White Elephant Gift Exchange

Tyler and I decided we wanted to throw a little Christmas party this year, so we gathered a few of our friends together and had a White Elephant Gift Exchange.  This was our first get together in our new house where we had more than 6 total people, all strangers, in the house, so we were a little nervous about how Stella would act (we ended up with 14 people!)  Luckily, Collin and Meagan got here first, and since she's known them since she was a puppy, it made things much more comfortable for her. While I was busy getting all the appetizers ready, Tyler was having some sort of serious work emergency, so unfortunately, I was super busy and wrapped up in getting everything ready before everyone arrived that I took zero pictures. I suck, big time.  BUT, here's the skinny on the appetizers I served:

Caprese Sandwiches
Hawaiian King Rolls
Mozzarella log
Roma tomatoes
Salami slices
Pesto

These were basically off-the-cuff, no recipe, but SO easy, and a huge hit. I got a package of Hawaiian King rolls and sliced them, not all the way, but so the top and bottom were still connected.  I spread pesto spread on both sides of the inside of the roll, and then added a mozzarella slice to each, a tomato slice to each (sprinkled with salt), and a salami slice.  HUGELY popular at the party, and super easy!

Baked Brie Phyllo Cups with Craisins
Adapted from this recipe on SkinnyTaste (If you haven't checked out SkinnyTaste yet, you seriously need to!)  I didn't have walnuts, and I was lazy rushed for time and just put the brie in the cup, topped with craisins, then drizzled honey.  No mixing, still yummy.

image via SkinnyTaste

Puppy Chow
This is a holiday staple, right?  Luckily, I had premade a huge batch and given mason jars of Puppy Chow as gifts, so no prep was needed the night of the party.  Perfect.

Recipe from Chex.

image via Chex

Chocolate Swirl Cookies
I also made these ahead of time, so all I had to do was slice them!  This recipe makes a pretty big batch, so I was able to bake several logs and just keep them in the fridge throughout the holidays.

Recipe from Recipe Girl.

image from Recipe Girl

Spiked Apple Cider

I wanted to have a warm beverage option, and something different than wine or beer.  This was super easy, and made a large batch.  Easy to make virgin or with alcohol.

Recipe from Lauren Conrad.

image from LaurenConrad.com

We had several different groups of friends join us, but everyone got along really well and mingled amongst themselves.  It was so great!  We all had a really great time - even Stella was a rockstar and everyone was obsessed with her.  She was so well behaved once we introduced her to everyone - we were definitely proud parents!  We had some super fun gifts unwrapped ($10 value) - I think the two most popular were the Hot Booties (socks that you put in the microwave to keep your feet toasty) and a bottle of Crown Royal, half emptied to meet the $10 maximum value (we have some creative friends.) The party finally shut down at 2am.  I'd call that a big success!  We can't wait to do it again next year!