By Penny Nunes
Ahhh… It’s that time of year again. The time when all the couples are cuddled up on the couch, eating chocolate, and watching 10 Things I Hate About You. If you’re like me, without a Valentine this year, or even just want some time with your best friends, let me help you plan the perfect Galentine’s—because you know what? We don’t need to be in a relationship to celebrate this holiday. Let’s start from the beginning…
Step 1: Pick the perfect day. Ideally, the best day for this would be on Valentine’s Day, however, that doesn’t always work out perfectly… so pick a date that’s right for you! Friday nights are great, and Saturdays are always fun; preferably steer away from weekdays because you want to be up all night long!
Step 2: Alright, you have your day picked out; how fun! But we are just getting started, so be ready! Our next step is to plan invitations. Once you have your date and time, pick out your best friends to invite and get ready to make real, beautiful invitations that make everyone excited! Head to Pinterest and find the vibe you want to go for: red or pink, heavy flower details, heart details, strawberry details, or whatever feels best! Then open up Canva and begin playing around with some templates! Find one that fits what you are looking for and start to spice it up to be your own. Add the date and time, the address of your house, and what to expect; make it something general (something like food, drinks, and fun)—keeping the full experience a surprise! Add the dress code, pink and red dresses/skirts—OBVIOUSLY! Once you have edited it to your liking, add the person’s name at the top to make it feel more personal, and print it out! This may take a bit since you have to change the name each time, but it is so worth it.
Step 3: So you’ve printed out all your beautiful invitations? Now it’s time to deliver it! Drive on over to your local Target and pick out some candies for each of your friends, grab each of their favorite drinks, and get some flowers! Make each thing personal; it truly ties everything together and makes all your friends feel special and appreciated. Get everything together in a nice basket for every person and drop them off at their houses!
Step 4: Okay, now the boring stuff is out of the way. It’s time to pull together the full event! It’s best to have some kind of arts and crafts project. Painting tote bags or picture frames, sewing shirts or sweatshirts, and making custom candles, friendship bracelets, vision boards, or Polaroid picture boards are such great ideas (you could also do something with food, like cake decorating or pizza making)! These allow everyone to bring out their creative side and express themselves however they want to! Picked out your craft activity? Perfect. Next is the games list; 2-3 games is the perfect amount. You’ll want 1 classic board game, like LIFE, Monopoly, Taco Cat Goat Cheese (always a fan favorite), etc., and 1 video game. I HIGHLY suggest Just Dance, but virtual reality games are always fun too! Just Dance is perfect because it brings back childhood memories and lets everyone get a good laugh. You’ll also want 1 silly interactive game; a go-to is Mafia, but you could do guessing games as well. Games picked to perfection? Great! Time for photo planning! You’ll need to get a bunch of flowers for everyone to make their own bouquet. Scissors, ribbon, and flower tape are all necessary. Pick out a plain wall in your house and save that for the photo wall. You’ll be decorating it for everyone to make their bouquets and take pictures! The hard decision is choosing between polaroids, digital cameras, or phone pictures… butttt you can just do them all!
Step 5: Perfect, the activity list is done. Make your itinerary—keeping everything organized and put together. Something like, 3 pm: play Monopoly, 4 pm: Take pictures, then you can finally buy decorations! Buy things that fit a certain theme; don’t mesh a bunch of themes together, or it will look messy. You want something put together that allows everyone to take cute pictures and enjoy the details. EVERY DETAIL MATTERS! Little heart plates, replacing your normal table decor with fun red and pink styles instead, and adding flowers in the bathroom—it all matters. Your guests will notice! Have fun with this; go crazy! Go overboard! It’s only once a year that you can do this! Just don’t forget to buy sparkling cider and cute cups.
Step 6: The day is finally here! Go pick up your flowers and food, set everything up, play Taylor Swift and Gracie Abrams, and wait for the fun to start. The important thing is making all your guests feel welcome! Music as they enter is always a huge help, and greeting them at the door to walk in is the cherry on top. Right before they get there, spray some perfume in the air and light a candle, making it feel cozy. Don’t forget to place everything perfectly, with a purpose.
Step 7: YOU DID IT!! Now clean up your mess and watch a movie, celebrating the perfect Galentine’s you planned, be proud of what you accomplished… It takes a lot of effort to do this. However, it’s so worth it to see all your friends have a blast.
Needless to say, I’m the perfect helping hand for these things (if I do say so myself). Pro tip: Always use Pinterest and TikTok for extra inspiration. Here are some things I had at my Galentine’s last year:
