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 »

[Our spa correspondent Melissa Mellott is back with another amazing review, in which she shows us that "spa" doesn't just mean facials; it can mean new experiences too. Sharing them with your girlfriends is even better!]

by Melissa Mellott

I think we can all agree that getting a facial, massage or any type of spa treatment is relaxing, and thus good for mind and body. As an esthetician, I believe that these treatments are good/nurturing/healing to our skin and body. 

The concept of Spa Health, however, is defined as doing something positive for yourself—something that makes you relaxed, happy, balanced, peaceful, or simply rested.  This could be a facial, but it could be taking a walk on the beach, playing with a puppy, cooking (yes, comfort food; it doesn’t have to be spa cuisine!) or eating a truffle (I, personally, could be in any sort of stressful situation and chocolate becomes my “OM”!) 

Speaking of chocolate, I recently attended a Chocolate & Wine Yoga Workshop at Ojai Valley Inn Resort and Spa. Prior to the workshop, I scrambled to find anything that resembled yoga pants to take with me, commenting to a friend about the upcoming workshop, “I don’t do yoga, but…I certainly do chocolate and wine.”  The class was taught by author and yoga expert Dave Romanelli, and over the course of two days, I took two yoga classes and had two chocolate and wine tastings following the yoga; it was like the carrot dangled in front of me … except it was the most delicious Vosges Aztec truffles infused with ancho chillies  and Ceylon cinnamon. Read the rest of this entry »

Hey girlfriends! Did you know today is National Chocolate Day? What a great excuse for a snack! And speaking of chocolate, you may remember a couple of weeks ago we told you about our girlfriend Vicki’s idea for a Pink Elephant Chocolate Exchange. Vicki hosted this fun, multigenerational party for a girlfriend with breast cancer, and it was a big success. Well, since we published that post, Vicki was kind enough to send pictures and more details.  When our readers share their stories with us, we feel truly honored, and touched enough to want to share them with you. Today, being National Chocolate Day and still part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, seemed like the perfect day to remind you about this great girls night idea.

Read the rest of this entry »

How much convincing would it take for you to attend a chocolate exchange? Not much, right? Mmm-hmm, we’d be there in a heartbeat! Our girlfriend Vicki Maday recently emailed us to tell us about a “Pink Elephant Chocolate Exchange” she hosted in honor of  a girlfriend who is a breast cancer survivor. Since October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we thought this would be a great time to

Read the rest of this entry »

Don’t you love it when you meet someone who is so enthusiastic about what they do, that it’s contagious? That’s the feeling we had the other day when we met Sue and Kathy from Prairie and Vine, an adorable wine shop and tasting room in Chicago’s western suburbs. It reminded us to tell you that now is a GREAT time of year to have a Wine Among Friends party. Tina hosted one of these two years ago and it was a fabulous success. Click the link for all the details! But first read on:  

Read the rest of this entry »