Last night we went to a surprise birthday dinner for our friend Meg.  Meg took one of my beading classes last spring and has been hooked on jewelry making ever since.  As an extra surprise, I and another friend brought a handful of beads and charms from our stash to the party.

Earlier in the day I connected one end of a toggle clasp to a bracelet length wire so it would be ready for some birthday beading.  That night at dinner, while we were waiting for our food to come, this festive bowl o’ beads was presented to Meg along with the wire.  The idea was for each person to string one bead or charm onto the wire and pass the bowl on to the next person, creating a special bracelet made by all of us.  We started with the birthday-girl and went from there.

Another crafty pal, Nancy carefully selecting her bead.  Of course you know how hard it is for women to pick just one bead.  "Can I put one spacer bead AND a bead on?  How about a charm AND a bead?"  So sneaky!

Who doesn’t love to watch men pick through a bowl of beads?  Really searching, searching, and searching for just the right bead.  It was very amusing to see who added what to the bracelet.

Here’s Meg with her finished bracelet.  There were ten of us and the beads and wire went around the table two times which was just about perfect.  I brought along a crimp bead and crimping pliers so I could finish the bracelet on the spot.  Meg was thrilled when we gave her the leftover beads and charms for her future creations.  If you are celebrating a friend’s birthday, this was definitely a fun activity.  We had some great laughs while assembling and the birthday-girl got to take home a special keepsake from the party.

Check out my Savvy Crafter column in this month’s Simply Beads magazine for more fun like this.