Booking Mama: Big Girl Panties House Party

Last Saturday evening, I hosted a Big Girl Panties House Party! You might be wondering what a Big Girl Panties House Party is, and that's exactly the same reaction my friends had when they received their invitation. Basically, it's a party to celebrate the release of the new novel BIG GIRL PANTIES by Stephanie Evanovich. Fortunately, I was chosen to host this party for twelve people through House Party!

I ended up having nine of my friends (plus me!) at the party, although the photo above is missing my sister and her friend. Since Harper Collins provided hardcover books for everyone a few weeks ahead of time, I was able to hand out the books as my friends RSVPed and almost all of them got the book read by the party! I also received items for goodies bags, a recipe for a themed drink called The Big Girl Panty-Dropper, and a reading guide with discussion questions. However, the highlight of the evening was a video chat with the author Stephanie Evanovich.

My party began at 7:00 so we had about an hour to talk about the book (and everything else under the sun) before the scheduled author chat. Everyone agreed that the book was a fun summer read -- my review will be posted shortly; and a few of my friends were already sharing their book with others. I was excited to hear that a book club made up of a friend of a friend already selected BIG GIRL PANTIES for their next read!

At 8:00 on the dot, Stephanie appeared along with her editor. Both were a hoot and it was apparent that there was a very fun party going on in the background -- a woman dancing, a shirtless guy, etc! We thought Stephanie and her editor were extremely fun and very open with the Q&A part of the chat. I was lucky enough to be one of the viewers whose question was read out loud! Needless to say, I was excited... and my friends were quite impressed. HA!

Of course, a party wouldn't be a party without some yummy food! I served cheese and crackers, fruit salsa and cinnamon pita chips, Southwestern salsa with tortilla chips, and a hot spinach and artichoke dip. For dessert, I made a coconut cake and had mini Milky Ways -- you'll understand the Milky Ways after you read the book.

As each of my friends left for the evening, I handed them a little bag filled with goodies that included a coupon for Cosabella, a gift certificate for a 15 day trial of Barre3 online workouts, a Barre3 bracelet, a bookmark, a pack of Chia Seeds and recipes, a reading group guide for BIG GIRL PANTIES, and a cute tattoo!