Holiday Parties - Earrings & Sweaters

I'm not much for the busyness of the holiday season...I'd much rather have it low key...but this season has started out to be just that...BUSY.  This is how we started the month...

In the ER with this one.  He's been running a fever for a week now.  In fact, today's his first day to be fever free, praise God!  After several days of a high fever and a wretched cough, I took him to his pediatrician and she sent us to the hospital for x-rays.  Turns out this little guy has pneumonia so he's been staying home with me.  He's pretty lethargic and has no appetite, but after a few days on the prescribed meds he seems to be regaining a little energy and an appetite, albeit very small.  I'll take what I can get and pray that he continues to improve!!!  

 I guess it's a little hard to avoid the busyness...something always comes up.  Between the Christmas shopping, class parties, field trips, work trips, gatherings, and...my personal favorite - parties!!! - it's hard not to stay a little busy.  I love a good holiday party and today I wanted to share a couple that are my very favorite!

Girls Night Dinner & Earring Exchange

Last week a few of my friends all got together for a "fancy" dinner and earring exchange.  One of the girls hosts at her house and they set up a long table complete with candles and festive centerpieces.  Everybody dresses up and we all enjoy a delicious home-cooked meal together...salad, bisque, a delicious pasta bake, and cheesecake shooters...and don't forget the girl talk.  The best!

After dinner we move the party to the living room for an earring exchange.  This is done white elephant style and it's so much fun to see who gets what...and who's brave enough to steal what they really want ;)  I got a cute pair of Kate Spade studs last year and this year I scored the pair you see above.  In love!  We end the night with a dance party because girls just wanna have fun ;) Any time spent with the girls is a GREAT time and this is one of my favorite parties of the season!

Next up is our annual Ugly Sweater Party.   This has actually turned into a "Christmas Ensemble" party over the years.  When we first started throwing this little party 8 years ago, you couldn't find any sweaters in the store.  We had to hop from thrift shop to thrift shop to find the perfect sweaters.  Now you can pretty much walk into any store this time of the year and find a not-so-ugly sweater.  I really miss the thrift shop days of sweater shopping...that was half the fun!!!  

This is what we came up with this year...

I have no idea where Mr. Spouse found his nordic suit, but ohmiword...it was pretty amazing. I found my sweatshirt at Target in the men's department and when I saw it I knew I had to have it.  I got my leggings at WalMart as well as my fancy wreath earrings.  SCORE.

We like to treat this party as a way to celebrate our friends and let them know how much we appreciate their friendship(s).  We take care of all the food and then give out 2 Visa gift cards to the winners of the best (uh...worst) dressed male & female.  

This year's menu included brisket, tortilla roll-ups, ham & cheese sliders, bacon wrapped weenies, bourbon meatballs, and chips & dips galore!!  Finger foods are just the easiest to prep and serve and perfect for all night munching :)  These are my go-to finger foods because they're so easy to put together and really hearty at the same time.  There's typically not much leftover when it's all said and done!

We served our drinks in these cups.  I get a few sets of fun & festive styrofoam cups every year at the Nutcracker Market and this year I chose these for our little shindig.

Remember...the theme is TACKY.  

Mr. Spouse found this hilarious Santa cut-out on Amazon and I wrote  "Tis the season to be tacky" on it.  It was the perfect little picture taking companion.  We also celebrated one of our friend's birthdays the same night and that was lots of fun, too (hello, cake!!!).  All in all, a great night spent with great friends.  No better way to enjoy the holiday season!!!