Hosting a Galentine's Day party
I absolutely love hosting and I love any excuse I can get to get a group of my girlfriends together to eat, drink, laugh and catch up! While everyone's unique and busy schedules can make coordination difficult, it was my goal in the new year to host my girlfriends for a proper girls night. February seemed like the perfect month to plan our get together since it's the month of Valentine's Day and spending time / appreciating those you love the most! I started brainstorming what sort of event I wanted to have and I landed on the idea of a Galentine's Day / Girls Night In at home.
I've decided to share a full blog post breakdown of the planning that went into my Galentine's Day party as well as hosting advice should you want to host your own Galentine's Day or girls night in!
The theme: Because I hosted my Galentine's Day party on February 13, I knew that I wanted the theme to resemble Valentine's Day but have a more feminine take. After all, this was an evening to appreciate time spent with some of my favorite girlfriends! Here is a breakdown of what I wanted my party to include:
- Rosé wine tasting
- Chocolate fondue for the main dessert
- Cheese + charcuterie platters for snacking
- Swag bag giveaways filled with feminine, personalized pieces for attendees
- Florals / bouquets
- And of course, the evening's episode of The Bachelor
Food and beverages: I settled on serving rosé wine because of the Valentine's Day theme. Not to mention, I was able to pick out five unique (and delicious) bottles of rosé from Trader Joe's that were all under $10 each. Score.
*Hostess tip: My rosé Galentine's Day party staples? Green Fin, La Ferme Julien Vin Rosé, La Granja 360 Garnacha Rosé, Grifone Rosé and Chateau de Lancyre Rosé.
For an alternative to wine, I offered various flavors of Spindrift sparkling water (a personal favorite of mine) that you can buy in boxes at Trader Joes for a reasonable price. I find these to be the best party beverages because they are stylish in appearance and refreshing in taste!
*Hostess tip: It's important when hosting to always provide your guests with non-alcoholic options!
I decided to convert my coffee table to a bar cart for the evening displaying the rosé wine options, sparkling water, bar tools and cocktail-inspired decor. Thanks to Harlow & Grey for supplying me with the most swoon-worthy party goods, the gold metallic straws were an excellent touch for those that wanted to use them for the sparkling water and the Splash Cocktail napkins were also a hit.
For food, I wanted everyone to get enough to eat while participating in a rosé wine tasting. I offered a kitchen table spread of cheese and charcuterie platters
*Hostess tip: If I'm not serving a full meal, cheese and charcuterie are often great options for guests to snack on throughout the evening. If you know you are going to be only serving light bites, let your guests know in advance! It's typically a common courtesy if you're hosting an event that has alcohol flowing, to have some sort of food served.
I used my main kitchen bar table as the display for my food platters. I recommend choosing an easy access spot for food when hosting a party so it's convenient for your guests and for you if you need to refill the food at any given point. My Harlow & Grey blush and marble plates worked perfectly for guests to use to fill up their plates and the accompanying wooden forks and knives also made snacking easy (and stylish).
For dessert, the chocolate fondue was the main focus of our evening as we watched The Bachelor. (I referenced and altered the Chocolate Fondue Recipe as found in the 'Great Party Fondues' book by Peggy Fallon.) I used my stove top as the "dish up" area for fondue to reduce mess in other areas of my home and used my countertops for dipping food display.
My favorite chocolate fondue dippers?
- Marshmallows
- Pound cake (cut into squares)
- Mini brownie squares
- Strawberries
- Bananas
- Pineapples
Florals: I wanted all of my girls to come away with their very own floral bouquet! I stocked up on affordable and beautiful bouquets (all under $10 a piece at my local Fred Meyer) to have as giveaways at the end of the evening. To keep the bouquets looking fresh, I purchased a $5 bucket from Fred Meyer and filled it with water to hold all my florals. It was so much fun to pick out a variety of flowers and see which bouquet each girlfriend picked at the end of the evening! You can never go wrong with gifting your guests flowers, especially around Valentine's Day.
Swag bags:
Galentine's Day required a lot of planning and coordination. I also truly wouldn't have been able to put on such an amazing event for my girls without the help of the vendors Moorea Seal, Kendra Scott, Fresh Tangerine, Minette, EVA-NYC and Flhair who contributed beautiful and personalized items for the giveaway bags for each girl in attendance!
I stuffed Paper Source brown bags with colorful paper confetti and filled them with the following giveaway items: a week list calendar and accompanying gold pen by Moorea Seal, hair masks by EVA-NYC, personalized jewelry pieces from Minette, heart bracelets by Fresh Tangerine, jewelry from Kendra Scott and hair ties and mimosa-flavored jellybeans from Flhair. I had so much fun collaborating with these brands to personally gift items to my girlfriends - it was a fun way to personalize the evening and show appreciation for the lovely GIRLBOSSES in my life.
When hosting, don't stress about the small stuff. Make your event unique to you and stick to my #1 rule of thumb when hosting: stick to a budget. Determine a reasonable and affordable budget that incorporates food, drinks, decor, etc. and go from there. It's incredible how budgeting and planning ahead will make you feel that much more at ease as a host/hostess.