All good things, even the best parties, do eventually come to an end. And now, we are bringing GirlfriendCelebrations to a close as well. It’s time for the Girlfriends-in-Chief to focus on some other projects. Life gets busy. But rest assured, we’re still making time for our girlfriends, and we think you should, too!

Over the last five years, we’ve shared in your girlfriend stories. We’ve learned how much female friendship really does mean to you. And we’ve given you a wealth of ideas you can take and use on your own. It’s been an honor to be a part of your girls nights! We’re so glad you’ve found our ideas useful and fun. Because so many of you are still searching for girlfriend party ideas on the web, we plan to leave the site running as an archive of fantastic girlfriend party ideas. However, there won’t be any new posts. We encourage you all to visit our sister blogs in the Friendship Circle to continue your discussion of girlfriendship. We wish you all the best. Remember, Girlfriends Make Life Better!

In Friendship,
Dawn and Tina
xoxo Read the rest of this entry »

Girlfriend-in-Chief Dawn participated in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in Chicago June 5 – 6 in the company of more than 3,000 “girlfriends.” Here are some of her thoughts on this amazing journey!

Completing the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer is a lot like childbirth: Painful but rewarding. Walking 39.3 miles in two days is, simply, hard. No matter how much you have trained, you can’t totally prepare for your feet repetitively pounding on pavement and Mother Nature dishing up some wet and windy surprises. Bones hurt, blisters pop, chafing appears in (ahem) private places, humidity induces unusual rashes. By the end of Day One, you’re not sure you really want to (or can) get up and walk on Day Two. And yet, the main takeaway from the weekend is a feeling of triumph. In fact, many find this feeling so addictive they choose to do the walk year after year (perhaps, in a phenomenon similar to that of childbirth, selective amnesia sets in).

I spent the Avon Walk weekend with eight other women brought together by our personal trainer, Tracy, a Walk veteran. Training for the walk was a classic example of our philosophy at GirlfriendCelebrations – doing something meaningful together builds friendships! Establishing a walking routine is a great girlfriend-bonding activity. During our training walks, my teammates Liz, Cathy, Robin and I had nothing to do but talk. We’re definitely closer as a result. And during the Walk weekend, I was privileged to get to know my other teammates Teresa, Bonnie, Linsday, and Sherry better as we walked and talked.

Even though our group sentiment was “never again,” after walking 26 miles (a marathon!) the first day of the event, my memory of it now is fond and framed in pink. I’m proud of our accomplishment. We did it, girls! What kept us going? The things that unite women during any bonding experience, whether it’s college rush, child rearing, or working in adjacent cubicles: Read the rest of this entry »

As busy women with hectic calendars, we are always looking for ways to make more time for play in our days. With this in mind, Peapod, the online grocery shopping and delivery service, invited the Girlfriends-In-Chief and some fellow bloggers on a warehouse tour to show us how they could make our lives easier with the click of a mouse. As busy wives and moms, we were all quick to see how Peapod could help de-stress our domestic lives.

But what really put the icing on the cake was how Peapod’s delivery service can make entertaining easier: Helping a girlfriend take out the frazzle of eleventh- hour shopping and put the dazzle back in a last-minute soiree. Yes! What we learned can help us—and you— delete one more obstacle to having a fabulous girls night. Read on to see what we learned about their food quality and offerings for entertaining. And, see the end of this post for a great offer from Peapod that will save you $20 on your next grocery order.

It’s Cold in There

Our tour guide, Tony Stallone, Peapod’s Produce Guru, helped to put all our apprehensions about grocery stores of the 21st century to rest. Being skeptical yet savvy consumers, we initially thought that one would have to physically go to a store to get the freshest produce. But Tony was convincingly quick to point out that in order for Peapod’s service to succeed, the produce has to be better than the produce you would pick for yourself.  Simply put, if you were to pick bad cherries, you would only have yourself to blame. If Peapod were to send you bad cherries, it would not only be the pits for you but for them as well because as a consumer, you’re going to complain. Peapod’s produce goes through a careful inspection process. The fruits and vegetables are not only hand-selected but they are also tasted to ensure a positive experience for the customer. After touring the many different temperature zones in the warehouse (which, it seemed to us, were cool, chilly, cold, colder and freezing—because Peapod takes pride in never breaking the chain of coldness the entire time the food is in their warehouse) and walking among the peppers and apples (each have their own temperature-and humidity-controlled zone, by the way), we were sold on the quality of Peapod’s produce. The fruit in their warehouse looks much better than the room-temperature fruit selection we see at our local Jewel or Ultra. We won’t think twice when it comes to ordering a fruit tray or appetizers from Peapod for our next girls night.

Just a side note, the Produce Guru has his own blog about *drumroll please* produce which you can find here. He is very knowledgeable when it comes to selecting and storing produce: even grandma would be impressed. Here are a few of the tips he shared with us en toure.

• Strawberries – Inspect the entire box of strawberries, don’t be afraid to turn the box over. The strawberries on the bottom and sides of the box will go bad first. Look especially at the shoulders of the strawberries, that’s where bruising occurs first.  Strawberries will last longer if kept at a colder temperature.
• Apples – Refrigerate them. Keep them cold or they will go mealy.
• Avocado – If the button pops off the end easily Makes, it is ripe.
• Guacomole Dip – To store dip overnight without it turning black, place a plain piece of saran wrap over the dip and gently press down until all of the air is out of dip. Keeping the air from coming in contact with the dip will ensure it stays green.

• Read the rest of this entry »

Read the rest of this entry »

GirlfriendCelebrations is hitting the road, courtesy of Chevrolet, and we want YOU to tell us where to go. We recently attended a fabulous blogger event at Hard Rock Hotel Chicago, put on by our girlfriends at Silicon Valley Moms Group and Chicago Moms Blog. We learned about a lot of interesting products and services, some of  which we’ll be sharing with you soon. We also were among ten lucky bloggers selected to test drive a Chevy for a weekend this summer. Not only are we excited to get our hands on a brand new car—we can choose among some great vehicles including Chevy’s Camaro, Equinox, Tahoe, and Traverse—but we want to make our little excursion as GIRL-FRIENDLY as possible! And, in keeping with the spirit of the Chevy Missions project in Illinois, we are also thinking of ways to use our Chevy vehicle to serve others. As always, our goal is to give YOU more ideas for ways to have fun and meaningful times with YOUR girlfriends. We want to make this good, girlfriends, and we need your ideas! So please, leave your comments on this post with suggestions for:

• Girlfriend getaway destinations – drivable from Chicago in a weekend?
• Service project ideas  - perhaps utilizing a larger vehicle?
• Other ways to use a vehicle for some good girlfriendly fun? (and don’t say camping – though that would make for some entertaining reading!)

We’re looking forward to hearing what you suggest, and to bringing you our adventure later this summer. Thanks, girlfriends!

Photo by the immensely talented Lahleyoo! Read the rest of this entry »

Hey, girlfriends! Want to read more about making, having and keeping friends? We’re pleased to announce that GirlfriendCelebrations has joined forces with four other fabulous blogs to create The Friendship Circle, keeping our online girlfriends better informed on ALL the news that’s fit to publish about friendship. If you’re visiting us here, we think you’ll enjoy visiting them, too. Let’s take a look:

The Friendship Blog: The Friendship Doctor, Irene Levine, dispenses smart and compassionate friendship advice. As a clinical psychologist and award-winning author, she is eminently qualified!

Girlfriendology: The online community for women based on inspiration, appreciation and celebration of female friendship. Founder Debba Haupert blogs frequently and interviews inspiring women.

GirlfriendCircles: Shasta Nelson blogs about how to make friends, drawn from her experiences as the founder of GirlfriendCircles, a service that matches women up with potential friends in their cities.

MWFseekingBFF: Rachel Bertsche explores the challenges of trying to make a new friend, chronicling her friendship quest with thoughtful and thought-provoking writing.

GirlfriendCelebrations: And of course, you’ll find ideas for how to spend your girlfriend time on GirlfriendCelebrations. Since 2005, we’ve been providing original thoughts on everything from girls night in to girlfriend getaways, along with articles that help you make the most of your friendships. Read the rest of this entry »

Whether you’re a seasoned mom, a new mom, a mom-to-be or happily childfree, you’re sure to encounter the effects of parenthood on your friendships. Girlfriend-in-Chief Dawn was interviewed recently for an article in today’s Chicago Tribune that explores how to keep friendships strong despite the changes that come when one friend has a baby. You can keep your friendships alive, as long as you’re armed with dedication and understanding. Here’s an excerpt from the article:

3 tips for navigating a complicated friendship:

Take a class together. “Something that is ongoing so you don’t just meet once for coffee,” says GirlfriendCelebrations.com founder Dawn Bertuca. “It’s something you can look forward to and something you’ll continue to develop in common that has nothing to do with whether you have children or not.”

Remember birthdays. Parents often let their own birthdays come and go without fanfare, but friends without kids often still have the time (and disposable income) to toast their big day. Don’t assume your friend has adopted your birthday policy. In either case, your friend will appreciate a card or phone call from his or her pal.

Listen. “It’s important to remember not to talk about your kids all night,” Bertuca says. “On the other hand if you don’t have kids, be patient and let your friend talk about their kids a little bit.”

There’s much more HERE so click on over and read the entire article by Tribune Newspapers Reporter Heidi Stevens.

Read the rest of this entry »

Sometimes you just need to get away from it all and enjoy some GIRL TIME—especially in the middle of winter—and that’s why we’re so excited to tell you about this very special girlfriend getaway weekend, February 26-28, 2010 at the charming Irish Cottage Boutique Hotel in Galena, Illinois. We’re proud to be hosting this event along with Siobhainn O’Connor VanSanten from the O’Connor Show Irish Radio Program. The time to book your room is NOW – so read on for ALL the girlfriendly details!

Girlfriends, you deserve a mid-winter getaway that offers EVERYTHING a girl needs to feel rejuvenated – cozy surroundings, gourmet food, fancy drinks, spa treatments, shopping, pampering, relaxation, and of course, girlfriends! Bring your mom, your sister, your daughter, your best friends. Read the rest of this entry »

Another girlfriend year is coming to a close, so we wanted to look back and remember some of our favorite post of 2009. We’ve had some great ones this year! In fact, narrowing the list down to 10 favorites was tough, but we selected 5 party ideas and 5 articles that we thought represented the best of GirlfriendCelebrations this year. Read on and see if you agree, and let us know in the comments. You can also VOTE for your favorite GirlfriendCelebrations party idea of 2009 in our twtpoll in the left-hand column. If you missed any of these great posts, you may want to consider subscribing to our e-newsletter. That way you’ll never miss a minute of the celebration!

Party Ideas

1. Patio Crawl Tina says: “I like this because it’s hip to host at any age. It can be held virtually anywhere from a large subdivision to a small apartment complex. If you wanted to include the opposite sex, it wouldn’t too hard to modify. What a great way to celebrate the fall season! And last but not least…I secretly really, really, really want to host one of these ~ sounds like so much fun.”

2. Welcome-to-Town Cookie Party Tina says: “I love that you can host this for girls of all ages. It’s a unique twist on the old favorite cookie exchange. It’s a fun way to get the “chore” of seeing all your close friends and extended family without traveling from house to house during the time-crunched holiday season.”
3. Karaoke Girls Night Dawn says: “Classic GirlfriendCelebrations: Fun, easy, cheap, and unique. This is a great Japan-themed girls night to warm up a winter night by bringing out your inner diva.” Read the rest of this entry »

(PLEASE NOTE- Interview was rescheduled due to technical difficulties.We’ll now be appearing Monday, 12/14 at 2:00 pm EST) Hey, girlfriends, we’ll be appearing live Monday, December 14 at 2:00 pm eastern with Debba Haupert of Girlfriendology on BlogTalkRadio! We’ll be talking about celebrating the holidays with your girlfriends, and you can even call in with questions. We’d love to hear from you! Listen live on the web at www.blogtalkradio.com/girlfriendology or, you can download the podcast and listen at your leisure. (We will post the link to the podcast when it’s available). Have a great weekend!