This is my 6th Annual Fargo Ornament Exchange. I LOVE it! It has been fun to watch it change and grow over the years. In the past six years, we've had regulars and one-timers and those who have left us--- we miss you dearly, ladies! Wish you were here! ;) Anytime you want to fly back for it- let me know. I'll save you a place! LOL!
This year, I decided on a Winter Candyland Theme. As anyone who knows me can verify- give me a theme and I can go crazy! LOL! No exception tonight, ladies!!! Everywhere I turned I found candy canes, peppermints, treats, etc. I love that it all comes together like magic. ;)
Yummy Soup & Bread:
Jennifer made the most fabulous Wild Rice Soup for us. YUMMMY! And KTuck brought the most delicious bread so the meal was perfect. Thanks ladies! Even without a water pitcher & bowls! I guess ya kinda need bowls for soup. Ooops! ;) Sorry about that, Jennifer. I guess 6 loads to the car froze some brain cells of mine! LOL!
Games & Prizes:
I love games with prizes! Yeah! We played a Guess How Many Peppermints Game. There were 269 candies stuffed in there! Emily guessed 250. Way to go! Heidi came in 2nd place with 235. Of course, they both got to pick a prize. (All the Prizes were candy-themed, of course. Candycane paper pad with peppermint striped pen, Gingerbread Coasters with hot cocoa & candycanes, Candy magnets, Box of Candycane Hershey kisses, a tin of peppermints and candy shaped soap. So fun!)
We also played a Do you know the Candyland Game? Let's just say- ALL of these ladies need to sit down and play this game or at least read the story. Mercy me!!! McKenzie won this one with 3 out of 14. Pretty sad, ladies... pretty sad! And some of their guesses {Purple Candy dude, Fishy-fishy Gumdrop, Little Pudgy Lady, Shloompy Doompy, Chocolate Mud Man, Mr. Taffy- just to name a few} were hilarious! Gotta love these ladies! The other prizes were for drawing special Candyland Characters. Congrats to all the Winners!
Candyland Game for YOU: If you want to see how well you would have done- here's a quiz for you! (Some are the same characters just changed over the years, some have replaced others and some new friends have been created) Good Luck!!!
What Ornament Exchange would be complete without a Craft? Sticking to our Candyland theme and thanks to KBro & her new addiction to YHL, we decided to etch glass candy jars. Magically, I found [at the Thrift store] 12 glass jars that would work perfectly. I LOVE a good deal! They were so cute in my head and I have to say they turned out just as cute in person. So fun! A bit crazy to try a brand new craft for the first time with 12 ladies at a Partay but what better people to experiment with? Hurray for etching glass! We are like experts now! We got BIG plans for the future. Watch out world- etched glass casserole dishes with our names on them are coming next!
Close-ups of Candy Jars: Too stinkin' cute!!!!
Ornament Exchanging:
For the Exchanging of the Ornaments, it is tradition that you should always get to pick at least one of the Ornaments 1st. It's only fair- and I'm known to have fairness issues, ya' know! So... each lady picked a Candyland game card that corresponded with a Character written on one of their display name tags. If they had the matching card- they picked that Ornament first. Once you picked the one you want then you pass them to the left ....or right or.... both- whatever works I guess, right? LOL!
Also a tradition... You have to have a bag to take all your ornaments home in. This year, I found....... drumroll please...... candy-striped gift bags with fluff on the top. The ladies teased that they looked a bit like lingerie bags. Well, I aim to please everyone- even the Hubbies at home! LOL! A tradition that I broke this year was taking a picture of all the Ornaments on display. I didn't realize it until we had already given out half of them. DANG! They were all so beautiful though! Guess you'll just have to take my word for it! Awesome jobs ladies- your Ornaments were perfect. (I'll have to do a separate post of "the Story Behind the Ornament". (We just had way too much fun for one post, I guess!)
Winter CANDYland:
So, we kept the dinner simple this year and asked everyone to bring CANDY instead. It could be home-made, a Holiday treat, your favorite candy- sky's the limit. Holy Moly! We are candy freaks! There were sooo many YUMMMMMY candies to share. The rules were 1.You had to fill up your jar and 2. you had to fill at least one plate as well. The jars were even cute-R filled! What a great night!
Some had to go home to get some sleep and others had kiddos to get to bed but a group of us stayed really late and just visited. It's been a long time since we've done that- (I guess we're all getting old or whimpy- one or the other) and I've missed it! I always try hard not to take for granted what extraordinary friends I have here. They are amazing! Luv ya ladies!
The Partay Girls:
Thanks to all my dear friends that joined in the fun this year! Jen M., Brooke, KBro, Heidi, Lauren, Haylie, (Me;), Emily, Allison, McKenzie, KTuck and Bonny! I luv ya all! You are awesome ladies! Happy Tree decorating! 364 days till next time- so start preparing. LOL! See ya next year!
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