Rachael Ray was on the cover of USA Weekend last week with party plans to celebrate spring. We love Rachael’s practical approach to entertaining, and in a lot of ways, her philosophy mirrors ours (even though we’re much more likely than she is to let Trader Joe’s do the cooking). Just like GirlfriendCelebrations, Rachael emphasizes keeping your get-togethers “easy, cost-effective, casual and fun.” Here are some of her tips that we especially agree with:

Invite by email, text or phone. Perfectionist expectations are the reason many girlfriends never invite friends over. While beautiful, cute, or inventive invitations are fun to have, they are not a deal-breaker. Do like Rachael and “just tell people to come over.”

Entertain earlier in the day. Having friends over for breakfast, brunch or lunch can be much cheaper than throwing  a dinner party. Plus, it’s refreshingly different!

Offer a signature cocktail. Mixing a big batch of just one cocktail is easier and cheaper than stocking a full bar—plus, it makes your party more special. We served up Pink Perfection cocktails at our e.l.f. Makeup Party and they were a big hit. We literally whipped them up without a recipe using vodka, strawberry lemonade (from Trader Joe’s), Sprite or club soda, and fresh strawberries. Read the rest of this entry »

Speaking of girlfriend getaways (see our contest, above) Loews Miami Beach Hotel has created a tempting offer for girlfriends looking for a weekend full of food, fashion and fun. It certainly sounds like fun, and we wanted to let you know about it. The hotel, which recently completed a $50 million renovation, is inviting ladies to South Beach for the “World’s Largest Girlfriend Getaway.” Headlining the weekend will be two of Miami’s most popular and famous chefs and “girlfriends,” James Beard award winner and TV contributor, Michelle Bernstein, and CIA grad and celebrated chef, Andrea Curto-Randazzo, offering cooking demonstrations, tips, and recipe sharing. The “Girls Only Getaway” package is priced starting at $399 per person, based on double occupancy and is available April 16-18, 2010. The weekend also includes a two-night stay in a deluxe room, daily breakfast, group salsa lesson by Miami Beach’s Salsa Mia, beach yoga and Elemis Spa specials.

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March is Women’s History Month! This month’s Girltalk…Taking it Deeper™ focuses on appreciating the journey of women throughout history. Christine Arylo, creator of Girltalk, felt so strongly about this issue that she changed the previously scheduled topic. Read on for her thoughts. To download this month’s printable guide, click here. For more information on Girltalk, click here.

A personal note from Christine Arylo, founder of Girltalk.

In honor of Women’s History Month, I have to out myself.  As an MBA from one of the best schools in the country, I have been ignorant to the truth of our history as women. Sure, I know the facts… but that is not the same as knowing, or feeling, the reality. What I learned in history class didn’t come close to telling me the truth of what women have endured just in the last century, let alone the last three hundred, or two thousand years. I got the same scrubbed-down version of history that you did — unless you were a feminine studies major — straight from the lips of a patriarchal society.  Oh, women couldn’t vote, so there was this suffrage movement and now they can. Oh, there was this thing called Roe vs Wade that made abortion legal. Oh, women were burned at the stake during this thing called the Inquisition. And yes, there was this other thing called the Feminist Movement that created equal rights. None of those were more than a few pages in any of my history books, how about yours?

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With winter in full force, don’t let the idea of six more weeks of snowy cold give you the blues! Warm some hearts today by planning a charitable card party for your girlfriends. Sharing fun times and memories with the ones closest to your heart is a great way to stir up one’s soul in the still of winter. Girlfriend Celebrations has planned a unique way for you to show appreciation to friends who are loved, provide inspiration for charitable giving, and celebrate the life you cherish with your girlfriends. In honor of February’s American Heart month or March’s American Red Cross month, why not host a unique charitable hearts party for your next girl’s night in and spread some love. Read the rest of this entry »

Girlfriends, looking for something different to do for your February Girls Night? Try a Lunar New Year Celebration to gather with your girlfriends in the spirit of new beginning, good fortune, and colorful festivity. This girls night is certain to liven up your winter routine!

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Happy Valentine’s Week! Here at GirlfriendCelebrations, we love Valentine’s Day, and we encourage celebrating it with your girlfriends. Even if there’s no romance in your life right now, you still have plenty to appreciate and celebrate – you have friends! We know one woman who sends Valentine cards to all her friends instead of Christmas cards. It’s her way of showing appreciation from the heart. In that spirit, here’s a short roundup of ideas to get YOU thinking of ways to brighten your February with Valentine-themed girls nights. Watch for new posts this week with even more creative ideas for February festivities.

“I Enjoy Being a Girl” Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Party – Our girlfriend Jen Luby at Second City Soiree has done it again! This time she’s got some great entertaining tips centered around Chinese New Year, which falls on February 14 this year, and usually occurs somewhere around Valentine’s Day. Here’s how she came up with the theme:

“I Enjoy Being a Girl” is a song from Flower Drum Song, a Rogers & Hammerstein musical which relates the tale of Chinese immigrants in San Francisco during the 1950s.  The are various opinions on the musical, and it’s not among R&H’s better-known works.  It did enjoy a brief spike of renewed interest when Sarah Jessica Parker performed “I Enjoy Being a Girl” in a 2004 Gap commercial.

See the rest of her post HERE. Read the rest of this entry »

Happy New Year, Girlfriends! It’s time to reflect on the year that’s been and claim the year to come. Instead of running into your year, stop, reflect, give some real and wise thought to 2010 and move forward with focus, intention and heart. Get your Girltalk…Taking it Deeper™ group together and use this January discussion guide by Christine Arylo to take your year in the best possible direction. To download a printable PDF of this month’s discussion guide, click here. To learn more about starting your own Girltalk group (it’s totally free and you’ll receive the discussion guide each month), click here.

Be Real. Every year, it’s the same old drill, isn’t it? We start off with the best intentions, with gusto, resolved to reach our goals and make this ‘the’ year. But by February that gusto has been drained down by the overwhelm, pressure and realities of day-to-day life. Come October, we’re wondering where the year went, and not feeling quite as successful as we had hoped we would when the year started. And then without warning, it’s Thanksgiving, then December and a flurry of presents and parties. Before we know it, January 1 has arrived, and with it the immense pressure to make this ‘the’ year.

If you are a Type A person, you likely go into New-Year’s-resolution and goal-setting mode. If you are the Type B variety, you’re likely more relaxed and avoid serious goal-setting, stepping into the new year with faith that it will all work out. The truth is that neither of these strategies work. Type A or Type B, these approaches are insane. They keep you doing the same thing year after year expecting different results, which by definition is insanity.

Be Wise. This year, instead of running from the holidays into the New Year without really stopping to decide where you want to go before you take off full force to get there, dare to take a pause! Dare to avoid the three biggest mistakes people make when approaching their new year, and instead take the wiser path. Which ones have you fallen into? And what is the deeper wisdom?

Mistake #1: Not stopping to reflect on the year that has passed. Going from one year into the next, without stopping to recognize all that has happened, is like living your life like a mountain climber, arriving at the mountain top of each year, but not stopping to take in the view that you worked so hard to achieve. Instead, you just take a quick breath, and keep pushing up the next mountain, the next year, without celebrating my successes or learning from your failures. No wonder you are exhausted. No surprise that you don’t feel like you really accomplished what you wanted; all you could see was the next mountain.

Wise Truth: In order to grow, we must stop, celebrate, reflect and learn at the end of every cycle.

Mistake #2:   Pressuring yourself to have your entire year mapped out by the first week of January. 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 »

Congratulations to our winner Sarah D.! Contest is now closed, but read on for GREAT New Year’s Eve party ideas. What are you doing New  Year’s Eve? No plans, you say? Well, we bet you have some gal pals in the same boat. Why not invite them over for an easy appetizer party and ring in the New Year together? With a little help from our friends at The Pampered Chef and their you can easily make an elegant appetizer buffet for your girlfriends to enjoy. We’re giving away this cocktail shaker and ice bucket to a lucky girlfriend to help you have a successful girls night in. But we’ll have to hurry to get it to you by New Years Eve, so this contest will end Sunday, December 27. Read on for party ideas and contest details. Read the rest of this entry »