As Breast Cancer Awareness month continues, GirlfriendCelebrations.com would like to help you support your girlfriends with breast cancer, the best way we know how—with a little pink party! Not just for October, this party works perfectly ANY time of year to support a friend recently diagnosed with breast cancer, to honor a breast cancer survivor you love, or to raise money for a special breast cancer organization. The issue of breast cancer really touches us all. As Becky Olson and Sharon Henifin, founders of BreastFriends.com, state, ”One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer. The other seven will know her.” If you know someone affected by breast cancer, you surely want to help her feel less lonely and isolated, but you may not know how. By gathering together we can truly help—one party at a time—by celebrating and supporting our sisters, girlfriends, mothers and daughters touched by breast cancer. (By the way, please check out Becky and Sharon’s website. It offers tons of useful information to girlfriends trying to help someone with cancer. Their “hat shower” idea inspired us as we worked on this party plan!)

Invitations

If you’re looking for a quick, electronic ‘vite, try creating one on Smilebox.  This cool new web-based service lets you send cards and invites with your own favorite photos and music. For those who like to invite the old-fashioned way, try a basic pink invitation, which can be purchased from a retail store such as Target or Hallmark. A tiny pink ribbon can always be affixed to the invite as a symbol of the night to come.  If you purchase the invitation blank, or choose to make your own on the computer, try writing something like this:

Our hats are off to Janie!

With a little attitude

And a lot of heart

Please join us

To lavish hats and love

on our girlfriend

Janie Smith

Saturday, Oct. 24th at 7p.m.

If the guest of honor is pre-chemo or going through chemo, ask each guest to bring two of the same hat or scarf.  One clean, never-worn chapeau for the guest of honor to wear when she’s feeling blue, and the other for each girlfriend to wear at the party or to appointments with her. This may help to comfort and alleviate a little pain in the devastating experience of losing her hair. By wearing a hat with your friend, you can gently remind her of your support and your sincere wish for her to not feel “alone.” Keep in mind that the best time for this party is before the guest of honor loses her hair.  Once the hair starts falling out, her head can become very tender.

If the guest of honor is past chemo or you are giving to a charitable organization, ask each girlfriend to bring two clean, never worn hats.  Donate the hats to a charitable cause like HeavenlyHats.  Just be sure the hats are brand new and never worn due to the reduced immune systems of some girlfriends with cancer.

Setting and Setup

A small, intimate gathering at someone’s house is the best locale for this event. This is especially true if the guest of honor is going through chemo (she could have a weakened immune system). She will most likely appreciate the thoughtfulness of a “girls night in.”

Decorating with different shades of pink can add cheer to the room.

Position mirrors around the room for everyone to see their “new hat look”.  Placing a pink runway in the room can also add fun and opportunity for friends to show off their new look.  (A runway can be made easily with a bolt of pink fabric.) It’s important to have fun and add humor to the party, because dealing with a cancer diagnosis can be overwhelming and trying for even the hardest of hearts. (Pink table photo by our girlfriend Vicki Maday–see more of her pink party pics later this week!)

Don’t forget to have cameras and a video camera on hand. Ask each guest to take a few snapshots. This will give you photos from different points of view as well as involve each girlfriend for an individual touch. Don’t forget to take a group photo as well. The pictures will be visible evidence of all the love and support in your girlfriend’s life.

Food and Drink

Yes, a pink party would not be complete without pink food! Some pink party food ideas include: Marbled Cherry Brownies, fruit kabobs with pretty pink dip, Pink Ribbon bagel bites from Panera with strawberry cream cheese (proceeds from the sale of these will benefit breast cancer causes), and a Strawberry Yogurt Sundae Bar filled with yummy toppings.

For a pretty drink in pink, why not serve: pink lemonade, cherry 7Up adorned with cherries, or make a batch of fruity pink flamingos and top with umbrellas.

(Please keep in mind that raw fish, seafood, meat or eggs should not be served to those girlfriends with weakened immune systems due to the possiblility of food borne illness.) Serving healthful food is the best way to support your girlfriend.

Activities

Play a game of “Who am I?” Pin the names of famous breast cancer survivors on guests’ backs as they arrive. Each guest will need to figure out who they are by asking only questions that can be answered with a yes or no.  This game is designed to get the group chatting. Some celebrity breast cancer survivors might include: Edie Falco, Gloria Steinem, Kate Jackson, Melissa Etheridge, Olivia Newton-John, Rue McClanahan, Linda Ellerbee, Jill Eikenberry, Cheryl Crow, Sandra Day O’Connor, Ann Jillian, Lynn Redgrave, Cokie Roberts, Shirley Temple Black, Suzanne Somers, Jaclyn Smith, Deanna Favre and Anastacia.

Play “What I haven’t told you”.  Ask each guest to write a compliment or something positive (a few sentences, please) about the girlfriend of honor prior to the party and bring in hand.  As the guests arrive hide the compliments away from spying eyes. Before the game, you might explain how many times we take our friends’ positive attributes for granted. Often our girlfriends don’t really know how we feel. Then, read the list of compliments. Everyone must guess which compliment came from which guest? The person who guesses the most correctly may win a token gift. But the guest of honor will have the most priceless prize of all–knowing the admiration and love of all of her girlfriends.

(If your party is for a charitable organization, have guests write a positive comment about each girlfriend in attendance, along with their name, on a pink slip of paper and sign it. Then sort the comments so each guest can go home with a pile of pink slips to read, about their own most positive attributes!

Make a sign-up sheet to help out your girlfriend: Have dates of chemo treatments listed for girlfriends to accompany her and support her during this unpleasant time. Also, list dates that she would like meals brought to her and her family when she might need them the most, dates when someone could watch her kids during a doctors appointment or give her a few hours alone with her spouse, dates to grocery shop for her when she might not feel like going out after chemo. Think of something she might need to do but might be too tired and drained. This will mean so much to to the girlfriend you are supporting!

Party Favors

-After the party, mail to each girlfriend a copy of the group picture along with the best protection bookmark.

-Fill a pink ribbon travel mug (like this one from Sears) with chocolate.

-Give a pink candle tied with a pretty ribbon. Attach a pink slip of paper with directions to light the candle for five minutes every night in honor of our sisters, friends, mothers and daughters who are fighting the fight.

As the days pass, don’t forget to stay involved in the life of your friend who has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Loneliness can lead to despair and hopelessness. Acknowledge your friendship and support her often with visits, phone calls, emails and letters. The memories you make will be cherished forever.

We sincerely wish you and your girlfriends a beautiful celebration of life and friendship. Share your comments and ideas below.

For additional breast cancer and “pink” party ideas, visit Pinterest!