Galentine’s Day Definition: The Celebration of Women Friendships
Valentine’s Day is my second favorite “holiday” behind Christmas. Why? Because not only do I get to celebrate the love in my romantic relationship, but I also get to celebrate the love I have for all my girlfriends!
I hosted my first Galentine’s Day Party in 2017. Over the years, what started as an intimate brunch in my Minneapolis loft has turned into a full-blown GALENTINE’S DAY SITUATION. Each year, I have added MORE food, MORE decor, MORE games, and MORE love. Almost all of my girlfriends tell me that it is their favorite event of the year. Hence why I decided to create this guide to showcase my latest Galentine’s Day Event. All of these ideas can easily be transitioned into any Girls’ Night, Bachelorette Party, Bridal Shower, or Birthday Party!
Galentine’s Day Invitation
Typically, I incorporate brunch into my Galentine’s Day Party. Bottomless Mimosas, anyone? However, this year I decided to switch it up and host a Galentine’s Day Pizza Party! I used the free program, Canva, to design and print the party invitations. Canva is the easiest program to use with hundreds of different invitation templates and customization options. Invites
can either be ordered through Canva or downloaded onto your computer. If you order from Canva, envelopes are included in your purchase.
This invitation took me roughly 20 minutes to design and was a major hit with all of my guests! Small details such as cute invitations can really make all the difference when planning a party. I initially wanted to make all of the pepperonis into hearts but lost interest when the process proved too time-consuming. I love the square design and simplicity of this invitation! Very cute and not too busy. I like to keep the initial information short and sweet as you can always give further instruction when a guest RSVPs.
Pro tip: save money by sending out invitations as evites!
Galentine’s Day Pizza Party
For this specific Galentine’s Day, I decided to make an activity out of the meal. First things first, remember to clarify with your guests when they RSVP if they have any dietary restrictions, allergies, or food preferences. I had guests in attendance that were gluten-free, vegetarian, and vegan. It was important to me that I was aware of my guests’ dietary preferences in order to have yummy options available for everyone.
To be honest, making homemade pizzas was not the easiest thing to do with a group of eleven and would be even harder with a larger guest list. Next time, I would definitely opt for premade pizza crusts (include cauliflower crust as an option!) rather than the Trader Joe’s pre-made pizza dough that I purchased for this party. Although delicious, rolling out the dough was both messy and time-consuming. Not to mention, the best part isn’t rolling out the dough, it’s adding all the fun & unique pizza toppings! Instead of plates, I created individual pizza boxes with each guest’s name and decorated them with heart stickers. Again, these would have been much easier to use with premade crust, but still served as cute decor!
I pretty much purchased every fun pizza topping you can think of: onions, peppers, jalapenos, pineapple, pepperoni, banana peppers, bacon, olives, spinach, cheese, etc. An added detail was this mini heart cutter from Amazon. This was a fun way to cut hearts into different ingredients to make the pizzas more festive. I would recommend precutting the hearts in order to save time during the party. For a vintage touch, I used my mom’s collection of antique glass bowls to hold all of the different pizza toppings. You can easily find cheap, various glass bowls at Goodwill, Savers, Salvation Army, or any other secondhand shop!
Galentine’s Day Appetizers and Dessert
In addition to pizza, I ordered everyone’s favorite salad and breadsticks from Olive Garden. One salad easily feeds 6-8 people. For two large salads and 24 breadsticks, it was around $50. To save money, you could definitely purchase the ingredients yourself, but this was such a timesaver that it was worth it to me to just send my boyfriend the morning of to pick it up.
Other items provided for guests to munch on throughout the afternoon included a candy charcuterie board, spinach and artichoke dip, popcorn, and a veggie tray.
Galentine’s Day Signature Drink
Want the secret to the easiest, yet cutest signature drink? All you need is pink cotton candy, champagne, and a package of Rokz cocktail sugar rimmerz. Order Rokz cocktail sugar rimmerz here from Amazon.
For the sugar rim, I dipped the top of each champagne glass in lemon juice before next dipping it in the cranberry cocktail sugar mix. The result was a perfectly pink, delicious sugar rim! Allow the rim to dry, then add a straw and cotton candy to each glass. To make this drink even more fun I purchased individual mini champagne bottles for each guest. We started the party off with a toast and then each guest got to pour their own champagne over the cotton candy. It was a hit! And a major boomerang moment for everyone’s Instagram. Afterward, I went around and topped each glass with more cotton candy to complete the look. I used prosecco champagne, but sparkling rose would be another cute option! Could also sub the cotton candy and/or straw for rock candy.
I had the prepped champagne glass and mini champagne bottle at the front door for guests to grab as they arrived, but would also work as cute decor at each table setting.
Galentine’s Day Activities
Here is a breakdown of the different activities offered at this year’s Galentine’s Day event! Each activity could be easily adapted to fit a Birthday Party, Girls’ Night, Bachelorette Party, or Bridal Shower!
Galentine’s Day Rosé Tasting
This was such a fun and easy activity to set-up and could easily be adapted to fit a larger guest list. My boyfriend and I frequently use the Vivino app when picking out wine at the liquor store. Thus, when I went to select Rosés for the tasting I used the app to pick wines with various ratings. I created printouts on Canva outlining a brief description of each wine and its Vivino rating. I have a large number of small glasses that I used for the tasting, but small plastic cups would also work well. For a palate cleanser, I had popcorn sprinkled with candy hearts. Buttery popcorn and candy hearts are not true palate cleansers, but it sure looked cute! For a special touch, I used the empty wine bottles as centerpieces. Placing roses in each bottle and arranging them in order of the tasting.
Galentine’s Day DIY Flower Arrangements
Making flower arrangements was probably the most popular activity in all my years of hosting Galentine’s Day. Glass vases were purchased for each guest from The Dollar Tree. Glass vases can also be found at Goodwill, Savers, or any other secondhand shop. For the bouquet arrangements, I picked out two different types of red roses, white roses, pink roses, baby’s breath, and greenery from a local wholesale flower shop. Buying flowers from a wholesale supplier will give you the best deal. However, places like Costco, Cub, & Trader Joe’s also have great price points with large selections of flowers that can be easily mixed and matched into bouquets. I would avoid flower shops unless you have a large budget designated for this activity.
To add more flair to the bouquets consider providing different colors of ribbon and rhinestones. Unfortunately, I thought of this detail too late but was planning on purchasing these rhinestone pins from Amazon. I have received flowers with rhinestones in the past and love how it adds a touch of sparkle to any arrangement. When it comes to ribbon, I would recommend something romantic and dreamy, such as this Pink Velvet Ribbon from Amazon. Want more options? This Amazon shop offers several different sizes and colors!
One of the best parts of this activity is that it also served as THE BEST decor and provided the most amazing aromas throughout the party!
Galentine’s Day Photo Booth
In my opinion, a photo booth moment is an absolute must for any party or event. I am terrible at taking pictures during an event. I chalk it up to playing hostess and living in the moment! For that reason, I love creating a space for my guests to feel comfortable capturing their own moments that ultimately turn into fond memories. Plus, photo booth items can also be reused for bridal showers, bachelorette parties, baby showers, and more!
How to make the perfect Galentine’s Day & Girls Night Photo Booth:
- Ring Light – Ladies, lighting is everything! I purchased this ring light from Amazon back when I first started blogging and have NEVER regretted it. I love this specific light because unlike other ring lights you can control both the light intensity and the warm/cooling effect. This ring light comes with a “hands-free” Bluetooth remote that connects to any device. This makes taking group photos that much easier and that much better!
- Photo Booth Stand – I purchased this photo booth stand for my 2019 Galentine’s Day event and am
very grateful I did. No more messing with tacking or taping up photo backdrops! When looking for a stand it was important to me that it was adjustable, easy to assemble, and did not take up a large amount of storage space. It is currently listed as the number one photo booth stand on Amazon so trust me, you will not regret this purchase! - Photo Booth Backdrops – Amazon has thousands of different options for photo booth backdrops. Personally, I like to try and pick backdrops that can be multipurpose. The backdrop I currently use for Galentine’s Day is over five years old. If I bought a backdrop today I would go for something pink or floral that could also be used for bridal showers or bachelorette parties. I have previously purchased this photo booth backdrop for Christmas and this photo booth backdrop for New Years’, all are from Amazon!
- Phone Tripod and Bluetooth Remote – Not interested in a Ring Light? I would still recommend getting a tripod and Bluetooth remote set-up! This way nobody has to sit out for group photos and you don’t have to hassle getting the right angle or using a timer.
- Photo Booth Props – To help spice up my Galentine’s Day photo booth, I purchased 30 heart-shaped balloons from Party City. In hindsight, these same balloons are sold at The Dollar Tree and would have saved me a few dollars. I also purchased a LOVE balloon from Amazon and Pink & Red Flower Petals from Amazon for additional photo booth props that made for fun pictures and boomerangs.
DIY Bleach Tie-Dye
Bleach Tie-Dye has really gained popularity over the last year and we decided to try a simplified approach. Each guest was instructed to bring one or two items of clothing. Clothing items need to be both dark in color and cotton! We diluted bleach 1:1 in three different tubs. Guests were instructed to first wet their clothing. Then we googled different techniques to tie up the clothing items with rubber bands. Most people utilized the “Crumple” or “Swirl” techniques. After the rubber bands were applied, the clothing items were set in the diluted bleach solution for 10-15 minutes. Once we started to see the visual color changes, we rinsed out the clothing items and then washed them in the washing machine.
To be honest, not everyone’s clothing items turned out, but a lot of them ended up looking really cool! Different fabrics and different colors all require various amounts of time to process the bleach. My suggestion would be to recommend cotton sports apparel as these items turned out really well. Remember to purchase gloves and aprons to avoid getting the bleach solution on your guests’ skin or clothing.
Pro tip: most of the girls planned to turn their items into cropped or off-the-shoulder styles.
‘Name That Girl Gang’ Quiz
I think if my events are known for one thing, it is probably the different games I come up with. The focus of my Girls’ Night Games or Galentine’s Day Games is always around female friendships. Due to all of the other activities planned for this year, I limited the party to just one game. ‘Name That Girl Gang’ asks for the name of both reality and fictional girl groups based on the members’ full names. For prizes, I try to stock up on items during after-Christmas sale
s. This year’s prize was a Supergoop! gift set that I got for 75% off at Anthropologie.
In the past, I have created all sorts of games, including ‘Pair Up the BFFs,’ True or False: Valentine’s Day Edition,’ ‘Name that Love Song,’ and ‘Valentine’s Day Trivia.’
Galentine’s Day Decor
In addition to the photo booth, I have two Fujifilm Instax Mini Cameras that I put out for guests to take photos with throughout the party. Film for these cameras can be expensive so it is better to buy film in bulk versus individually. Each year I keep all of the leftover photos and plan to display them at a Galentine’s Day Party in the future!
This year I decided to create a main table. In the past, I have always had far too many guests for this to be an option. Red table cloths and iridescent table runners were both purchased from Target. Valentine’s Day glass vases and tall, skinny white candles both purchased from The Dollar Tree. Purchasing online from The Dollar Tree is far more efficient than hoping the local brick & mortar store will have enough vases or candles in stock. Placed individual hand sanitizers from Target at each table setting. Instead of standard place cards, I used individual conversation candy heart boxes. Most of my decor is items that I have acquired over the years at garage sales, secondhand shops, and the dollar section of Target!
By far my FAVORITE decoration that I purchased this year were chrome butterflies from Amazon. These added so much detail and can be applied to anything and everything. They are available in several different colors and I will definitely be keeping them in mind for future events! The best part is the price tag, just $8.99 for 40+ pieces.
That’s all for this year folks! I hope you were able to find some awesome hosting ideas for your girls’ night or event! Drop a comment below of any additional ideas you have for a future Galentine’s Day Party!
XOXO,
Megan