Holiday Party at the Hilfigers

Is there anything better than an unexpectedly awesome in-store event?!?

Last night, talented showstopper pal S and I met on 5th Avenue in midtown to admire gorgeous holiday windows (see the 57th St star fully illuminated here):

Our other objective? Attend a mysterious "Holiday Party at the Hilfigers" at the Tommy Hilfiger flagship store on 54th St. This was one of those in-store events where all we knew was the date, time, and location.

Could it have been a bust? Absolutely.

Was it? Absolutely not! It was fantastic.

When S and I entered, they checked our names off the list and indicated that there was a photo booth downstairs on the "hipster clothing floor." We whisked down there and took a cool old school photo booth set of pics before the booth got infested with bedbugs from a zillion people sitting inside (Yes, I am that neurotic New Yorker!).

The party was in full swing by the time we grabbed our beverage of choice, a few yummy appetizers, and started to wander.

The event was co-hosted by InStyle magazine, which I will say ALWAYS seems to do a good job with in-store events. Here are my grades:

Food: A-minus. While it was very highbrow (veggie stacks of root vegetables, carrots topped with mushrooms, proscuitto wrapped pear) it was all lukewarm and very veggie-heavy.

Drink: A. They had sparkling water, sparkling cava, and a signature cocktail the "Pear Fizz" which was pear nectar, ginger ale, and Bombay Sapphire gin.

Activities: A. Between the photo booth, "day to night" dressing demo, and ample room to browse the wares, there was lots to do.

Swag: A. Getting a free photo booth strip is awesome - and they were thoughtful enough to print out two (one for each of us). While not explicitly swag, everyone was welcome to take a December 2010 issue of InStyle as they left the party, and that's a nice thing to have for the gym! Oh, and there was a really cute gift wrapping station that I snapped a pic of, which kind of counts as swag if you purchased something:

S and I both scored substantially discounted necklaces, purchased from a Swedish tour guide who was inexplicably ringing people up.

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