Now that autumn's here, prepare to officially trade bikinis for pashminas, your sandal slay for a boss boot game and your favorite day party series for epic girls-night-in rituals.
The girls-night-in session will facilitate a necessary continuum of healthy time with friends and family. In other words, no autumn or winter blahs. Also, girls nights in (aka GNIs) are purse protectors that fade overspending on evenings on the town with your girl gang. Plus, a good girls night in is like superglue for your tribe. The fun and relaxed settings usually foster rich and textured experiences filled with laughter and celebration. GNIs also encourage transparent conversations on everything from the best face-masks for winterizing to solo foreign travel.
Now that you know that the girls night in is a definite do, note our tips on how to get it done.
Party With A Purpose: Theme
Establishing a theme for your get-togethers lends a special embellishment to make your evening especially unique. Gathering around a central concept like a paint-and-sip, a technology game night, or an African-American documentaries film fest will get your girls excited for an experience in meaningful activity.
Save the Date: Invitations
Sending a formal invitation gets your event on calendars, into planners and on datebooks. An invitation shows you're putting TLC into your GNI and will heighten anticipation. You can buy cute printable invitations online, create invitations by hand or use a free service like punchbowl.com.
Dinner, Supper and Late Night Bites: Menu Planning
Potluck dishes are a way to enjoy the budget-friendly aspect of the GNI. Have guests bring easy classics. Meanwhile, you can prepare a signature dish that continues to play up your theme.
If you're going with the paint-and-sip theme, for example, keep in mind the cheese plate fare usually served at gallery and museum receptions. Take inspiration from here and make grown-up grilled cheeses for your guests. Food Heaven Made Easy's Avocado Pesto Grilled Cheese has only five ingredients and takes less than 10 minutes to prepare.
The Playlist
Music should absolutely go along with the theme to continue your evening of fun. Thinking of trying the tech game-night theme? Try a playlist with techno beats. Borrow your parents’ Parliament Funkadelic or Jimi Hendrix vinyls to start the party.
Balloons, Banners, Streamers and Beyond: Decorations
Expand your creativity with the theme even more with the decorations. If you go with a film fest theme, bring out DVD covers from films reflecting your genre-of-choice for the evening. Display the covers at the refreshment table and beverage station with fun fact cards as conversation starters.
You can print out pictures related to the documentary topic and post them throughout the house in inexpensive frames that you can later give as favors. Set a selfie station near the viewing location to document your memories–complete with photo props for social media posts—of sisterhood goals achieved.