"Favorite Thing" Gift Exchange

Nadine hosted our girlfriend holiday get-together this year and found a great idea for a "Favorite Thing" gift exchange. Each person brings 5 of the same small gift under $6 (one of your favorite things), then you draw names and go home with 5 of your friend's favorite things. It was such a fun morning with the girls!

Here was my favorite thing: Gingerbread!

I made a gingerbread house kit and here is the letter I included explaining why it's one of my favorite things:

One of My Favorite Childhood Holiday Memories

The smell of gingerbread and the taste of royal icing will always be two of my Christmas time favorites! Every December growing up, my best friend’s mom, Carol, would bake and decorate a gingerbread house. It was always decorated with wonderful candy such as Necco’s, gum drops, Skittles, licorice, candy canes and an array of other colorful candies. She would make it in the middle of December, so for two weeks we would stare at it sitting in the middle of her dining room table and count down the days until we could eat it! On January 1^st all the kids in our neighborhood would gather together on her driveway to smash open that gingerbread house and take home those precious yummy chunks in a plastic baggie.

This kit includes the original gingerbread recipe and the original pattern for making the house and a can of meringue powder to make royal icing along with the recipe. There are also some helpful construction hints and a picture of a gingerbread house I made a couple of years ago. If making a whole gingerbread house seems too daunting, I’ve also included a gingerbread man cookie cutter. And to give you a taste of how delicious gingerbread houses can be, there is a gingerbread man waiting to be eaten!

I hope you enjoy my gingerbread house kit and maybe make it one of your favorite holiday memories as well! With Love, Denise

I received favorite things from Emily: a gift card to Golden Spoon, Courtney: earings, Kendra: a bottle of wine, Leanne: a bottle of dark nail polish, and Sarah: Caldrea countertop cleaner.

Love you guys! Merry Christmas!