Cookie & Ornament Exchange Party

Last night I had my cookie and ornament exchange party. I love this party because I only invite a few girlfriends and it's time just to talk, eat, play games and enjoy girlfriendhood! (like my new word) My pictures above my food buffet table did not match my color scheme of red and white so I simply covered them with wrapping paper and added ribbon. I thought it needed more so a great opportunity to add 2007 and 2008 Christmas photos. (Maddy was born in 2007)

On the cookie table, I simply put a centerpiece, boxes and containers for my guests to take home their goodies. I snapped this shot prior to all of the goodies being put on table. I am always amazed at the great cookies and recipes that you get each year. The tablecloth belong to my mother and she used it every Christmas so it is priceless to me. I always miss my mother but even more so during the holidays. I love cupcake wrappers and picks. I find so many great ones on ETSY. However, I found these red and white snowflake wrappers and picks at Target. I love it when your not looking but find things that match your upcoming event.

I have garland and nutcrackers all along the top of my kitchen cabinets. So I just pulled a big one with red and white to match for my centerpiece on the food buffet table.I turned over a glass container and filled with red garland (from $ Tree) and put peppermint candy around bottom. Do you recognize the red and white boxes and ribbon glassware? Well, I reused them from my Dr. Seuss Thing 1 and 2 party. I added $ Tree snowflakes to make it more "Christmassy". The red and white polka dot boxes are boxes that a big lighted Christmas ball came in. I covered it in fabric with Mod Podge.

I have this party every year and is the one party that I refuse to make a huge fuss over. I really want to relax and enjoy the time with my girlfriends. Sometimes we get so caught up in the details that we forget to just have fun! So I repurpose and used only items that I already owned! Don't you just love the mitten cutlery holders? Found them at HomeGoods back in October. I bought the red bucket at Big Lots for $12. I love it because I use a lot of red for many entertaining occasions. It fits with many holidays not just Christmas. I can use it for parties for Memorial, 4th of July, back to school,, etc... I may even find a way to use it for Valentine's. Don't you just love the red and white snowflake Evian bottles!!! A great find at Big Lots for $1! I found these ribbons at Michael's a few years ago and have used them every year. I place them on the winning creations and the winners go pick a gift from under the tree. I am too mad that I didn't get photo of the tree with gifts. All the gifts were wrapped in coordinating red and white polka dot paper and red and white snowflake paper. I was too busy enjoying my party!

We play games that I always get from Santalady games. This site is full of really neat Christmas games. I buy all of my gifts for this party the year prior at after Christmas sales. I get at least 10-15 prizes but since everything is 75% off, I really don't spend a lot of money.