This party was technically a 40th birthday party, but you could easily throw a Socks and Underwear Party anytime for no particular reason. What is a Socks and Underwear Party you ask? Instead of guests bringing gifts, flowers or a bottle of wine, they bring new socks, underwear, t-shirts, toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, razors and anything else that a local shelter might be in need of. This party was to benefit REST, a Chicago organization that helps transition the homeless to being housed.
The socks and underwear idea made for a fun theme. Here is a free download of the invitation art without text. It is sized to work with an A2 envelope.
A clothesline banner was hung around the fence along the garden. Tabs were added to the artwork from the invitations and enlarged, then printed onto heavy white cardstock. A free download of the banner art is available here. Thick string from the hardware store makes a great clothesline and is inexpensive.
For the children’s table there were goodies to go with the theme. Bubbles had their own special washtub wrap, which is also available in a free download. Cookies, sock puppets and crayons all sat on a table covered with a plain paper canvas.
The cookies were a party gift for kids and adults alike. We made two separate stamps for the gift tag, so that they could be used in different ways throughout the party. Interested in having your own clothesline stamp? Please convo us at our Etsy site so that we can create a custom listing for you at a discounted rate. The cookies were a simple sugar cookie made with a fun t-shirt cookie cutter. The forty artwork is completely edible. You can put just about anything on an edible sticker- but don’t keep your finished product sitting out in the sun all day.
The sock puppets were from Puppets by Margie. We kept the puppets simple and unisex, but Margie also offers different hair options and embellishments. For older children, decorating and customizing their own puppet would be a great party activity.
Once you have a rubber stamp the possibilities are endless. Food descriptors are a nice addition but they also help people with allergies or food restrictions navigate a buffet easily. The clothespins were a fun touch and also came in handy to keep the tablecloth weighted down.
The cake could have been prettier, but it could not have tasted better. It’s a simple yellow cake with butter cream frosting using recipes from the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook. Given a little extra time the clothes would have looked great cut out of a thin fondant or piped with royal icing for a smoother look. Somehow there were no complaints.
We’re a fan of the plain big box here at Butterfly Fly. This one was decorated with a few blue clothing cutouts to create a place for guests to put their ‘gifts.’
And finally we used the stamp a few more times for thank you notes on both the flat notecard and the envelope. The stamp could also be used for the invitations- but even a rubber stamp company doesn’t always plan that far ahead!
Hope this inspires you to look around your community and find an organization that might be in need of some very basic supplies. With a fun idea and a few simple, inexpensive decorations, you can help others while having a great time with friends.
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