Last night was my college friends' 6th annual ornament exchange. It's always comforting to celebrate a repeated tradition, and this is something we've been doing every holiday season since we graduated. It's the perfect excuse to carve out some time in this busy Christmas season to celebrate and spend time together. In case you're not familiar with an ornament exchange - here's the low down. Everyone selects and cleverly wraps an ornament. Next, the hostess number paper 1-however many people you have playing (10 in our case), and throws them in a hat. Participants draw numbers to see who goes first. Every good gift exchange involves a few "steals," just to keep people on their toes, and it definitely keeps things interesting. Since we had 10 people, our rule was you can steal twice instead of three times. I pulled #1 out of the hat - the best number because you get to pick first and LAST, which essentially means you get the pick of all the opened ornaments. Sweet!
We drank sparkling cider and white wine and nibbled on holiday goodies including homemade peppermint bark... yum! Don't you just love the holidays!
image/maryruffle
How wonderful!! I love these grab bag, secret santa things! =)
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Yes I do love the holidays! And homemade peppermint bark - think I might have to give that a try this year. Sounds like a really nice tradition!
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a great tradition and such a fun idea:) I really love Holidays and its always so fun to spend it with people you love:)
ReplyDeleteHappy Monday, sweetie
Kisses
Ps: I am hosting a beautiful home decor GIVEAWAY today, just in time for Christmas!
What a great idea! And those snacks sound yummy.
ReplyDeleteI love my penguin!! Thanks again! :)
ReplyDeleteI feel like I'm hearing about these more and more... seems like something I am going to have to give a try next year! It definitely can be hard to find the time during the holidays and doing something like this seems like a great way to get people together!
ReplyDeletehow fun! I love parties like that. my friends do something similar, but it is the standard white elephant gift exchange instead of the ornament exchange. us girls can get pretty crazy though when we start stealing people's gifts! haha, it's always a good time though.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fantastic idea. A tradition I want to start among my friends. Lovely post! Happy holiday!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds more fun than a white elephant even because then you know you'll be able to use your gift! I love the idea and am going to suggest it for work next year. Yay! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteMy bark made your post! Yippee!
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