The only thing better than having friends over for a night of food and laughing is having friends over in pajamas for a night of food and laughing. :) I was so excited to host my holiday pajama party this year! I went with a “self care” theme because more than anything I just wanted my friends to be able to take a night off from shuttling kids and cooking and homework and housework and all the WORK of motherhood and life. A night to have fun with friends and eat good food and share fun gift ideas and catch up and laugh until we cried.

And we did just that. :)

{kitchen, table & dish sources are in this post}

When I’m hosting a party I’m always a little pre-occupied with getting my house and everything ready so I’m terrible at snapping pics and documenting! I took some of these pics and the rest are from friends. The salads and cheese and crackers and charcuterie board were all catered by a local market and then my close friend Katy made her potato soup! One of my favorites. It ended up raining the night of my party and I was thrilled. A perfect night to be inside in cozy pjs eating soup with friends. :)

I pre-ordered the most delicious cookies and cake for dessert from a bakery in our area that is to die for. Honestly they tasted better than they looked which is saying a lot because how cute are these holiday cookies!?

{details on 3-tier stand for cookies here}

This beautiful tree board arrived the morning of my party – a gift from ETU home. I guess they’ve heard I’m a fan of their boards. ;) It was perfect to display the cake! It will also be perfect to pair with this fun tree board of theirs that I’ve had and loved for years.

{my pj joggers/cozy slipper Uggs}

My party assistants. So grateful for these 3! They were at the party early to help set up and were the last 3 to leave after loading/washing the last dish. Honestly so many of my other friends who came offered to do the same but these 3 were on it and had it covered. I’m so very grateful for all of my friends! They are all just the BEST people. We called Addison down to snap our picture before the party started and got this one and then the doorbell rang. None of us liked this picture (the lighting is horrible next to the TV) so we were going to take another one but you know how that goes. So here we are! A little blurred but happy. :)

Come in come in!

TV was on because Michael Buble was also invited to the party. Funny sidenote.. Kole played a holiday music game in his 6th grade class today and he said his team won because he knew so many Christmas songs. He told them “my mom makes me listen to Michael Buble for months!” Ha ha.. Truth! And I’m proud of it. Good job buddy. ;)

I also loved seeing everyones pjs! So cute! I wore my tried and true red stripe sleep joggers I’ve had for years. Target came out with some that are almost identical! I bought them too.. in red (here) and green (here). (I’ll show you the green at the end of this post!)

{black pendants/counter stools}

Love them all. :)

{dining room mirrors/wool jute rug/jute chargers/plaid plates/red rimmed plates/gold flatware/battery operated candles/mercury votive holders/candle holders/table runner}

I had my two tables set up but there were more people at the party than I had chairs for so one group sat in my formal dining room, another group sat at my breakfast nook table and another group sat in my family room on the couch. I thought about setting up a 3rd table (maybe in the hallway) but I honestly like this party to feel casual (I’m really not a formal person at all!). Despite my seasonal tablescapes that are so fun for me to create, I’m a lot more of an ‘eat takeout on the couch while watching Netflix’ person than I am a formal dining room person. Ha. So the couch won as the 3rd seating option. :)

{dining nook rug}

After we ate we all piled in the family room. I talked for a few minutes.. told a recent story about my friend Darci saving my life by buying the last Coke Zeros on the planet for me at Target. Seriously Coke Zero has NOT been in grocery stores around here lately and it is my life line! I sent out a panicky SOS text to some of my friends a few weeks ago after not finding any in 3 different grocery stores and they were all on the hunt. (Can’t go without it in December! Ha.) I talked about how I can never leave San Diego because I have friends here like Darci who hunt down and bring me Coke Zero in my time of need and how I know that every single person at this party would do the same. And yes.. after I laughed about it I teared up talking about how much they all mean to me. They all know I’m emotional so no surprise there. :) I’m so grateful for my friends that it brings me to tears sometimes.

Also.. there’s no Coke Zero in all of San Diego. That brings me to tears sometimes too.

After my rambling we shared gifts! I had each person bring one gift around $25 that represents how they take care of themselves. It could be favorite bubble bath or skin care or something they use when they exercise.. anything related to a hobby they love. Whatever they do to unwind that brings them happiness. There were so many fun items! I haven’t had time to round them all up to share so I’ll try to do that after Christmas. I brought my favorite travel make-up bag with clear bottles for products and talked about how much I love to organize. :) I was really stressed one night a few months ago and stayed up late putting labels on all of my clear travel bottles and it calmed me right down. Organizing is hands down my favorite form of therapy and self care! I said I’d label the bottles for whoever got my gift. Ha. (We all put our names in a bowl and after I shared my gift I drew a name.. that person got my gift and then came up to tell about their gift and so on.) Some of the gifts were funny and we all got laughing so hard! Gift exchanges always bring the party to the party. :)

Half way through passing these out I remembered to stop and take a picture! I always give out my favorite cozy butter socks at this party. I have them in every color! The polka dots too. :) They are SO soft.

I attached this little note to the socks it and if you download my holiday planner each year you’ll recognize this seasonal self care list! I’ll be taking some of my own advice the week after Christmas and checking each item off this list. Can’t wait. :)

It was such a fun night. I’m so grateful for all of the good friends I have in my life. That includes so many of you too! I’ve always wished I could throw a party for my blog/IG friends. Wouldn’t we all have the best time!? I have no doubt that we would. :)

The following week my cute friend Michelle hosted a pj Favorite Things party (Favorite Things party #3 this month.. I’ll have to round up those fun party gifts after Christmas too!).

My pj bottoms sold out.. Uggs are linked here.

She sent me this pic of everyone at her party.. propped her phone up on the fireplace to take it! Such a fun group. I knew half of the people there and had so much fun meeting and getting to know the other half!

I found this group pic from my friend Ann’s party I shared earlier.

I also found this group shot from her party the year or two before. I never included it in a blog post so I’m documenting it here. Good times with good friends. One of the best parts of December!

Almost as good as Michael Buble’s Christmas album. ;)

{snowflake pajamas/cozy slipper Uggs}

While we’re talking pjs I have to share this cute pair I’ve been loving! They will be my wardrobe through all of January and February no doubt. They are crazy soft and so comfortable!

{striped cozy lounge joggers in red and green/striped cozy lounge sweatshirt/cozy slipper Uggs}

These are the Target pjs that are almost identical to my favorite Abercrombie pj pants. So soft and such a cute fit! They come in red too and after I tried them on I couldn’t resist getting both colors (I have more pjs than actual clothes at this point and I’m not at all upset about it.) Fun for the holidays but I will wear these all year!

{thermal pjs/cozy slipper Uggs}

This is another cozy/cute pair I’ve loved this month and the present pattern sold out so quickly! But they have this same set in other prints and the others are better for after the holidays. Not that you can’t wear present pjs in January, but it just doesn’t quite feel the same. Ha.

All three of the pjs above have been worn and tested and come highly recommended by yours truly. The pajama maven.

I can think of worse things to be called. ;)

I can’t believe we are so close to Christmas! I’m hoping to pop in one more time quick before Saturday but we’ll have to see how the wrapping is going. (Are any of you done!?) I’m not off to a great start and still have so much to do. This has been a strange Christmas week because my girls are in school and have finals through Thursday! Usually by now my kids are out of school and we are watching movies and going on drives to see lights and enjoying Christmas plays like The Grinch and Christmas Carol.. all the holiday things! We aren’t going to have much time for that before Christmas (they’ve been so busy with school activities and studying this week) so we’ll be soaking up all the fun holiday things after the big day. I can’t wait for some down time with my crew. I’m wishing the same for all of you this year! Take care of YOU! Pick a few things (or all things!) off of my seasonal self care list and relax and enjoy some down time. My wish for all of you this season!