Editor’s Note: This article previously appeared on GirlfriendCelebrations in 2008. All right, bargain huntresses, Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving and biggest shopping day of the year, in case you’re not aware) is just around the corner. The wee morning hours, mobs of people, neverending lines, and aching feet: remember those from last year? Who wouldn’t need a drink after the race to that finish line? Since you are going to be out and about anyway, why not meet afterward for some girl time? It will give you the opportunity to show off your bargains, get some wrapping done and nourish your body, soul and mind with good food and company. Yes, GirlfriendCelebrations has planned a Black Friday party with you in mind! Read on for all the details, including some easy and fun connecting activities to help you and your girlfriends get the most out of your hours together.

Invitations

All right ladies, this is a no-brainer. Quick and to the point. Thanksgiving is on its way and we have no time to delay. Use evite or socializr for the quickest invite. You might say something like this:

Join the girls Black Friday

after your shopping is done

let’s get the gifts

all wrapped up

and have some fun.

Ask each girlfriend to pick up a few rolls of wrapping paper, tape, boxes or ribbons on their way through the checkout and bring them to the gathering. It is always better to have too many wrapping materials than too few. This will also help to reduce the cost of wrapping for each person. Plus, moms take note: it is always nice to wrap your kids’ gifts in paper that isn’t physically in your own house. Lest your five-year-old say, “Mommy, is Santa real? Because why would he use the same wrapping paper that is under your bed?” Lesson shared from my house to yours.

Setting

The house does not have to be spotless; everyone is busy with the holidays and should be very understanding. They will just be excited to hang out and put up their feet. Plan to use the room in your house with the biggest area to wrap gifts.

Set up a wrapping station. A large table donned with wrapping paper, scissors, bows, tape, gift tags, pens and 3×5 cards—all the accessories to make a girl’s wrapping complete. The cards can be used in lieu of gift tags –just tape to the bottom of their wrapped gift. This comes in handy for gifts from Santa. On the 3×5 card they can write what is inside and who it is for. Just be sure to tape the 3×5 card securely; it would be a shame to have to unwrap a gift just to find out what is inside and who it is for. Another lesson shared from my house to yours.

Food and Drink

Make it simple– order out! Just make sure to order from someone who delivers. Pizza is the perfect comfort food. Or Italian, Chinese—whatever you are in the mood for, just make sure you can call it in. You don’t want to have to stop on your way home; the day is too busy for that. Instead, let your fingers do the walking and you can do the talking—with your girlfriends.

While you’re shopping for Thanksgiving this week, just throw a few extra things in the cart. Some ideal quick munchies might include: Hummus and pita chips, pretzels and spicy mustard, pre-cut cheese and crackers, and carrots and veggie dip. Those are all things you can throw in a bowl and serve without having to think about it.

Some drink ideas to warm the soul: Hot cocoa with a side pour of schnapps, spiced eggnog or any holiday-spiced beer. Be sure to offer water as well. After all that running around, everyone is sure to need a little shot of H20.

Connecting Activities

A lot of wrapping and chatting will be done at this gathering, so the activities will be pretty minimal. But some quick suggestions might include:

Quizzing everyone after the wrapping is done. Write down the gifts that each girl is wrapping: What gift and to whom. Then afterwards, quiz the girls to see who was most observant. The one with the most correct answers wins.

Things to talk about. 1. How did you learn the truth about Santa and at what age? 2. What do you enjoy most about the holidays? 3. Are there any holiday traditions in your family that you feel are important to pass on? 4. If you could only remember one Christmas, which one would it be and why? 5. What is the most non-traditional thing you have adopted into your holidays?

Match the Santa list. Ask everyone to write down some of the things they asked Santa for as a child. The hostess will randomly read off the lists of each girlfriend’s childhood wants. Your gal pals try to match the guests with what they asked for. The one with the most correct answers wins.

Weirdest gift guess. Ask everyone to write down the weirdest gift ever received at the holidays. The hostess will read the answers randomly. The guests will try to match the weirdest gift with its receiver. The one with the most correct answers wins.

Prizes and party favors are not necessary for the games or this party. It will be enriching just to learn some things about the girls that you never knew. Learning more about each other enhances our girlfriend relationships. What better prize could a girl ask for?

We hope you take time to turn the race of Black Friday into something special, a winning finale to this busiest of all shopping days. Your girlfriends will be appreciative, even if the invite is last-minute. If you have any other Black Friday traditions with your girlfriends, we’d love to hear about them in the comment form below.

Unrated

Hey, Girlfriends! On this National Women’s Friendship Day, we have something very exciting to share with you!

GirlfriendCelebrations is partnering with Christine Arylo, author of Choosing ME Before WE: Every Woman’s Guide to Life and Love, to bring you GirlTalk…Taking it Deeper™ - a monthly series you can use to connect with your girlfriends on a deeper level.

Only a few more days before football season officially begins for all of you fantasy football widows out there! Don’t miss out on the fun: Plan your own fantasy football league with the best of your girlfriends.

Packer Backer

To start the season off in style, GirlfriendCelebrations has designed a party plan just for the occasion. A Fantasy Football Draft party can bring together players that are experienced, inexperienced and even clueless for some fun, friendship and laughter.

Setting and setup

There are only a few requirements for a football fantasy draft:  A big-screen TV if you actually plan on watching the games, a laptop for everyone to join the league on, wi-fi, which makes it a whole lot easier for your girlfriends to bring their laptops (the more laptops you have, the quicker the draft will go), a league name, a commissioner (person to be in charge of the league), and a team name.

When talking to your girlfriends about the draft, you may want to encourage them to think of a league name for your whole group as well a team name for their individual team. It’s not always easy to come up with identity names on the fly.

There are two types of drafts to choose from, depending on your level of skill. For the girlfriends who are football pros, try the CBS Sports Fantasy Football. After the commissioner creates the league, each of the teams can draft their picks. For the rookie girlfriends, try the CBS Sports Game Pick’em. In this draft, you decide which teams will win on a particular day. The more teams you pick to win correctly the more you points get in the season.

Invitations

There are many types of paper invitations out there in the shape of a football. For a more hands-on invitation, try a small rubber football from your local dollar store or like the one here from Oriental Trading. On the football you can write something like this in permanent ink:

We’re getting our game on

Thursday, September 9th

Please come join our

Fantasy Football League

7:30pm

RSVP:   Sarah

You can easily mail the football in a large manila envelope.

Food and Drink

With all the drafting your hands will most likely be busy, so be sure to keep the food at a minimum. Short and sweet is always best. Start with a couple of fine brews to offer your guests. We suggest Sam Adams Cherry Wheat with a hint of tart cherry or Sierra Nevada Pale Ale with a hint of caramel.  Pair it with a chili bar with all the fixings. Some topping ideas include several different types of cheeses, shredded or cubed (Gruyere, mozzarella, sharp cheddar), cooked pasta (rotini or macaroni), chopped onions, sour cream, and tortilla chips. For the sweet tooth and a nice pairing to the beer and chili, add an assortment of chocolates ranging in dark to light.

Connecting Activities

If the girls are truly interested in watching a football game, start a football pool to add a little excitement and fun. In many places this is considered gambling if you play for money, so as an alternative you could play for scrumptious chocolates or bragging rights.

Football 101 – While the game is going on, have the football pro girlfriend explain the calls and what is going on. Don’t let football be a foreign language! Just being knowledgeable about whats going on can make it more interesting.

If the girls truly couldn’t care less about watching the game, but just want to hang out and do something fun, here are a few ideas:

Famous Football Movie Charades - Divide into teams and act out the names of these famous football movies, the team with the most points wins. See a complete list of movies here.

Football Word-Sense – On strips of paper, write football words and their definitions.  Each player draws a strip of paper and reads the word along with either the definition on the paper or the player’s made-up definition. Each player decides whether the definition is true or false and points are scored for the most correct. The one with the most points at the end of the game is the winner.  Here is a list of some  football lingo and definitions.

Party Favors

A football draft party truly requires no party favors. However if you must, send the girls home with a printed schedule of games to watch together; be sure to include date, time, and place in case someone else is hosting. You can easily add pictures of your group, laminate, add a magnet to the back. Voila! A picture- perfect favor.

If time is of the essence, buy small cloth bags at your local dollar store and throw in some football-shaped chocolates, such as the ones featured here in the Everyday with Rachael Ray Magazine. Every girl needs some chocolate.

We hope you take the time to get together with your friends for some girl time, whether it’s to watch football, start your own fantasy league together or just hang out. If you’ve started your own Fantasy Football League or just have your own team, GirlfriendCelebrations would love to hear your thoughts about what makes it fun for you. Kick things off by leaving a comment!

Girlfriends, are you making green plans for this week? Earth Day (April 22) and Arbor Day are both coming up (Arbor Day is the last Friday in April, here in Illinois. Other states may observe it at other times, depending on the best time to plant trees. Find the date for your state here.) To help you celebrate these very worthy occasions, GirlfriendCelebrations.com is here with our top five ways to get green with a girlfriend. We hope you’ll try at least one! (Photo via flickr.)

1. Plant something. Whether it’s a potted plant for a shut-in, annuals to brighten a neighbor’s walkway, or a tree in your yard, this is a green activity that benefits everyone. Don’t have a green thumb? Invite your gardener girlfriends to give you some tips. Working with the soil is therapeutic, living with plants is healthy, and the beauty they provide is uplifting. Another suggestion: Use your crafting skills to make a discarded container into a “new again” planter. 

2. Carpool. Just give it a try. Coordinate your work friends and share a ride to work this week. It’s girlfriendly and green. After all, you get to chat on the way. If you’re going to girls night out, try to do it in as few cars as possible. Or, consider the adventure of taking public transportation together!

3. Volunteer with an organization that plants trees. Find a listing here. Volunteering is a great way to explore common interests with a girlfriend and deepen your friendship.

4. Share the locally grown love. Sign up together for a share in a community-supported agriculture (CSA) farm. Split a box of locally grown vegetables each week and you’ll both be eating healthier and helping the environment. Find your local CSA here. 

5. Put on your walking shoes. ”Walking with a friend anywhere is a great activity,” say our friends at ways2gogreen.com. ”If you have a park nearby, you could buy local food and have an eco-picnic.” Check out their website for more ways to go green! We totally agree with this suggestion. Not only is walking great exercise, but it saves on auto emissions. Is there an errand you and your girlfriend could walk to together? How about to the hardware store to get some energy-efficient lightbulbs?

You can also plan a “Green Girlfriends Party” with our complete party plan here. Check it out for some great activities, crafts, menu suggestions and more. 

What are you doing to celebrate Earth Day? Is it something that can be shared with a girlfriend? Brainstorm in the comments!

Girlfriend-in-Chief Tina had a big milestone birthday a few weeks ago, and her surprise party (thrown by her darling husband) rocked! Even though it wasn’t strictly a girlfriend celebration, Tina’s girlfriends added some special touches that you might want to try the next time you have a special girlfriend to recognize. Whether it’s a birthday, graduation, bachelorette party, divorce celebration, or baby shower, here are a few ways to make your  girlfriend’s occasion more memorable. More pics after the jump!

The Tree of Wisdom

First, Tina’s sister Jenny brought the “Tree of Wisdom”—a cute little black feather tree adorned with miniature pink clothespins. Beside it, she placed slips of paper and a few pens in a pretty basket, with instructions to write a note of advice for the birthday girl and clip it to the tree. The intent was to have guests offer their advice on getting older, but the results were far more varied. The advice ranged from sweet to hilarious, with some curiously R-rated advice thrown in! You should be able to find a similar tree at a craft store or department store. And, it can be reused for many different kinds of girlfriend occasions.

Girlfriend Clare brought balloons to make the venue more festive – a thoughtful, inexpensive way to dress up any locale. She also purchased a tiara—every girl needs one—for the birthday girl to wear, and wear it she did! Dawn brought a guest book in the form of a small pink scrapbook. Guests were encouraged to sign their name and add a note to the birthday girl. Tina is going to treasure this record of the evening and her friendships. Word to the wise: Depending on how much the guests have had to drink, you might get some high-school-yearbook-style confessions!

Lori, Dawn, Tina, Clare

Finally, girlfriend Susanne took it upon herself to document the evening in pictures. She made sure to get photos of all the guests—taking some 200 pictures in all. She also photographed some of the festivities in the days leading up to the big event (this was a big occasion calling for more than one celebration!) Then, she compiled the photos in a photo album for Tina. What a great gift! There were also a few disposable cameras floating around so guests could photograph themselves—always a great idea, because the photographer can’t be everywhere.

Susanne takes a break from the camera

Tina added her scraps of wisdom to the photo album, and now she has a complete remembrance of her big night, thanks to a few thoughtful pals. Try one or more of these ideas the next time you are celebrating a girlfriend’s special occasion. For a small amount of effort, you’ll add a big impact to your girlfriend celebration!

What tips can you share for making a girlfriend’s party more memorable? We’d love to see them in the comments. Send us pictures of your girlfriend celebrations and we’ll share them too!