I wanted to post about my charity girlfriend party I am hosting at my home on Friday night.  This party started about 6 years ago and has been a big hit ever since.


The whole idea of the party is for all of us girlfriends to get together and celebrate each other's friendship and then we also have a gift exchange where the proceeds from buying the gift go to your favorite charity.  It always is so special to see what everyone comes up with for gifts.  We play a cute story game exchange and then when you end up with your gift you open it and the person it is from tells why they chose this particular charity to buy their gift from.  The stories are heartwarming. 

We also do an ornament exchange and I have a few other fun games we play where the proceeds for the prizes go to charity too.

Here are a few of the prep pictures I have for the party.  I will try to remember in all the fun on Friday to take some pictures of my girlfriends and what beautiful gifts they come up with to post later.

At this time of year we get so busy trying to get the house ready, bake and buy and wrap gifts so this night is a special gift from me to my bff's.  I am so blessed to have the most fantastic group of girlfriends and I love to host this party in honor of them.  My life would not be the same without them.

A night for all my angel girlfriends to come and celebrate our friendships.

The invites go out.

Each year I have a theme for my charity girlfriend party.  This years theme is Tequila and Tiara's.  Everyone will get a Tiara when they arrive and we will be drinking special Christmas Margarita's.  Everyone knows no Tiara is complete without pink fuzzy slippers.  I got each of them a pair of NAP fuzzy comfy slippers to wear too.  This party is all about comfort and joy!

Special pink magical wand glasses for our beverages!!!
Everyone brings a special appetizer to share too. Good food and drink.

I do a party favor for each girlfriend and this year I found this yummy pink moscato wine where the proceeds went to breast cancer awareness and the cute girly ornaments were just a cute added touch to the wine bottles.
 

Each ornament on the wine bottles was just a little different and one was cuter than the next.  So each girlfriend will have a cute ornament to take home too.

This is probably my favorite twist to this years party.  We are all wearing our cutest or ugliest Christmas sweaters.  The one who wears the "cutest" or  "ugliest" as the case may be sweater to the party will receive this prize.  It is the Bulls EyeTarget dog and all the proceeds go to St. Jude's Research Hospital.  He is wearing his cute Christmas Sweater!!!!! I also attached a Target gift card where the dog on the gift card has a Christmas Sweater that lights up!!!! I just loved this prize this year.  How appropriate I thought for the party.  The prize matches the contest and also benefits charity.  Love it!!!!!

Of course if you saw my last post I showed you these cute little nests I got from the Dollar Tree for a buck.  Everyone will be going home with one of these little ornaments for their tree and one to pass on to a complete stranger or friend or family member or neighbor etc.  The German legend is that if your Christmas Tree has a nest in it the family will have good health and prosperity throughout the year.  I want these to be passed on as a charitable act.  So everyone will receive these little cuties.

 
We also play a game with a Christmas story poem.  Each person gets one of these identical gifts and we read a cute story and pass the gifts around.  Everyone one ends up with a gift at the end of the story.  The gifts are identical and are from Laura Ashley. They are washing bags for your bras to keep them nice in the wash.  Some of the proceeds of  these went to Breast Cancer Research.  The special part of this game is that one of these packages has a hidden Victoria Secret Gift Card.  So someone by luck will not only get a great wash bag for lingerie they will also receive a gift card to VS.
This is my all wrapped up girlfriend charity gift for the exchange. The lucky person who receives my gift this year will get a beautiful set of baking cookie sheets where the proceeds went to the Chicago local food pantries to help feed children locally and they will also get a hand painted double decker cookie container that is just painted beautifully with an angel.  The proceeds from this purchase went to the Angel Network for Children and then I was in Kohl's and saw the Kohl's Care's Charity had a wonderful cookie cook book for $5 where the proceeds went to Koh's Cares so that was great to go with my baking theme.

My wrapped ornament for the ornament exchange.  I hope whoever gets my pretty ornament will love it.


This Party is so much fun.  We laugh and cry and hug and have a great time all together.  My two daughters now that they are grown and live by me bring some of their girlfriends that night too. Our girlfriend celebration has really grown.  It is a special night to celebrate each other and how blessed we all are to call each other friend.  I love that the gifts we share with each other go to help others less fortunate too.

I will try to remember to post some pictures from the party on Friday night.  It should be so much fun.  I can't wait to see the Christmas sweaters everyone has dug out of the back of the closet to wear for the contest!!!! Hmmmmmm Tiara's, pink fuzzy slippers and  cute/ugly Christmas Sweaters.  Should be interesting!!!!

I hope this will inspire some of you to remember the importance of girlfriends in our lives and also those less fortunate and have a girls night out of your own.
XXXOOO
Kris

 

26 comments

  1. Kris, All I can say is WOWWEE !!! Who would not want to attned your fun get toegther. It just sounds like so much fun. Then to give to others too. What a bunch of nice ladies. Smiles to all, Susie

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    1. Susie,
      I wish all you blogging friends lived closer I would have all of you to the party too. It is for a great cause and also alot of fun.
      Kris

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  2. That sounds so fun!! I love that you are helping charities as well... I can't wait to see your pics.

    hugs,
    Amy Jo

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    1. Thanks for coming by Amy Jo. It is so great of a party and so sweet the gifts everyone comes up with. I will try and remember to take pictures that night and post them.
      Kris

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  3. Fantastic!! What a wonderful 'cause' and I love that you have so much fun doing it!!
    Susan

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    1. Hi Susan,
      It is alot of fun and it makes even more special that it is for a good cause too. Thanks for becoming a follower and I will follow you too. I am so new at this blogging as you know so I did not know how to add the following button. Yikes I am so not computer savvy!!!!! I am trying to learn as I go along!!
      Kris

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  4. What a fun get- together with girlfriends for a GREAT cause! Looks like you put a lot of hard but fulfilling work into this event! Can't wait to see the results of the party! Roxie

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    1. Roxie,
      I wish you lived closer you would certainly be on my guest list. It really is a great event and fun fun fun!!!!!
      Kris

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  5. Kris-I love this idea. Every year we adopt a family and have a girls' night- They bring gifts for the chosen family and we trade an ornament and a white elephant gift. Your party preparations are absolutely wonderful. I love them- xo Diana

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    1. Hi Diana,
      Oh so glad you do a similar party. This is such a great thing to share with each other. Thanks for coming by.
      Kris

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  6. Wow! I love it, the charity part of the party is great! Hope you take lots of pictures too!

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  7. What a great party idea and I bet you all have lots of fun.

    Danielle

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  8. What a wonderful party to have with all your girlfriends and for a great cause!! Sounds like you all will have so much fun. Can't wait to see the pics that you take.
    ~Cindy

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  9. What a wonderful tradition, a night of celebrating the relationship with other women, a time of special bonding, and helping those less fortunate. How perfect is that!! Sharing, and celebrating the true spirit of the season--love!! And when you add in the fantastic preparations you have done, and fun, it couldn't get any better than that!!!

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    1. Hi Sandra,
      It is really nice to celebrate our friendships and I do love that all the special gifts we come up with do help others. It really is a special night. Thanks for your sweet comments.
      Kris

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  10. Oh my goodness, can I be your friend. I love all the details and how well you have thought this party out. So wonderful that all things profit charities. What a good idea for anyone doing their CHristmas shopping. Those two angels by the chalkboard are so cute. Where did you find those. I can't imagine how much fun this is. i used to be a part of a group of 12 friends that got together once a month. At Christmas we all made something for everyone. It was so much fun and I miss it. Have a great time. I can't wait to see the pictures.

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    1. Hi Debby,
      You certainly can be my friend and come to the party. The more the merrier!!! It is so nice that no one misses this party especially at this time of year when there is so much to get done. During all the hussle and bussle of the holiday preparation we can take a night off and just celebrate us girls and our wonderful friendship. I think you need to get those 12 girls back on board with a girls night again. I will post pictures for sure.
      Kris

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    2. PS Those two angels I bought a few years ago at HomeGoods. Yep at HomeGoods!! They are so adorable and made out of all natural stuff. I keep looking at Homegoods and TJ Maxx but have not seen them come back into the stores.
      Kris

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  11. you must have a great time at these parties! be sure to take lots of pics and share!

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    1. Hi Lynn
      We do have alot of fun. I will take pictures and post them this week end. Thanks for coming by. I love your Christmas decor on your blog. Gorgeous!!
      Kris

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  12. Kris this is so sweet and so very special. We had our bunco Christmas party last night. I was thinking this morning what a nice group we have and us to have been having this party together for going on 6 years now. I like the charity idea, and perhaps will recommend that next year.

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    1. Hi Debbie,
      Ohhhh I have not played Bunco in so many years. I bet you have a blast with your group. It really is fun to have this girlfriend party and the gifts are so special the girls come up with. Love it. I host the party and have several contest like ugly Christmas Sweater, last year we did cute pj's and everyone wore their fav Christmas jammies. That was alot of fun and we do best appetizer. I have alot of fun games we play for the gift exchange and also the prizes. If your group decides to do something like this let me know and I can give you the games we use. Alot of fun and easy. I really liked your Christmas table decor. Love the place settings adorable!!! Have a great week end. I will be posting pictures of the party this week end.
      Kris

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  13. I love this idea! Love it, love it, LOVE IT! It looks and sounds like so much fun! I adore the tiaras and fuzzy slippers! Oh I wish I had time to coordinate one of these! I am definately going to start planning one now for next year! Wish I was a fly on the wall to see all of your fun! Hugs, Leena

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    1. Hi Leena,
      It is alot of fun. I have been doing this for 6 years and we have a great time. I have alot of cute games we play for the exchanges and for prizes so if you need any of that info just let me know for next year. I wish all my blogger friends lived close so we could invite all of you too. It really is fun.
      Kris

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  14. How wonderful that you've put so much time and effort into your fun and charitable girl's night out!

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    1. Hi Vickie,
      It is alot of fun and I have a great group of girlfriends so I enjoy doing this party for them. As I told Leena I wish all of you blogger friends lived closer so I could have all of you to the party too. It really is a great time.
      Kris

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