Girlfriends, it’s HOT out there and we’re spending more time at the pool than in front of the computer screen. But, we haven’t forgotten our girlfriends! What are you planning for girls night in June, July and August? We’d like to offer you a few great summer girls night ideas: 

Get wet

About.com entertaining guide Donna Pilato offers this pool party plan. Pool parties are a great way to cool off! See also our bachelorette pool party ideas, which you can certainly adapt to non-bachelorette occasions. Won’t it be fun to make a splash with your girlfriends?

Get thinking

Summer is a great time to hit the hammock with a good book, and that’s why our Summer Book Swap party is so popular with our girlfriends. It’s easy for you to host one, too. Just click the link to find menu ideas, invitation wording and a downloadable book swap form. 

This most relaxed of all seasons is also a good time to think out of the box when it comes to girls night. Our Six Summer Shindigs article gives you some unique summertime girls night ideas, from a Miniature Golf Gala to a Drive-in Diva outing. Check it out and you’re sure to come away inspired! 

Get away from it all

What a perfect time of year for a girlfriend getaway! Rent a cottage on a lake, go camping, hit the big city, or seek out the best flea markets and county fairs. Pick a destination, find someone to watch the kids, dog, cat, or fish, and get away with your girlfriends. HOT TIP: Loews Hotels just announced its “Recessionista Respites” Getaway packages designed for girlfriends! Choose from great values in Denver, Lake Las Vegas, Nashville, New Orleans, New York City, Quebec City, San Diego and Santa Monica. These packages definitely include thoughtful extras such as spa credits and shopping gift cards, so be sure to check them out by visiting LoewsHotels.com. Select your destination, then click on “special offers” and look for the Recessionista package.

Also, visit our contributor Casey Wohl’s website for fabulous travel tips, ideas and deals especially for girlfriends.

So, there are a few quick summer suggestions, girlfriends. As always, we’d love to hear from YOU. What are you planning with your girlfriends this summer? Photo via flickr.  Read the rest of this entry »

In Part 1, Christine Arylo helped us define the kinds of friends we would like to have. In part two, she takes it a step further by identifying four friendship rings and the expectations we should have for each. 

By Christine Arylo

Not all girlfriends are the same - we have different friends for different reasons. Some are closer than others… some you connect with because of work or shared interests, or because you’ve known each other for years. When you understand the different levels of friendships, a.k.a. your Friendship Rings, you’re empowered to ask for and get what you need from every friend. Unknown, unmet and unexpressed, expectations are one of the major causes of friendships failure.

Action: Define your expectations for each Friendship Ring. On a piece of paper, draw a set of four concentric circles, one for each ring. Then list your expectations for each. Your expectations should differ depending on the type of friendship.

 Soul Sisters: Your closest circle. You share your lives.

 You may all have different mothers but these women are your heart and soul. They’re here for you in the best and worst of times. You can expect that they will pick up the phone when you call at 2 a.m. with a broken heart; that you can share all of yourself with them—the good and the ugly—and they will love you anyway; and that you can be completely honest about your feelings, even when you’re angry, and that they will listen and work with you to create an even deeper friendship.

Good Time Gals. You have fun with these girls. You share a good time.

You chat. You laugh. You never go too deep. You can expect that they will invite you to do things with you and accept the invitations you give; that they follow through on what they say they are going to do; and that when you’re together you can share what’s going on in your life and get some good advice, but nothing too deep.

Affectionate Aficionados. You work at the same company, belong to the same club, or run in the same social circles, but that’s as far as it goes. You share common interests.

You can expect that you will have a good time when you are together; that you will share your enthusiasm for your common interest but maybe not much more; and that they add good energy to your life, not suck it away or create drama. You can also expect that when that common interests shifts, you may no longer stay friends.

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Hey, girlfriends! We’re so excited to bring you this guest post from the dynamic Christine Arylo, self-love expert and developer of the Create Fabulous Friendships program. Christine wrote this article,  just for Girlfriend Celebrations readers. In it, she guides you through three questions to help you get clear on who you really want to call “girlfriend.” Look for part two on Monday!

by Christine Arylo

If you were asked, “What’s the biggest challenge you face to create the friendships you really want,” what would you say?

I’m going to let you in on a secret. Your biggest challenge is not time or the inability to meet new people. Your biggest challenge is you. You determine both the quantity and quality of your friendships based on who you are and how well you know who you want as a girlfriend, regardless of who’s in your circle today. Think about it. You wouldn’t consider dating or getting married without giving thought to who your mate is. Yet, even though we have close, intimate relationships with our girlfriends, we rarely give conscious thought to the kind of women they are. Instead, we choose friends by chance or duty, and with the busy lives we lead, you can’t afford to waste your friendtime on friendships based on obligation or on friendships that take more than they give.

If you’ve never stopped to ask yourself questions like, “What kind of women do I want in my life? Does my current circle of friends reflect the kind of energy I want to surround myself with?” chances are you are missing out on some great friendship opportunities, and spending too much energy on ones that don’t give you what you really want.

If you know who you want as a friend, you’re much more likely to attract that kind of person into your life. And she is much more likely to fit the life you are creating for yourself. So do yourself a favor, and take the time to get clear on who you really want to call girlfriend and why. Ask yourself the following questions using the action activities to get you crystal clear on your answers.

Questions For Creating Fabulous Friendships

QUESTION 1:  Why do I want friends?

It seems like a no-brainer question. Who doesn’t want friends, right? True, but this is a question worth answering because your response will tell you a lot about what you expect friendships to do for you. We all have different motivations, most of us just don’t know what they are.

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So, the results of our “Favorite Girls Night Out Activity” poll are in, and we’re not all that surprised…the activity with the largest response was “Chatting Over Dinner”! What does that tell us? Girlfriends love to talk, and connecting is the main activity we care about. That’s why you’ll almost always find “connecting activities” included in our party ideas. Girlfriends crave connection, and that’s what makes us different than guy friends.

“Cocktails and Clubbing” came in a somewhat distant second, followed by “Catching a Movie.” “Taking a Class” got a few votes as well, but came in last. Although several of you selected “Other” as your choice, only one person used the comments form on the poll to tell us her “other” activity. (Which, by the way, was plugging a home sale party. Unless you’re a sales rep, we have a hard time believing that is your favorite GNO activity. Just sayin!) Well, we can certainly suggest some “other” activities—this website is chock full of them—but we would like to hear from you, too! If you have a favorite Girls Night Out thing to do, why don’t you click the title of this post to get to the comment form and spill it, ok? Thanks, ladies! Read the rest of this entry »

Did you know that May was National Salad Month? The month may be over, but salad is a girlfriend staple. Especially in summer, it seems like we’re always bringing a salad of some sort to parties, barbecues, luncheons, and potlucks. Many of our girlfriends are eating light these days, so we thought it would be fun to do a roundup of favorite salad recipes. We’re sharing our favorites and some of our girlfriends favorites below. Share YOUR go-to salad recipe in the comments. And by the way, among our readers, twitter followers, and real-life girlfriends, we’ve assembled quite a delightful girlfriend salad. Thank you for brightening our days!

Dawn always brings this retro layered salad (recipe from Kraft Foods). Chances are, if you are of a certain age, you had this growing up. It’s not exactly low-cal, but people LOVE it. You make it the night before, so it’s a time-saver too.

Tina wins rave reviews with her Asian-inspired Ramen Noodle Coleslaw. The recipe is similar to this one from StartCooking.com. Crunchy and yummy, it always disappears!

Our twitter girlfriend @love2cookmb shared her recipe for Orzo Salad with Veggies We’re definitely trying this one - it looks delicious. Check our her fun blog, called My Italian Grandmother.

Girlfriend Biana Babinsky of Marketing Salad is a salad queen! She shared this Avocado Salad recipe on her blog Tasty Galaxy.

Now it’s your turn! Share your salad recipes in the comments, or simply link to your blog containing the recipe. Bon appetit! We hope you enjoy healthy and delicious fare at your next girls night! Read the rest of this entry »

With swimsuit season staring us in the face, we’ve been thinking a lot about fitness. Getting in shape is definitely one of those things that is better with a girlfriend. It’s so much easier to stick to a fitness regime when you have a partner to check in with, to cheer you on, even to commiserate with you. So, we girlfriends-in-chief have embarked on another little fitness quest together. This time, we’re working on our tummies! Read on for the details, as well as a few more easy suggestions for getting fit with a girlfriend. And, we’d love to hear your suggestions, as well!

You may remember a while back we did the Mama Mio Bootcamp for Butts, with good results. Well, our girlfriends at Mama Mio came out with a Bootcamp for Tummies and we were two of the first lucky ladies to try it out! First of all, we simply adore Mama Mio products. They smell heavenly, they are loaded with high- quality ingredients, they are smartly packaged, they are labeled with good humor,  and most importantly, they work! For the Bootcamp products, Mama Mio has teamed up with exercise specialists to create targeted, efficient exercises that you can realistically do in just minutes a day. (For the tummies bootcamp, maternal fitness expert Julie Tupler developed the exercises.) The tummy exercises are easy to do, and you can literally do them sitting down (in the car, at your computer, anywhere!) The rest of the regime consists of two skincare products: Tummy Toner Skin Tightener and Get Waisted Body Shaper—each of them a great product on its own. If your tummy is puffy, crepey, and mom-like, you will see a difference from using these products. We’re into about the third week of our bootcamp, and we both are seeing our waists look more whittled, and the look and texture of our skin has definitely improved! One important lesson we’ve learned from using Mama Mio products is that by paying attention to a body part and treating it nicely, you actually start to feel better about it! And when you feel good about yourself, you look good!

So, here’s our point: Doing this bootcamp together is much more motivating than doing it alone. We can check in with each other and say “Did you do your exercises today?” or “How’s your tummy doing?” It’s fun to hear each other’s progress and share in each other’s successes. If you are “stuck” in your fitness regime, we challenge you to call up a girlfriend and get her to be your fitness partner. Just give it a try for 30 days and see how much better fitness can be with a girlfriend!

We’re all about easy, quick, ways to fitness, so here are a couple of our other fave ways to get fit with girlfriends:

Wii Fit Club: Invite your girlfriends over to work out on your Wii together. Using Wii Fit or the new EA Sports Active for Wii, you can create indivdual profiles and track your progress together. Do you workouts at home, then get together once a week for a check-in and group workout.

Walking Group: Maybe it’s from reading the new novel Wildwater Walking Club, but we’re newly inspired to walk! Walking and talking is seriously good for the soul. Take to the sidewalks, hiking trails, or woodland paths with your girlfriends at a regular time. Invest in a pedometer and pledge to reach 10,000 steps a day. 

Your turn: Do you exercise with girlfriends? We’d love to hear how that is “working out” for you. Give your fingers a workout and tell us in the comments! Read the rest of this entry »

It’s not often we find a party idea that rocks the house and the budget, but we did! Our girlfriends over at the DuPage Mamas Community recently inspired us with their guest blogger post from girlfriend Liz on how to have a  Waste Not, Want Not party. We found it so inspiring, in fact, that we thought we should share it with you.  

trésors

We loved the idea of this party because it is so easy to pull together. The total concept forces you to use what you have lying around instead of going to go buy “more things” to host a wonderful party. Not only do you get to save money and time while acquiring new treasures, it gives you the opportunity to catch up with the girlfriends in your life. (Which is a perfectly good excuse to plan a party all by itself!)  Here is what girlfriend Liz had to say over at DuPage Mamas community:  

Recently, my neighbor had a Waste Not, Want Not party. I had never heard of one before this, but after reading the invitation, I was intrigued.

“Empty out your pantries, freezers and refrigerators and bring all the extra food items to this brunch. We can then trade with each other and take home new and much needed goodies. Whatever is left over we will donate to a food pantry. Times are tough and there is no reason to waste perfectly good food. So don’t!”

It was the kind of party that would have been fun in any economy, but seemed all the more relevant in the current climate. I’ve never thought of giving someone a half-opened jar of food, but hey, why not? If it’s something someone else would use…

Since I regularly purge my cupboards, drawers and closets, and Freecycle, donate, or leave things at the curb, I was afraid I wouldn’t have anything worthwhile to bring. Somehow, though, I filled a big diaper box full of half opened boxes of tea, a set of old iced-tea spoons, a full bottle of mint liqueor, an extra bottle of molasses that wasn’t used during Christmas cookie season, some mason jar lids (large and small) and a couple of beautiful books on honey and tea that have been gathering dust for 6 years on my tea shelf, waiting for me to find some time to get inspired to start my own beehive.

Confession: the real reason I was excited to go to my neighbor’s party was the word ‘brunch’. And it wasn’t potluck. When I walked in, the table was spread with an amazing assortment of quiche, and cakes, breads, and salads – all made with items from her pantry she was trying to use up.

Sipping a Mimosa, I chatted with women from various parts of my friend’s life – her husband’s law school friends, her farm market friends, an ex-peace corps member who now works as an editor for the Tribune, the owner of my favorite natural body product shops, and a number of other radically different, yet essentially connected women.

Everyone seemed just as interested and excited as I was about this party.

(there’s much more if you click!) Read the rest of this entry »

Summer is wedding season!  As those of us who have been bridesmaids or brides already know, weddings are expensive, and the list of expenses goes on and on. If you’re responsible for throwing the bride a bachelorette party, you can reluctantly add another “cha-ching” to your list, OR you can have a fabulous bachelorette party without going into debt. We thought you’d prefer the latter, so we asked some of our girlfriends for their best tips on budget bachelorette parties. And if you add a tip of your own, you can enter our giveaway for a great little bachelorette gift at the end of this post. Photo via flickr.

Skip the bar-hopping

This post from MSN Money estimates that a typical bridesmaid spends $75 - $100 on the bachelorette party. That’s just too much for many girlfriends right now. Most of the cost of traditional bachelorette parties comes from spending the night out on the town at pricey restaurants, bars and clubs, drinking expensive drinks, hiring limos, and seeing tacky shows. The obvious way to cut your costs? Host part or all of the evening at home. 

There’s no need to drink expensive cocktails out when you can recreate specialty drinks at home for a fraction of the cost! Burst Bar Shots are a great way to offer your guests a delicious shot to get the party started without having to fuss with multiple mixers and alcohols. The newest flavors include Sex on the Beach (our favorite), Lemon Drop and Alabama Slammer. Priced at only $10.99 a bottle, they are a great value, and a fun, festive and easy way to start your evening. We brought these to a party last weekend and they were quite a hit!

Our girlfriend Jennifer Luby, home entertaining blogger at Second City Soiree, suggests starting the party with your own ginger martinis (find the recipe at www.domainedecanton.com) and then visiting just one favorite watering hole. Or, she suggests, “skip the bars and hit the late-night fast food stands” if you crave some people-watching. If you must go to the hottest club, Jen suggests going early to avoid the cover charge.  ”Also, some clubs have restaurants attached, and if you eat there, they’ll often let you in the club for free.”

Get Cooking

And speaking of dinner, you don’t have to blow out your budget with a spendy restaurant dinner. You can have just as much fun, Jen says, if you potluck at home. “Everyone but the bride brings something; just be sure to have a balance of food types.” Or why not take this thinking a step further and have a more creative type of bachelorette party? We asked our girlfriends at Gracious Bridal to put on their thinking veils for us, (they are in touch with brides-to-be and their wedding parties every day, after all!) and they suggested a cooking party. We think this is a fabulous idea for girlfriends who have had their fill of clubbing. Some of the best girlfriend bonding times come from hands-on activities. Here’s how to do it:

Have the Maid of Honor pick a couple of her favorite recipes (the bride-to-be needs a break from decision making). You can all pitch in on providing the ingredients. Then, proceed to make a feast together! Show off your culinary skills, have fun with the girls, and of course, enjoy a glass of wine while doing so. Have each bridesmaid walk away with a decorative recipe card (and of course a belly full of fabulous food). Gift the bride-to-be with a Jessie Steele Vintage Apron for all of her future culinary endeavors.  Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a quintessential summer experience for U.S. girlfriends: The Hamptons! Read on for Casey Wohl’s report about this perfect girlfriend getaway and then plan your own.

by Casey Wohl

I was so excited about our Girls Getaway to the Hamptons that I could barely sleep the night before.  We were going for Memorial Day weekend, which is “opening” weekend of summer vacation for the Hampton-ites.  I had heard so much about this great place…the celebrities, huge vacation homes, and summer beach parties galore!  The Hamptons refers specifically to the towns of Southampton and East Hampton on the South Fork, Suffolk County, New York. This strip of Atlantic coast on Long Island’s eastern end has long been a favorite summer escape for city residents. I was meeting my friend Liz and her girlfriends from Miami.  I knew this would be a very “festive” trip since most of the girls were single.   
 
We arrived in the Hamptons Friday night and ventured to our first stop, a bar/night club called DUNE (while very unassuming from the outside, the place was filled with people starting the holiday weekend). We had a great Girls Night Out (GNO) and decided that what happens in the Hamptons, stays in the Hamptons…On Saturday, we took a taxi to the Southampton Village. We ate lunch at 75 Main (www.75Main.com), along Main Street, and then browsed the shops along Main Street and Jobs Lane. This is a quaint shopping area with unique boutiques and outdoor seating at several restaurants and a great place to spend the day with your girlfriends. We discovered a fabulous designer consignment store, Collette (www.ColletteConsignment.com). She has several clothing and home decor consignment stores in Southampton, East Hampton, Sag Harbor, and Bridgehampton. On Saturday night, we attended the Social Life Magazine (www.SocialLifeMagazine.com Party. There were several reality stars there, including Whitney Port from MTV’s The Hills and Alex McCord from Bravo’s The Real Housewives of New York City.  Champagne, martinis and delicious appetizers were served to the “Who’s Who” of the Hamptons. We had a great time, especially when Liz borrowed Gerard’s flute to play a tune for everyone there. Good times! 

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Girlfriends love to spa—and when they can spa for charity, they feel even better! We recently had the pleasure of hosting, along with Chicagonista.com, a Girls Night Out for Charity at Juvenesse Spa in Chicago. It was a fantastic evening for girlfriends to network in the tranquil environs of Juvenesse, a hidden gem in the River North neighborhood. All proceeds from the event benefited Peace Journey, a charity started by spa owner Jeannette Kravitz. Girlfriends attending the event enjoyed complimentary champagne, a fabulous spread of hors d’oeuvres, and two mini spa services, ranging among chair massage, eye zone therapy, and makeup application.

In addition to receiving a $25 gift card for a future visit to Juvenesse, spa samples, and discounts from Juvenesse, girlfriends also received a bag full of swag thanks to our fabulous sponsors! In the bag:

The Wildwater Walking Club, a new novel by Claire Cook from Hyperion Books and Voice. This novel, about a woman who has to figure out what she wants out of her life after some bumps in the road, follows three women as they begin to find a new path. Great summer reading! Our guests each received a hardcover edition. For more about the book, click here.

The Art of the Apology by Lauren Bloom. This book by a business ethics expert teaches how to apologize effectively to practically anyone. Since a sincere apology is an essential friendship skill, we were happy to have this book in our swag bag!

Conversation Confetti from Chicago-based always a girls girl.  This package of 20+ cards with talk-about-it questions and scenarios gets your guests mingling! Get a conversation confetti FREE when you purchase a conversation tin from always a girl’s girl using the code “Girlfriend Celebrations”!

PakNaks These decorative accessories transform plain backpacks, bags and other stuff into personalized, ever-changing, colorful works of art. Over 40 adorable peel-and-stick designs are available. We can totally see using these to brighten up a summer tote bag. And there’s no ironing, sewing or pinning! www.paknak.com PakNaks has a special offer for GirlfriendCelebrations readers: Receive 20% OFF your order with the code “PAK20″!

Discount card from Tunix - the site for chic, American-made tunics perfect for beach, resort, or lunch with the girlfriends!

“Piggy” wine charm and recipe book from the National Pork Board 

GirlfriendCelebrations bookmark

M&Ms also supported this great event. Have you tried M&Ms Premiums? We tried the Raspberry Almond flavor and they are quite the delicious little splurge. 
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