Bandanamom: Favorite Things Party

Sunday, March 09, 2014

Favorite Things Party - Third Annual

Last night was my third favorite things party. It was biggest favorite things party to date and I thought it was pretty awesome. There will definitely be a 4th annual!

I'm too tired to do it justice, but I did want to blog about it and I wanted to blog about my new room in my house.

My new room is like, my new favorite thing. So it relates. And the party was my deadline to get it completed. One of my friends asked me, if I don't have any time, how did I have time to get the room done for the party? Good question. I started the room project way back in the fall by looking at paint samples for about a million weeks. Then I narrowed it down and narrowed it down until I got bold enough to paint the walls black. Then I got one of my marginally employed children to do it for me if I paid their gas money, movie tickets and sushi money etc. (children are usually bribe-able and it they aren't you are parenting all wrong, trust me). I re-carpeted the room after it was painted as the carpet was more than 10 years old and looking a little sad. This was done through one of the places that sell remnants in order to keep the cost down low. In the end, I didn't pay much more than you would for a decent rug. Then I started repainting (or rather had my child do it) some book cases I had around the house. I had a coupon for a chair online (promotional coupon for an online store that made the chair super affordable). Once I got that and realized I liked it I ordered a second one with a coupon a friend had but wasn't going to use (making each chair just over $100). I found a rug on Amazon that I liked (and that seemed durable - it's made of recycled straws!) and then I framed some art work I had been collecting for a long time. I pulled a bunch of things into the room from other places in my house, got a dresser from a friend, and Voila! New room.

Some day, when I able to take private clients at home, I'd like to be able to use this space. For now, it is a great place for me to read and I love that the room seems purposeful and useful now. I was scared of the black paint, but now I love it, and I would not hesitate to do it elsewhere in the house.

Here are photos of the new room:

artwork by the most awesome Holden Glenn Hays

view into the back yard (courtyard)

Here's the problem with the favorite things party - I have NO TIME to take any photos. It's super fun, and busy and I think it's a testament to how fun it is that we aren't all sitting around taking photos the whole time. Next year I'm going to ask people to help me take photos and hashtag them on instagram so I can access them. I wish I would have had that genius idea BEFORE my party. :)

I had 31 people at this party. I did a popcorn and lemonaid bar before hand, had dinner catered by Pita Jungle and Babbo (two of my favorites) and we had sherbert for dessert.

I created a pinterest page that includes the majority of the "favorites" that were handed out. Everyone did an excellent job bringing things other people wanted. Go check out the pinterest page for more ideas about what we enjoyed at the party!

FAVORITE THINGS PINTEREST BOARD

to all my friends who came, thanks for making it awesome! I don't think I could pick my favorite favorites that were brought, but I was awfully fond of the italian toothpaste and the crystal earrings.

I basically managed to get a photo of dessert: