Happy Holidays - DIY Greeetings Party

Happy Holiday!  It’s been awhile, and I’ve missed you. Hello to all subscribers; welcome to the party! I know you’re looking for a good excuse to hunker down with your girlfriends, and I ’ve got one–it’s the holidays, after all. We all have too many errands to do this time of year, so why not get one done together? 

This season, throw a Holiday Greetings party for your closest pals. Invite everyone to your place and provide a comfortable space for them to address and sign their Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa cards. It’s a great way to make a tedious task more fun and catch up with your girlfriends at the same time. You can easily throw this party together and have it this week, leaving you plenty of time to mail those cards out.



Setting and Setup
This is an easy party to set up. You’ll want to make sure everyone has enough tabletop space to comfortably write their cards. Holiday decorations will help put everyone in a festive mood, so try to get that done ahead of time. Holiday music is a must–especially if you can come up with something a little different. Try the Great Women of Christmas CD for some classic holiday cheer by some powerful women. A Very Special Christmas Vol. 1 is classic pop fun, and A Charlie Brown Christmas brings a moody instrumental flair to your party. But since holiday music selections are endless, and run the gamut from celtic to swing to punk, get what you and your friends like. Don’t forget to light a fire in the fireplace, or some candles to add a holiday glow. Simmer a pot of cinnamon sticks on the stove for a decidedly welcoming atmosphere.

Invitations
You’ll want to make sure your invitation gets noticed in the flurry of holiday mail. So instead of a typical holiday invitation, do something a little different. Buy small holiday memo pads at the dollar store, and write the invitation details on the first page. Place the pad in an envelope and mail for a invitation that comes in handy too.  Or, find the girliest pink invitation you can and send that–it will really stand out among the reds, greens, silvers and blues. On the invitation, remind your girlfriends to bring their invitations, address book, stamps, address labels, and a writing instrument. (If you are really last-minute, just call or use Evite.)

Food and Drink
Whatever you serve, make sure you have some warm offerings to match the warm feelings of the season. A simple supper of soup and bread would be divine. Or, ask each girlfriend to bring a warm appetizer. Hot chocolate (spiked with peppermint schnapps, if desired) or apple cider, mulled wine, or coffee drinks are all apropros. This recipe for a warm-cider-based Indian Summer sounds intriguing and easy. You may want ask your girlfriends to keep food and drink off the table you are using to write invites (to prevent staining someone’s holiday greeting), but that’s up to you.

Making Connections
As you work on your cards, you’ll no doubt be catching up on all the latest girlfriend news. But during conversation lulls, try some of these conversation starters having to do with holiday cards and traditions–or make up some of your own. You can even write the questions on cards or slips of paper and take turns drawing them from a hat. You’ll learn some interesting tidbits about your gal pals!

• Who has been on your holiday card list the longest?
• Who lives the farthest away on your list?
• When did you first start sending your own holiday cards?
• How do you display holiday cards?
• What is your favorite holiday song?
• What is your most cherished holiday decoration?
• What is your favorite holiday tradition?
• What do you hate about the holidays?
• What is your most memorable holiday gift?
• Do you re-use gift bags? Wrapping paper?

Party Favors 
The "write" favor for this party would be a special pen. Purchase a nice selection at a party supply or card store, choosing either a holiday theme or a feminine one.  Let your guests pick out one to use at the party (if desired) and take home. 

There-wasn’t that simple? You got your cards done and had fun. What your girlfriends will remember is not how clean your house was, or how sophisticated your appetizers were, but that you gave them a warm welcome and an opportunity to enjoy each other, away from the pressures of the holiday season.

I  hope you have a December full of peace, joy and friendship.

Cheers!
Angee

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Beaujolais Nouveau Party, Ooh la la!

Photo via Google Image Search

Are you looking for an excuse to get together with your pals this week? Oui, oui! Look no further because Beaujolais Nouveau Day is upon us! Invite the gals over for an inexpensive, wine-themed girl’s night with a little French flair. Ooh la la!

Photo via Georges Duboeuf

The cause of much revelry in France and among Francophiles in other countries, Beaujolais Nouveau wines are traditionally released the third Thursday of November. (This year, November 21. 2013) They are the first wines out of harvest each year and are drunk to celebrate life and hard work. They’re also a perfect accompaniment for a girlfriend get-together—fresh, cheap, fruity and fun to drink. The informal, frivolous spirit surrounding their release around the world is a great excuse to get the girls together and celebrate!

If you’d like more background on Beaujolais Nouveau, there’s a nice little history from the IntoWine website here.

Setting and setup

For Beaujolais Nouveau Day 2013, the timing is a bit last-minute, so clean up the kitchen and the party room and be done with it. Adding twinkle lights or plenty of candles is always a festive touch. You will, of course, need to be outfitted with wine glasses and a corkscrew. Chill the wine beforehand; because Beaujolais Nouveau is served chilled–half an hour in the fridge is perfect according to the Georges DuBeoef website.

Invitations

Evite is the speediest way to create an electronic or mobile-friendly invite.  It has lots of fun wine design and girl’s night out options.  It even lets you search flickr or Google image search for cool photos (I searched “beaujolais nouveau” and came up with many good choices) or insert a photo of your own.  

Photo via Google Image Search

Run out on Thursday and buy some Beaujolais Nouveau, (Bojo Nouveau wines can not be purchased before the 3rd Thursday of November, so you will have to buy them the day of!) and chill it down. Your local wine merchant should be able to help you find some. Georges DuBeouf is a commonly seen brand in the U.S., with a price average of $10.00 per bottle. The company even offers Beaujolais Nouveau party planning tips and a calculator to help you figure out how much wine to buy. There are other brands too, so be adventurous and try a few. Maybe you will even want to have a mini tasting with your gal pals. The Mommessin Beaujolais Nouveau, pictured at right is one of my favorites. I would describe it as light and juicy and perfect for entertaining. It is priced around $12 – $13 per bottle.

Serve a selection of French cheeses to try with your Beaujolais Nouveau. Your wine merchant, local TraderJoes or Whole Foods should be able to help you select some within your budget. If you’d like to explore further, there’s an About.com article about pairing wine and cheese here. Slice up a baguette, arrange on a cheese board or pretty serving tray, and voila!

You could also serve some tapas-style appetizers if you are inclined to spend just a bit more time in the kitchen. 

Connecting Activities

-Toast your girlfriends with this special girlfriend salute:

A Toast to our Girlfriends

Here’s to our girlfriends

They keep us strong

They make us laugh the whole night long

They give us shoulders to cry on

And shoes to try on

They see our true selves

Even when we look like hell

So raise a glass to our female friends

May the fun we share never end!

• It would be fun to share some Wine and/or French trivia, learn some French phrases, or watch some French films during your Bojo Day soiree.
• You can also print this ‘What Kind of Wine areYou?’ quiz for a fun diversion.
• Or, keep the girls occupied making their own beaded wine charms. You’ll find an awesome how-to for “Ridiculously Easy” beaded wine charms on NotMartha.

Favors

If you don’t make your own wine charms at the party, buy some as favors to give your friends. Pretty wine charms are a lovely and useful favor, and you can find them at many discount stores or check out Etsy.com for lots of super cute options.

If nothing else, buy some bottles of Bojo Nouveau this Thursday, Friday or Saturday, and invite some friends over to share a little girlfriend spirit. It’s such an easy excuse for a girlfriend get-together.

Do you have some wine-related girls night ideas to share? I would love to hear them, please leave them below. 

Merci beaucoup!

Angee

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How to Host a Women's Fantasy Football League!!

Photo Source: Angee's Eventions Pinterest

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.

Remember the saying “If you can’t beat them, you may as well join them”? Well, why not?  Not only will it give you the perfect excuse to meet up with the girls more often, it may give you something to talk about with your other half besides kids, money, and what’s for dinner.

To start the season off in style, I’ve 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 CBSSports Fantasy Football. After the commissioner creates the league, each of the teams can draft their picks. For the rookie girlfriends, try the CBS SportsGame 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:   Angee

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

Photo Source: titansonline.com

explain the calls and what is going on. Don’t let football be a foreign language! Most NFL teams have a Women's Association and host a Football 101 crash course. If you are lucky enough (like I am) to live in a FOOTBALL CITY you and your girlfriends should consider taking this course. 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.

I 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.

For more fun ideas, football inspired foods and activities check out my Pinterest board "Are You Ready For Some Football!"

If you’ve started your own Fantasy Football League or just have your own team, I would love to hear your thoughts about what makes it fun for you. Kick things off by leaving a comment!

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GNO Celebrating St. Patrick's Day

What’s girlfriendly about St. Patrick’s Day? Well, given that it tends to be a drinking holiday here in the U.S., not much, specifically. However, there’s nothing wrong with knocking back a few Guinness with your gal pals! If you have no plans for March 17, why not phone up a few girlfriends and meet them for a drink or invite them over for a quiet-or-not evening? I've scoured the web (mainly Pinterest, cause I'm still a Pinhead) for some other ideas to make your St. Patrick’s themed girls night just a little more special:

Green drinks (but not green beer)

Here’s a nice little illustrated blog post on Irish Beers so you can find them at your local liquor mart. And here’s a fabulous list of Irish/green cocktails to try.

Munchies that (sham)rock

Try serving this spread of green appetizers from YumSugar. Craving a blend of sweet and salty? Make a bunch of these pretzel-and-white-chocolate shamrocks for your girlfriends and watch them disappear! 

Irish I knew what to do…

Set the theme with some background music. The powerful, beautiful music of Celtic Woman makes a great backdrop for your Irish-themed celebration. A New Journey is one of their latest releases. You’ll enjoy hearing our girlfriend Siobhainn spinning some Irish tunes and chatting “round the kitchen table” with the ladies. An authentic Irish American experience! 

Plant clover with your girlfriends and you can each take home a pot of green to remind you of your fabulous friends. What better way to find a four-leaf-clover than to grow your own? 

The Luck of the Irish is for everyone on St. Patrick’s Day. Celebrate your good fortune together! Have your girlfriends complete this sentence: “I’m lucky because…”

Finally, Don’t forget to toast your girlfriends with an traditional Irish Blessing, perfect for any occasion!

There are good ships,
and there are wood ships,
The ships that sail the sea.
But the best ships, are friendships,
And may they always be.

May the hinges of our friendship never grow rusty.

I wish you the “luck o’ the Irish” this year as you celebrate with friends. And no matter where or how you celebrate remember the old Irish adage “Before you call for one for the road be sure you know the road.” Slàinte  I hope you find the pot of gold at the end of your personal rainbow. But wherever friends gather, you’re sure to find the treasure of friendship. 

Do you have tips on celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with your girlfriends? Tell me how you do it and I'll add it to my post!

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Plant Like a Girl! Gardening Party

Photo via Google Image Search

Spring Glorious Spring is right around the corner—the perfect opportunity to get out of the house and into the garden! Gardening offers the opportunity to relieve stress and connect to nature while growing healthy food or nurturing beautiful blooms. Green thumb or not, here are some fun and quick ideas for gardening-themed get-togethers and activities. 

Plant a group garden. Many towns have community garden plots that can be rented. Why not rent one with your girlfriends and meet weekly to garden together? It’s a built-in weekly date and everyone can share in the harvest. Or, if one girlfriend has the space for a large garden but doesn’t want to do all the work herself, she can offer the space for the group plot.

Have a “planting bee.” Many hands make light work, so bring your hands and your garden gloves to your girlfriend’s house and help get her spring planting done. Then, load up the wheelbarrow and move on to the next girlfriend’s house, and so on until everyone’s got some spring color in her yard. Be sure to have pitchers of lemonade, iced tea, and water on hand.


Learn a little. Ask a local garden club or landscaping professional to speak at your next girls night about the best new plants for your area, how to use a rain barrel, or another topic that interests you.

Share the bounty. Donate some or all of the harvest from your group garden (above) to a food pantry or to local churches who have needy families. See Plant a Row for the Hungry for tips on how to make this happen successfully.

Seed small spaces. Apartment dwellers, don’t despair! You can still enjoy all the benefits of gardening get-togethers through container gardens or square-foot gardening. Invite the girls over to lend their labor and design skills to help fill your containers (just be sure to tempt them with tasty nibbles and libations!) If you’re a gardening novice, try P. Allen Smith’s Container Gardens: 60 Container Recipes to Accent Your Garden for “plant recipes” that tell you exactly how to create beautiful container gardens.

What about party favors? Try gifting your girlfriends with seed packets, hot pink garden gloves, small annuals or perennials to pot, or miniature rosebushes (yellow roses signify friendship). All are inexpensive choices that will remind your girlfriends, all summer long, that your friendship blooms brightly!

Do you great gardening resources I should know about? Share them in the comments!

Happy Planting!
Angee 

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Girls Just Wanna Have Fun - Karaoke Time!

Photo, “Anime festival contest winner,” by Suvudu via flickr

Bunco getting a little stale? Need to shake things up at your next girls night? Get your girlfriends rocking with a karaoke girls night that is sure to bring out  everyone's inner diva! 

Here's all you need for a home karaoke girls night that will provide memories for months to come. Karaoke is wildly popular in Japan, as you probably know, and throughout much of Europe as well. In the U.S., karaoke has its devotees, but many of us have never rocked the mic at our local karaoke night—nor would we dare to! Fortunately, it’s easy to host a karaoke party for your gal pals at home and have all of the fun without all of the stage fright! Singing is therapeutic, a sure cure for the winter blahs, and recessionistas, it’s low-cost entertainment. Here’s how to do it!

Setting and Setup

The two most important things you need for this party are a karaoke machine and a space to perform. Believe it or not, karaoke can be done in a very small space. You don’t need a stage, but you will need a clear area so your girlfriends can strut their stuff. 

For the karaoke machine, you have several options:

• Rent a karaoke machine through a local dealer. Check your yellow pages or do an internet yellow pages search. The going rate is about $70 a night. Nationwide Karaoke will rent you a machine for $59 plus shipping and handling. (You will need to deposit $200 though, which you’ll get back when the machine is returned).
• Buy a karaoke machine. Target has a huge selection at different price levels. The cheapest ones consist of a microphone that have a plug-and-play feature, allowing you to turn your TV into a karaoke machine.
• Borrow a machine if you’re lucky enough to know someone who owns one.

You might want to check out Amazon’s collection of karaoke CDs if you get a machine that takes CDs. Also, consider having a video camera on a tripod set up to record the action. After the party, you can burn a souvenir DVD for each girlfriend.

For decorations, consider paper lanterns (try Pier One or World Market) or other bright, pop-Japan decor. You may even want to add a strobe light or disco ball. Again, Target is a great source for this kind of thing. 

Finally, you will need a sign-up sheet for singer name & song choice. It’s always a good idea to print extra copies of the song list so that more girlfriends can choose their songs at the same time. Choosing the right song can take a while! 

Invitations

Order some printed invites in a karaoke theme from PartyInvitations.com. You can even select some in an 80s or 70s disco theme if you want to narrow your karaoke party focus. Evite also has some cool karaoke invitation choices. Just do a search on “karaoke”.  On your invites, give your guests dress-up suggestions, if desired (for example, dress as your favorite performer or in a 70s, 80s, disco, or heavy-metal theme). Dressing up is one way that your too-shy-to-sing girlfriends can still participate in the fun.  

Food and drink

It is suprisingly easy to put together a Japanese-themed nibbles buffet. Trader Joes, Costco, even your local grocery have gorgeous sushi platters. Trader Joes also carries frozen gyoza (potstickers or dumplings) and colorful wasabi rice crackers. A veggie platter will round out the offerings. You might want to visit an Asian market for other nibbles or sweets. Be sure you have plenty of drinks to keep the girls’ vocal cords hydrated! Japanese beer such as Kirin or Sapporo is refreshing. You can also try sake (japanese rice wine) or cocktails of your choice. Soda and sparkling water are good non-alchoholic choices. 

Connecting Activities

Let’s sing, girlfriends! Karaoke IS the connecting activity, designed to get help you let loose with your gal pals and, I hope, get a glimpse of your friends’ inner divas. How you structure your evening is up to you, but here are some tips for getting the most out of your karaoke girls night:

• Start with a group vocal warm-up. Here’s a guide to how. Want more voice tips? Read some in-depth advice for karaoke singers here.
• Please remember, some girlfriends may be shy, so respect those who don’t want to sing. But do encourage the hesitant ones with some group numbers. Shy gals can always be the back-up singers.
• Develop some Motown-style dance moves together, then practice before recording your routine on the aforementioned video camera.
• Have props available for singers. You can buy cheap inflatable instruments guitar and saxophone—from Oriental Trading Co. Sunglasses, feather boas, wigs, hats, leather jackets, or anything glittery will come in handy too.
• Remember to cheer and clap for the girlfriend with the mic. Show her some love!

What to sing? That is a topic that could be an article in itself, and in fact there are several blogs on the web that have tackled the subject of “best karaoke songs.” In general, keep your song choices light. This is more about having fun than it is about serious singing. So take a pass on the love ballads and choose lively, fun numbers. For example:

• “Respect” by Aretha Franklin
• “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” by Cyndi Lauper
• “Man I Feel Like a Woman” by Shania Twain
• “We are Family” by the Pointer Sisters is a fun group number

Or sing “Brass in Pocket” Like Scarlett Johanson in Lost in Translation (see the video here for some karaoke inspiration).

Put your fun girl-song suggestions in the comments!

Party Favors

Create gag awards for the best, worst, funniest, performance. Make some ballots, let the girlfriends vote at the end of the night and tally the votes. Get some costume jewelry and award the winner bling, a golden microphone shirt, or buy a cheap (or toy) microphone and spray paint it gold. Make girlfriend portraits. Consider getting some large anime posters, like one these, or one of Tokyo to carry out the Pop Japan theme. Or create your own backdrop with paper lanterns and a brightly colored wall. After the party, deliver a photo, in a karaoke-themed printable frame from HP, to your girlfriends as a remembrance of their singing sensation!


Cheers! 
Angee 

If you try this karaoke-themed girls night, I’d love to hear from you! Be sure to let me know your favorite karaoke songs in the comments!

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