A Few of my Favorite Things

One of the best parts about running a playgroup is that the women I meet become more than just "other moms" they be come friends as well. And sometimes these friends come up with awesome ideas. Recently an idea was posted on our meetup page about having a My Favorite Things party. I wasn't quite sold on it until I found out what it was.

Don't know what a My Favorite Things party is? Well channel your inner Oprah and read on!

My guests' favorite things

A My Favorite Things party is a night in (or out) where each guest shares their favorite item under a certain dollar amount with their friends. For our party we chose a dollar limit of $6 per item. Each guest brings 5 of the same item under that $6 limit to share and gift to the others at the party.

When you get to the party, write your name on 5 pieces of paper. Each guest will choose 5 different people to give their favorite thing to (make sure to do this in advance to avoid duplicates or drawing your own name). Once the names are drawn, go around the room and explain why the item is your favorite and then announce who the lucky girls are to receive your item The party can be general, like our first one was, or themed!

My favorite thing - Earth Mama Angel Baby!

We each brought one of our favorite dishes to share and our favorite bottle of wine so that before we jumped into the fun of exchanging our favorite things we were able to eat and mingle together. Since each dish was a favorite I made little signs to go along with them. The party can also be hosted at a restaurant or other location outside of the home but since we all didn't have childcare this was the best option for us. Dads watched the kids outside while the moms enjoyed some time to chat and talk.

Once everyone had a bite to eat we got to sharing! And boy was this part fun.

When the kids heard that presents were involved they quickly came in to help pass out the favorites. Once they realized what was inside the presents, they weren't too excited about helping. Ignore my son, spiderman... he just got home from a birthday party.


Here's the favorites from our party:

• My Favorite - Earth Mama Angel Baby Happy Mama Hand to Toe Wash
• Elizabeth's Favorite - Krispy Kreme gift cards
• Clarissa's Favorite - Muir Glen Organic marinara sauce
• Jen's Favorite - Tresemme dry shampoo
• Kari's Favorite - Lush Bubble Bar in Dorothy
• Sophia's Favorite - Yellowtail wine
• Nikki's Favorite - Bath & Body Works CO Bigelow Mentha Lip Tint

In addition to these awesome favorites, Chobani was kind enough to send each of my guests Family 4 Pack tickets to Kidsfest AND 2 free product coupons.  Boy were these mamas excited about yogurt!

I also included my Lipton Tea & Honey Klout perk samples and some Hot Dog on a Stick temporary tattoos for the kiddos that I received in a prize package I won at the SD Mom's Night Out Tweetup. What fun is it to keep all these fun goodies to myself, right? Gotta spread the love!

Each mama went home with five new and fun items. I was so excited to see what each person brought and was surprised to find how diverse each of our items were. We're already planning our next My Favorite Things party and this time we're going with a theme: Baby/Kid's Favorite Thing!

I gave a little bonus to my guests courtesy of Earth Mama Angel Baby and shared my Baby/Kid item, Angel Baby Bottom Balm. I've blogged about it before and can't say enough about how awesome it really is. And EMAB was kind enough to also send samples of their awesome Monthly Comfort and Milkmaid teas (both of which I needed!). So stay tuned for our next party and what new favorites we come up with!

Check out more photos of my party on Facebook and G+!

What would you bring to the My Favorite Things party?

Disclaimer: I was given a free product or sample. I was under no obligation to receive the sample or talk about this company. I get no additional benefits for talking about the product or company.

Jumping for Joy with @Chobani and @KidsFestSD #NaBloPoMo

Watching the joy in my children's faces as they enjoy awesome activities makes me jump for joy. Being able to take them to a place that's filled with discovery, adventure, and fun is one of the best parts about being a parent. 

And being in San Diego we're quite blessed to have many opportunities to experience joy with our kids. The weather, the activities, and the events we have around town just can't be beat. This past weekend we had the pleasure of attending KidFest San Diego and boy did we have some fun!

Thanks to Chobani and the Chobani Champions bus I was able to pass on tickets to KidsFest to the families of my playgroup. Since we had already won a family 4-pack of tickets from Stacey of San Diego Bargain Mama we didn't need a set, but we wanted our friends to join in on the fun with us!

The first stop we hit when we got to the event was the Chobani Champions bus to endulge in full size samples of the new Chobani Champions. My daughter chose the banana honey, I had some chocolate and vanilla, my husband enjoyed the orangecicle and my son devoured the very berry. Our friends also enjoyed their samples as well. My friend Kari, from Mommy To Elodie, and her family were there to enjoy most of the event with us. And we were so glad they did!

We hula hooped courtesy of SitterCity. Kari showed the kids how to do it and got quite into it. She even had to take off her sweater to get more speed. My son absolutely loved trying it out and Elodie got quite into the action as well.

We built castles with The Village Blocksmith.These blocks were absolutely stunning! Each set builds a small castle that would make any kid excited. I'm definitely putting this on my wish list for Christmas this year. If your kids love building I highly suggest taking a look at his website.

We made awesome strawberry mice courtesy of Muffin Tin Mom. We took a strawberry, some chocolate chips, almond slivers and twizlers and created these adorable little forest creatures. I don't know what it was but as soon as my daughter saw the little mice she decided she wanted to devour every single one. I had to keep a few set aside for my husband and son to enjoy as well. We'll definitely be making these again! We love all of the wonderful ideas we get from Muffin Tin Mom.

We ate yummy food from the food trucks! I got a burger and tater tots from Recess to share. The kids had never tasted tater tots before (except for the sweet potato ones we attempted to make in the oven... not good!) and love them. Lucky for me and my diet they ate all but one. I enjoyed my delicious cheeseburger with grilled onions. 

Kari got lucky and scored big with the breakfast burrito she ordered from Delicioso. This bad boy was only $5 and was on the kids menu! Can you believe it? She thought she was going to get something half the size and was pleasantly surprised.

And we got messy and made mud pies and pinatas! The kids were given sand, water, and all the tools needed to make mud pies. They had a blast doing what they know best... making messes! They also were able to decorate a pinata filled with fun goodies from CircleBuzz. These were quite the hit and the kids used all of their creative juices to make theirs unique.

All of this fun and more lead to a very joyful family day. We enjoyed family, friends, food, and fun! How could we not want to jump for joy after all of that? I definitely will be making my way to KidsFest San Diego next year and will hopefully be bringing along more friends!

Did you make it down this year? What was your favorite part of the event?

What makes you jump for joy?