The FOURTH Annual Post-Holiday White Elephant Party!

I can hardly believe a whole year has passed AGAIN - but this morning I hosted the FOURTH Annual Post-Holiday White Elephant Party!

Four years in a row! That's crazy!!!

It is hilarious to me when I look back and remember the first time my friend Alexandra and I hosted this party. I don't think I had ever hosted people on my own before - I had no idea what I was doing, had to borrow nearly every serving piece from my mom, and came up with the STRANGEST menu - empanadas, hummus, and chocolate chip bread pudding?! 

(Now throwing a party is second nature for me - but click here, here, or here to read recaps from the last three parties!)

This year, the same rules applied - we told our guests to bring the WORST gift they got over the holidays to get rid of/swap out - but we decided to make it a brunch. We served a ton of delicious things - chocolate chip/banana muffins (courtesy of ABY), low-cal lemon bars (courtesy of GB), homemade cranberry/orange zest scones, berry fruit skewers, a ridiculous goat cheese & green onion quiche with a hash brown crust and french toast bread pudding. Check out the spread!

(Considering doing a play-by-play post with pictures of the process of making the quiche. Anyone interested?)

Once again I found myself cracking up at the array of bizarre gifts people brought to trade. Wine tags, sparkly gemstone paperweights, a heated coffee mug, some truly heinous earrings, an old heavy locket, colored pencil sets, microwaveable stuffed animals, even a tiny black angel figurine...

I would have loved to have ended up with these cute sunglasses with the little mustache attached!

I wound up with this lovely little wall clock, courtesy of my friend Heather :) I'm considering DIYing it with some black & white stripes and gold foil numbers - could be cute, right? 

When it was Ashley's turn she ended up choosing a gift that contained a "grow your own mushroom" kit, which she LOVED. She's making a sad face here because she knew someone would steal it from her - and she was right :( but our friend Felicia stole it from the second person and ended up giving it back to Ashley. Such good friends :)

Alexandra and I have been friends for more than half our life. We take this picture every year at the party with our pals from high school!

Last week Alexandra got a puppy! She brought baby Joey to assist in the cleanup. He was very well behaved and absolutely adorable even if he wouldn't hold still for a picture:

We had such a fun morning. I can't believe four years passed since we started this fun tradition, and I can't wait for the FIFTH Annual Post-Holiday White Elephant Party! It'll have to be a BIG anniversary bash!