When my mother heard I was going to be a bridesmaid in a wedding again, she said, “Are you going to get married yet? You are starting to lose your desirability.” I’m not sure if it is Vietnamese culture or just the belief of the little village she came from, but apparently, once you’re an unmarried bridesmaids three times, you’ve run out of desirability.
All that to say, one of my favorite people recently got married, and I was so excited to celebrate her. The bachelorette itself was camp themed, and one of the activities was a swap party. I had never heard of this or done it before, so I thought it was a really unique idea.
The idea originates with either from sleep away camp or from Girl Scouts. The way it was explained to me, the purpose of it is that, once you make friends, you share a favorite item with them and vice versa. This way, even when camp is over, you will take a little part of them with you.
Isn’t that precious? There was a part of me that felt like I could’ve been doing more to contribute, so instead of just settling on one, I ended up making a goody bag of my favorite things. I was surprised to find that I wasn’t the only one who had this idea, but I shouldn’t have been because of course my favorite people would have other generous people in their lives.
Anyway, for today’s blog post, I thought I would breakdown what was in the goody bags I handed out. I themed it to showcase what a perfect night in for me would look like and give you a little glimpse into who I am if you are new here.
Tony Moly Sheet Mask
As a loyalist to the Tony Moly brand, I wanted to make sure that I included at least one Tony Moly product. I ended up choosing the sheet mask because it’s the one I use most consistently and there are so many varieties to choose from. I love throwing it in the fridge before I use it.
The benefit of a cold sheet mask in the morning is that to cold helps with the puffiness on my face from sleeping. Right before bed, the cold mask helps me relax after a long day of work. Even if I wanted to sit up and read a book, or sit at the computer and type away, I would pull a Tony Moly sheet mask from the fridge and let it work its magic.
Salty: Miss Vickie’s Jalapeno Chips
An incomplete night is one without a snack! Ever since I discovered the wonders of a Miss Vickie’s potato chips, it has become my favorite potato chip brand. I included the Jalapeno ones, not because I love spicy food, but I’m actually the opposite. I cannot handle spicy food, but I find that the Miss Vickie’s Jalapeno chips are balanced in a way where I can actually enjoy them.
Sweet: Little hard candies!
It is never a question of sweet or salty for me. My answer is sweet and salty, which is why I also included little hard candies that I grew up on. The Lucky Star Candy is a strawberry flavored, as it is one of my favorite fruity flavors. The other is a coffee flavored hard candy, as I loved it since middle school and am slowly working on cutting back on my coffee these days, so these are my substitutes. But really, I just want something sweet.
Disney Princess Sticker Sheet
When I first moved to Florida, I collected stickers. And one of the things that I loved during my college experience at UCF was being able to finish an exam and treat myself with a visit to Disney (best believe I made sure to use the full value of my Disney Annual pass at the time).
So I was at Michaels, and I saw that the Happy Planner company had a Disney Princess inspired collection. I went and purchased a booklet of stickers, and I tore the pages so that each of the goody bags had a different Disney princess. If you ask me who my favorite is, I would say that it would be Rapunzel or Belle
Pencils
Up until graduate school, I would say that I swore by writing in pen. I loved all the colors and how smooth the ink slides across a page. Once I took a pedagogy class, I rethought this, and have now fallen in love with encouraging people to use pencils again. Especially as I am trying to drum up the courage to flex my more artistic muscles, I have found pencils are essential instruments in the learning and growing process.
Honestly, I believe they are symbolic of what it means to be human and alive. So I made sure to include a few in the little goody bags I was making for the swap party.
Notebook
I thought that including a notebook kind of made the whole thing go full circle. When I started graduate school, our bachelorette actually gifted me a notebook, so I thought it was fitting that I also included one. Writing has become an essential component of my life, and especially as I’ve made journalling a part of my everyday life now.
So I found notebooks that matched the theme of the bachelorette party. And everyone that showed up loved animals on some level, so I thought the alpaca ended up being a very fitting cover.
Did you grow up doing camp swaps? What item would you bring to exchange, and how does it relate to who you are? Are there any cool bachelorette activities or themes that you would recommend? Comment your answers down below!
As always, thank you so much for taking the time to read through this post and support me. If you enjoyed it, please make sure to like this post, comment your thoughts down below, and share it with your friends so that others know that you thought it was cool enough to share. And of course, I would love it if you subscribed so you can get a notification every time I share more things like this.
Love Always,
Kristi My ❤
Kristi My Dao 