuits . . .

and the shoes!

Oh, I love it all. I must be in a black and white mood today judging by the things I picked out, but they have lots of lovely colored items as well.

The 3rd Annual Favorite Things Exchange

It's that time of year again! Time for a bunch of girls to get together to share some food, conversation, and a whole bunch of their "favorite things."

Here's the deal . . . two years ago, one of my friends suggested we have a get together where everyone comes and brings a gift full of their favorite things to exchange with someone else. She and I and another friend planned the event, and it turned out beautifully. The next year, we made it even better, and now we just finished the event for the third year. We have so much fun planning all the little details and it's so fun to share my love of parties with these two talented women.

Here we are in all our glory. Every year, we ask our guests to join us in dressing to match the color scheme. As you can see . . . it was red and white this year. We love the excuse to get all prettied up. We also try to have something that's unique to just us. It was supposed to be scarves this year, but I was a party pooper and took mine off pretty early on.

The invites -- these were huge (8 in. squares), and I loved the look and feel of them as we handed them out.

Food is always the most difficult part for us--we like to do it, but it's always so last minute and can be stressful. So this year we opted for pre-boxed lunches. They were easy, cute, and very filling.

The lunch boxes were personalized, and we used them as "place cards" on each chair. We love to make assigned seating so that we can mix up the group and help people get to know one another better.


Each chair also had a little nosegay of daisies. They were just one of those little "extras" that made the whole affair so special.

This was the cheerful scene that greeted guests as they entered.

Definitely not the first, or the last, time you'll see this chair in one of my pictures. I wonder what color it will be next?

Then there was a table where each guest wrote her name and address on an envelope and slipped it into the gift she was giving away. After the party, each person has a pre-addressed thank you note to send to the person whose gift she received.

The thank you's were also handmade and coordinated with our invites.

The dessert table was beautiful and easy. With a chocolate fountain as a centerpiece, and tons of dippers, it was the perfect end to our lunch.

Then on to the gifts.

Here's the whole lot of them before we started drawing numbers. The gifts were wonderful this year, and you could tell that everyone had put a lot of time and attention into them. There wasn't one that I wouldn't have been happy to receive!

And here's the whole group that was there. Thank you everyone for coming and helping to make our "3rd Annual" event a success!