All good things, even the best parties, do eventually come to an end. And now, we are bringing GirlfriendCelebrations to a close as well. It’s time for the Girlfriends-in-Chief to focus on some other projects. Life gets busy. But rest assured, we’re still making time for our girlfriends, and we think you should, too!

Over the last five years, we’ve shared in your girlfriend stories. We’ve learned how much female friendship really does mean to you. And we’ve given you a wealth of ideas you can take and use on your own. It’s been an honor to be a part of your girls nights! We’re so glad you’ve found our ideas useful and fun. Because so many of you are still searching for girlfriend party ideas on the web, we plan to leave the site running as an archive of fantastic girlfriend party ideas. However, there won’t be any new posts. We encourage you all to visit our sister blogs in the Friendship Circle to continue your discussion of girlfriendship. We wish you all the best. Remember, Girlfriends Make Life Better!

In Friendship,
Dawn and Tina
xoxo

Loving yourself can be the hardest task of all. But February is the month of self-love… and we are daring you to CHOOSE SELF LOVE! We all know that loving ourselves is something we should do… we all know that you have to love yourself first before you can love another… we would all love to take care of ourselves better but find it more of a dream than a reality, but this month at Girtalk… Taking it Deeper™ we take a stand for self-love, because it is not a luxury, it is a must-have. Download this month’s printable Girltalk Guide here.

Be Real.

Could you imagine telling a child, “Hey you, don’t love yourself, that’s selfish.” Of course not. And chances are that if asked, “Do you love yourself?” most people would say, “Yes, of course I do,” when in fact the majority of us don’t really have a clue what self-love actually means, or requires. This lack of understanding about self-love isn’t surprising when you consider that the current definition of self-love on dictionary.com is ‘conceit, vanity and narcissism’ (no kidding!) Or when you look at the pressures today’s woman faces, equal to men in many ways, knowing she can do anything, but exhausted by her attempts to do and be everything.

While it is true that women and girls have more equality and self esteem that ever before, something isn’t changing. We believe that something is self-love… while self esteem is something we want every woman and girl to have, knowing that you can do anything doesn’t stop women and girls from beating themselves up, putting themselves into abusive relationships or hating and destroying their bodies.

Today, in the 21st century, these are the facts:

• 1 in 3 women will be in an abusive relationship before the age of 20. 80% will return.
• 1 in 3 women will be sexually abused.
• 4 of 5 girls will think about dieting before 4th grade.
• Almost 1 out of 2 women will suffer through a divorce. 20% in the first 5 years of marriage.
• 80% of women are so exhausted that they are headed for extreme adrenal gland fatigue.
• Women surveyed today are no happier than women surveyed in 1970, even though they have more equality, self esteem and freedom.

Be Wise.

My definition of self-love is quite different than the dictionary.com version – and it boils down to this: Do you have unconditional love and respect for yourself? A big question for sure. Self-love can feel so intangible and vast to attain, but there is a path, there are milestones – I’ve experienced at least 5 of them myself over the past 10 years. I call these milestones the gates of self-love. And you can use them to see where you have load of self love and where you don’t.

In honor of this February 13^th, the international day of self love, I’ve created The Self Love Test to give you insight on where you are ready to grow more self love by identifying the 5 gates of self-love, which ones you’ve passed and which ones you are still circling around. Brief descriptions of the gates are included in this packet, and you can get the full details as the vows and hows of self-love in the free self-love kit at www.ChooseSelfLove.com.

Be You.

My self-love dare to you is that on Feb 13^th, or any day in February, you choose one gate of self-love and make that the gate you focus on this year…and to do it with the support and insight of the women in your Girltalk circle.  You each witness each other’s commitment and support each other as the year goes on. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to do it in your own Girltalk group:

THIS MONTH’s ADVENTURE: Take the Self Love Test and Choose How You Will Grow Your Self-Love in 2011

Step One: Do your own reflection.

Take this adventure on your own, before getting together w/ your girlfriends. Your Mission: Take the Self Love Test. For now, take this test and as you read about each gate, ask yourself, Have I already passed through to the other side, or Am I still climbing my way up to new levels of self-love here? Then ask yourself, “If I was to choose one area of self-love to grow in 2011, what would that be?” Dare to choose self-love.

The 5 Gates of Self-Love

Gate #1:  I know who I am and what I want from this life.

This is the first factor to loving yourself, because if you don’t know who you are, how can you love that person? Most of us go through life doing what we think we are supposed to do and be, influenced by the society around us. These experiences and people form our beliefs, attitudes, and perceptions, until the day we realize that how we really feel and think is different. While you will continue to learn about yourself forever, self-love requires that a. You make a choice to live self-aware, b. You know you want from your life and you are not settling for less than your heart and soul desire. c. You know who you are NOT, as well as who you are. d. You have healed your emotional gapers.

Gate #2: All of my relationships support me to be my best me and to live the life I want, or I don’t have them. This can be one of the hardest milestones, because it means setting boundaries and being honest about your relationships. It requires honoring yourself SO much that you only have relationships in your life – friendships, romantic partners, even relatives – that give respect, trust, unconditional love and truth. You love and honor yourself so deeply that all relationships in your life make your life better, help you reach your dreams and be a better you. This doesn’t mean that the relationships are perfect, void of difficulty, or that you are absolved of giving the same respect you desire. What it does require is that you choose me before we in every relationship – let go of ones that don’t serve you, change ones that have the potential to grow, and open up to let new ones come in.

Gate #3: My body is my temple. I recently took part in a survey in which 78% of women admitted that the thing they were hardest on themselves about was their body. Not a shocker, but sad.  Let’s face it, we are all guilty of body hate and what I call ‘body slavery’ – treating your body like a drive-me-til-I-drop workhorse, ignoring her needs completely. For me like I said, it was my cellulite. “Every time I sat down wearing shorts it screamed at me, ‘Here I am! Look at me!’ After being tortured by it for years, I did a self-love practice of loving my cellulite. Every day, I told it, “I love you.” I meditated daily, visualizing my cellulite pockets being filled up with love. Today, I can’t tell you if I have any less of it, but I do know that I very rarely notice it. And when I do, while I may not like my cellulite, I can love it. Its appearance now motivates me to walk more, instead of hating my body for having it. Self-love requires that when you notice something about your body you don’t like you choose love vs hate. Self-love also means shifting your relationship to your body from her being in servitude to you to you being grateful for this beautiful temple you get to inhabit while on this earth.

Gate #4: I am nice to myself. We are harder on ourselves than anyone else could ever be. In fact, if the outside world could hear the thoughts inside your head, they would call the authorities. Every woman has an Inner Mean Girl inside of her spewing out rants like,  “You are not enough. You should be able to get more done in a day. You don’t belong.” She compares your worst to everyone else’s best. Some call her the inner critic, but she is way more personal than that! As part of your self-love journey, your job is to love this Inner Mean Girl to death, so that instead of hurting you with her self-sabotaging thoughts and habits, she can help you see how beautiful, powerful and whole you are right now, just because you are you.

Gate #5:  I can and do take care of me without the guilt or burden. It’s like we have a DNA pattern that says take care of everyone else before you take care of you, and if we try to buck that pattern by actually taking care of ourselves, we can’t help but feel guilty or like we should be doing something more productive. This self-love milestone means being able to say, “Yes… I make self care a must, not a nice to do… I take care of me without feeling guilt… I meditate, relax, or take a walk and see it as productive time vs wasting time. I am aware of what I need, I am make sure I receive it.

Step TWO:  Throw a Girltalk… taking it deeper Event with Your Girlfriends

Use our super dooper fun conversation technology – Be Real. Be Wise. Be You. – guaranteed to get you closer to yourself and your girlfriends. To get the skinny on how to start a Girltalk group, and how to facilitate a fabu Girltalk gathering, see the Guide to Great Girltalking here.

GET CONNECTED (opening):  SHOW & TELL

Your goal here is to have each woman ‘check in’ on her personal experiment as a way to get the group connected, it’s a great primer for great girltalk!

1.    Each woman says her name and then answers this question: “One thing I love about about me is…”

2.   Go around the room until everyone has spoken. This will get you all connected enough to the conversation topic that you’ll be ready to Get Real!

BE REAL.

The goal? Get the truth on the table. Say what needs to be said, but too often isn’t. Use these questions to get the conversation started, or to change gears as the girltalk grows. Use all of them, use some of them, whatever works to get the conversation real. Ask women to think about what they learned through their personal experiment as fodder for the conversation.

1.   What do you think self-love really is?

2.   What has been the hardest gate for you? Why?

3.   Do you think that most women are hard on themselves? What is your Inner Mean Girl hardest on you about? What’s the impact?

4.   What does taking care of yourself really mean?

5.   Why do women find it so hard to take care of themselves? And how do we do it to ourselves, causing our own stress and overwhelm?

6.   What’s the biggest lie we tell ourselves about taking care of ourselves?

7.   What does that lie give us? What does It cost us? And what is the truth?

BE WISE.

Now it’s time to bring the wisdom forward so that you can start bringing forward thoughts and ideas that are going to help and inspire you to create the life you really want. I suggest using each of the 5 gates, and picking a few to discuss for each gate:

1.    What do you think is required to really love yourself in this gate? Tell us what it looks like. Tell us what it doesn’t.

2.   What stops you the most from having this love?

3.    What truth and wisdom do we not get until we are older that we could tell our daughters now so they could avoid some of the pain?

4.   What is the truth about how you self sabotage and what has worked to transform it into self love?

BE YOU. The DARE.

Now it’s time to take action, to do something out of your comfort zone that has the potential to make real shift in your life. And like a dare, it has to push your edges.

1.   Choose one gate to grow your self–love through or over. Make the commitment to the group and on paper.

2.    If you make this commitment, what are the promises you need to make to yourself. What must you say YES! to and what must you say NO! to.

3.    Express your commitment in your own unique way. Be witnessed in your gate and promises by delivering the commitment in front of others – dance, sing, or just talk. Just be brave and step forward.

Love is a practice. Start by practicing on you. Choose Self-Love this February 13^th. Visit www.madlyinlovewithme.com to get your free Self-Love Kit

Have a great time Girltalking and inspiring each other to love yourselves more!

With big heart,

Christine Arylo

Chief Girltalker

To learn more about Christine Arylo, creator of Girltalk… taking it deeper, inspirational catalyst and self love expert, visit her at www.daretoliveyou.com, a virtual cornucopia of self-love inspiration created just for you. JOIN the international self-love movement, MADLY IN LOVE WITH ME & download her free Madly in Love with ME Guide, full of daring and practical tips on how to fall more in love with you everyday, at www.MadlyinLoveWithMe.com.

Let’s be clear: We think you’re perfect just the way you are, girlfriends. But if a TV network wanted to give you and all your girlfriends a makeover, that might be of interest to you, right? So we thought we’d better let you know that a new show on the Oprah Winfrey Network, Best Life Now, is looking for a group of girlfriends that deserves a makeover! Are you constantly putting your kids, husband, pet and house before yourself? Do you look 10 years older than you feel? Is your style stuck in a rut, or your makeup stuck in another era? Are you looking for a vibrant new you for the New Year? The production company for this show is searching for a group of women friends who are “in dire need” of  makeovers! If this description fits your group of girlfriends, or someone that you know, they want to hear your story and see some recent photos. Include information on how long you have been friends, why you need the makeover, your ages, marital status, kids, and anything else important to your story. Contact Michelle as soon as possible at michelleb.bestlifenow@gmail.com or call 310-943-4621. Psst… they are also looking for the “next domestic guru” – if you fit the bill or know someone who does, contact Michelle at the email or phone number above. Good luck, girlfriends!

Want to serve something really special to your gal pals but don’t have a lot of time? Check out this video by Celebrations.com expert Andrea Correale as she shows you how to prepare Sauteed Ginger Shrimp. Wow: Our mouths are watering, and we’re confident we can actually whip up this dish at our next girls night in! Thanks to our girlfriends at Celebrations.com for sharing this great home entertaining tip!

Hello, girlfriends! As you embrace the holidays, be sure to take time for you, perhaps by hosting a Girltalk…Taking it Deeper gathering! Our topic for December/January is The Feminine Superpower of PAUSE. It’s a great opportunity to reflect on the year that’s been and claim the year to come. Instead of running into 2011,stop, reflect, give some real and wise thought to what just happened in 2010. PAUSE before moving forward with focus, intention and heart. To download this month’s PDF Discussion Guide, click here. For more information on Girltalk, click here.

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Be Real.

Every year, it’s the same old drill isn’t it? We start off with the best intentions, with gusto, resolved to reach our goals and make this ‘the’ year. But by February that gusto has been drained down by the overwhelm, pressure and realities of day-to-day life. Come October, we’re wondering where the year went, and not feeling quite as successful as we had hoped we would when the year started. And then without warning, it’s Thanksgiving, then December and a flurry of presents and parties. Before we know it Jan 1 has arrived, and with it the immense pressure to make this ‘the’ year. If you are a Type A person, you likely go into New Year’s resolution and goal setting >mode. If you are the Type B variety, you’re likely more relaxed and avoid serious goal setting, stepping into the new year with faith that it will all work out. The truth is that neither of these strategies work. Type A or Type B, these approaches are insane. They keep you doing the same thing year after year expecting different results, which by definition is insanity.

Be Wise.

This year instead of running through your holidays like an energizer bunny gone mad… not stopping to even think about all you experienced and accomplished in 2010, because by Jan 1 you feel pressured to figure out 2011… dare to take a pause! Dare to avoid the three biggest mistakes people make when approaching their new year, and instead take the wiser path. Which ones have you fallen into? And what is the deeper wisdom?
Mistake #1: Not stopping to reflect on the year that had passed. Going from one year into the next, without stopping to recognize all that had happened, is like living your life like a mountain climber, arriving at the mountain top of each year, but not stopping to take in the view that you worked so hard to achieve. Instead, you just take a quick breath, and keep pushing up the next mountain, the next year, without celebrating my successes or learning from your failures. No wonder you are exhausted. No surprise that you don’t feel like you really accomplished what you wanted, all you could see was the next mountain. Your Inner Wisdom Knows: In order to grow, we must stop, celebrate, reflect and learn at the end of every cycle.

Mistake #2: Not reflecting on 2010 or thinking about 2011 until Jan 1st rolls around. December is meant to be a time of slowing down and going inward, not running around like a maniac. People and presents good, mania not. Think about the bears. Do you see any of them dashing around trying to catch all the holiday sales? No, they are hibernating! While you can’t very well hibernate for the winter, you can slow your pace down. This will allow you to use December to contemplate, restore, and feel the gratitude of what you have received in 2010. The time period between Dec 21st and Dec 31 st is especially great for reflecting, and doing so helps you steer clear of all the crazy Jan 1st New Year’s Resolution energy people are stirring up because they realized that they’ve over indulged, overspent and under performed on their previous year’s expectations. Your Inner Wisdom Knows: Wise women start their year-end process before Jan 1.

Mistake #3: Pressuring yourself to have your entire year mapped out by the first week of January. While one week at the beginning of the year may seem reasonable, this approach fails to realize that you are working against nature. January is called the ‘dreaming time.’ It is called that because everything is frozen and still. And so should we be. It’s a time to be in the nothingness to allow our year to show itself, to dream of what it possible, to expand into everything that your heart and soul really want. It’s also a time for making your dreams crystal clear so that by February you are ready to plant the seeds and watch them grown throughout the year. That is a lot to do! So our process of setting our intentions is a month long for a reason…to give us that long to dream our new year. Don’t try to stuff 30 days into a week! Your Inner Wisdom Knows: January is for dreaming and setting the intentions of what you will seed and grow in the coming year. Take all of that time, and your dreams will unfold.

Mistake #4: Writing your goals with your head. Trained to think and live from our heads, trained to think dreams are fluffy puffy events that happen when we sleep, too often we write goals through the lens of what drives our career, bank account and fitness level forward. We focus on the achievements we believe will bring us success. What we fail to realize is that our understanding of success is extremely limited and that the real goal of success is only one thing: happiness. And happiness doesn’t come from our heads, it starts in our hearts, which is the place from which we would all be better served to write our goals from. Yes, our minds are extremely valuable but they are only tools to making our dreams realities. Your Inner Wisdom Knows: Goals must start with the dreams we have for ourselves, which can only be found in our heart.

Be You.

Each of these mistakes can be boiled down to one thing: the failure to understand the power of PAUSE. Most women have been trained to hit the GO GO GO button all their lives and while that may make you a very good achiever, it also makes you a very busy and exhausted woman who doesn’t always spend her energy, time and money on what was is important, and what truly has the power to accelerate your progress to your dreams… or bring you happiness on a daily basis. PAUSE is like a super power, when you activate it, PAUSE accelerates your ability to make your dreams realities because it provides you with something you can’t get when you are running through life as a frenzied, frazzled energizer bunny — PAUSE gives you wisdom. Alice Walker, Pulitzer prize winning author of the Color Purple said in a commencement address in 2002 , “Wisdom requires a pause… it is the pause that gives us clarity….” As 2010 ends and 2011 begins, I dare you and your friends to give yourself the gift of PAUSE by reflecting on 2010 in December (before Jan 1st) and to take the entire month of January to step forward in 2011 consciously, with intention and focus on what, where and how you want to spend your time, energy and money…to ultimately bring you the MOST happiness.

Step One:

REFLECT on the Year that’s Been & CLAIM a Mantra for the Year to Come

Take this adventure on your own, before getting together w/ your girlfriends.

Your Mission:

Gather all the wisdom from 2010 and state boldly what 2011 is all about for you. There are many different processes one can go through to PAUSE, reflect on the year that has been and vision, dream and create the one to come. Over the past 8 years, I’ve developed a process that I’ve used to take my clients and groups of women to reflect, expand, and focus so they can energize a creative vision for their year. I call the experience the Feminine Super Power of PAUSE and I’m sharing the first part of it with you here, as your adventure to take to end your 2010 with power.

REFLECT… the how: Your goal is to reflect on your year by looking at your:

1. Surprises – what happened that you didn’t expect. Can be happy or not so happy.

2. Successes – what you are proud of, accomplishments, yahoos!, milestones, little and big….everything counts here. Gush away. Brag away. Tell the world, and yourself, how great you are. And make it more than a boring list. Really put the feeling of celebration into it.

3. Failures – disappointments, struggles, things that didn’t work out as planned.

Some people have a problem with this word, but really failures give you the biggest learnings and there is tremendous freedom in admitting they happened. (p.s. this list should be shorter than your success list).

4. Learnings – what wisdom you have today that you didn’t last year. These are the gems you get to take with you into this new year and decade. It’s important to reflect exactly that order 1-4. To get the most of this reflection process, here are a few suggestions:

Set aside 1-2 hours by yourself, without distractions to reflect. No kids, TVs, radios or cell phones. Just you and your year. Start by doing a visualization review of your year. Close your eyes and take yourself back to the beginning of 2010. See yourself standing in January 2010. Who were you? What were you doing? What was true about your life? Then move to February and ask yourself the same questions. Play the movie of your 2010 month by month, asking these same three questions, and seeing and remembering what happened.

Get a journal or some blank pieces of paper. On the top of the page write the section name that you are reflecting on, for example, Surprises. Then “Free Flow Write” everything that comes to mind. Don’t stop or judge, just write. And when you feel like you have nothing left to write, stop, pause, remember, and write some more.

Go through all four sections. One by one. In the order laid out. Ask yourself at the end three questions….

1. “What do I want to leave behind?“

2. “What do I want to take with me?”

3. “Who am I stepping forward into this new year as? Who do I want to be?”

Step TWO: Throw a Girltalk… taking it deeper™ event with your girlfriends

Use our super-duper fun conversation technology – Be Real. Be Wise. Be You. – guaranteed to get you closer to yourself and your girlfriends. To get the skinny on how to start a Girltalk group, and how to facilitate a fabu Girltalk gathering, download the Girtalk… taking it deeper™ Getting Started Guide.

GET CONNECTED (opening): SHOW & TELL

Your goal here is to have each woman ‘check in’ on her personal experiment as a way to get the group connected, it’s a great primer for great girltalk!

Each woman says her name and then answers this question: “What I learned most about myself in 2010 was…”

Even if they didn’t do the experiment they should be able to answer. If some women brought a visual of their experiment, let them know they can show it now or whenever they want throughout the night.

Go around the room until everyone has spoken. This will get you all connected enough to the conversation topic that you’ll be ready to Get Real!

BE REAL.

The goal? Get the truth on the table. Say what needs to be said, but too often isn’t. Use these questions to get the conversation started, or to change gears as the girltalk grows. Use all of them, use some of them, whatever works to get the conversation real. Ask women to think about what they learned through their personal experiment as fodder for the conversation.

What were your biggest successes and failures in 2010?

What was easiest and hardest about doing this reflection process? What did you resist and what did you jump into?

If you gave 2010 a name, a mantra, like the “Year of XXX” what would you call it and why?

What about New Years Resolutions? Why don’t they work?

BE WISE

Now it’s time to bring the wisdom forward so that you can start bringing forward thoughts and ideas that are going to help and inspire you to create the life you really want.

Alice Walker says the wisdom is in the PAUSE. What did the pause give you? And how can we get more of it?

What is different about you today than at the start of 2010? How are you wiser?

What do you wish you knew at the beginning of this year that you figured out by the end?

What did you learn most about yourself by reflecting on your year?

BE YOU. The DARE.

Now it’s time to take action, to do something out of your comfort zone that has the potential to make real shift in your life. And like a dare, it has to push your edges.

Claim Your Year. If you gave 2011 a feminine power mantra, “The Year of XXXX,” what is it going to be?

Have a great time Girltalking and inspiring each other to have your best year yet!

With big heart,

Christine Arylo
Inspirational Catalyst and Chief Girltalker
Author of Choosing ME before WE

February. Self LOVE baby! In a month that is all about love, we’ll be getting real and wise about the fact that you have to love YOU before you can love anyone else. February 13th is the official day of self love. Mark it on your calendar! And visit www.madlyinlovewithme.com
to learn how you can participate. To learn more about Christine Arylo, creator of Girltalk… taking it deeper, inspirational catalyst and the “Queen of Self Love” visit her at www.daretoliveyou.com, a virtual cornucopia of self-love inspiration created just for you. JOIN the international self-love movement, MADLY IN LOVE WITH ME; download her free Madly in Love with ME Guide, full of daring and practical tips on how to fall more in love with you everyday, at www.MadlyinLoveWithMe.com.

At GirlfriendCelebrations, we know you want ways to make entertaining easier so you can enjoy getting together with your girlfriends more often. That’s why we’re excited to share what we learned at the Home for the Holidays event hosted by 1-800-BASKETS and its family of companies, including 1-800-FLOWERS, WineTasting.com, Fannie May Candies, Cheryl’s, The Popcorn Factory, and Celebrations.com.  The event featured celebrity event planner Shawn Rabideau of Celebrations.com. Shawn has appeared on on the Bravo TV’s reality series Bethenny Getting Married?, ABC’s Good Morning America and the Style Network’s Whose Wedding is it Anyway? In addition, he has contributed to many national television shows including  The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Today Show, and The View.

What we really enjoyed about this event—aside from learning how to make a top-notch gift basket—was getting entertaining tips that help you make an impact when entertaining, without spending a fortune or needing special skills. Here are just a few:

Dashing Displays: Instead of buying new serving pieces for the holidays, focus on using—and reusing—pieces you already have for serving food in a more visually pleasing way. For example, display desserts on a “cake stand” made with plates and inverted rocks glasses. Or, use martini glasses to serve popcorn (or nuts) and suddenly these “ordinary” treats look a lot more special.

One Great Cocktail: Mixing up a signature cocktail for your girls night can make things a whole lot easier while giving your party a more festive air. Shawn shared his recipe for the Cranberry Mimosa Twist, pictured above. Find the recipe for this delicious sparkler right here.

Gracious Gift Baskets: At holiday time, many of us receive gift baskets, but we don’t know quite what to do with them. Well, girlfriends, those baskets are meant to be used! If you receive a gift basket from a friend, or even order one for yourself, be sure to display the contents. When arranged in small glass dishes on a pretty tray, for example, the contents of a goodie basket become an impressive offering at your holiday party. The basket itself can be reused in many ways, including lining it with plastic to make a decorative wine chiller.

Fun with Food: Shawn also showed us how he arranged Cheryl’s delicious buttercream frosted cookies into an adorable and edible wreath (pictured above), using only a few toothpicks to hold it together. This is something ANY of our girlfriends could do, and it makes a delicious and pretty adornment for your food table. He also assembled some other Cheryl’s treats into a cute, pink and brown holiday tree, also pictured, that definitely says “girls night” to us.

Tabletop Tips: Having a dinner party? Try using a beautiful votive candleholder to anchor your placecards. Simply tie the placecard to it with ribbon. Then, guests can take them home as party favors – double duty! If you don’t have matching silver or glassware, don’t panic! Just mix it up, Shawn says. “Don’t get nervous. Relax and let your creativity flow.” We’d like to echo his sentiment. Your girlfriends really don’t care about your tableware, and if they do, maybe you need new friends!

Leave a comment: How are you planning to celebrate with your girlfriends this holiday season? Do you have any tips for making entertaining easier?

SPECIAL OFFER: For a limited time, save 15% at 1-800-FLOWERS, 1-800-BASKETS, WineTasting.com, Cheryl’s Cookies, and the Popcorn Factory with code “SHAWN.” To save 15% with Fannie May Candies, use code “1225″.

Disclosure: 1-800-Baskets invited us to participate in this Home for the Holidays event. We each received a gift basket, cookies, popcorn tin, box of candy, votive holder and bottle of wine. This blog post was not requested.

Tis’ the season for giving, but finding a gift for the girlfriend who has everything is challenging, especially if you are trying to stay within a holiday budget. But with a little creativity this holiday season, you can solve that dilemma by handcrafting your own unique, heartfelt gift. Let GirlfriendCelebrations guide you with a few easy-to-do ideas to make your own. We’re positive you’ll find something for everyone on your list. Click the links to find the how-to!

For the foodie girlfriend:

Pecan clusters

Cookies in a jar

Cookies in a jar - all the ingredients for a delightful girls night in, to make when she needs it the most.

Spicy pecan bites

For the fashion-forward girlfriend:

scarf_beauty_600x400

dip dyed t-shirt

For the pampered girlfriend:

bath bombs/fizzies

For the entertaining girlfriend:

cupcake stand

doily tablecloth

etched glasses

For the gardening girlfriend:

jewelsofthegardenbirdbath-1

bulletin-board

Message board – an eye catching way to showcase cherished photos or important notes with beauty.

For the sentimental girlfriend:

fleece tied blanket

For the girlfriend who makes life a whole lot better:

Girlfriends Make Life Better

With a little creativity, we are positive you can create a charming gift for a special girlfriend. Leave a comment: We’d love to hear about the favorite handmade gifts you have given or received over the years.

Hey girlfriends, we just had to share the recipe for an easy but festive cocktail we tried the other day at a very special event hosted by the 1-800-FLOWERS family of companies. This Cranberry Mimosa Twist from celebrity event planner Shawn Rabideau of Celebrations.com (read more about him in our next post) would be perfect for a girlfriend holiday brunch or a toast at your holiday girls night.

Shawn Rabideau's Cranberry Mimosa Twist

Cranberry Mimosa Twist

2 parts Champagne

1.5 part orange juice

1.5 parts cranberry juice

Heavy splash of vodka

Makes 1 cocktail

Cranberry Mimosa Twist (Non-Alcoholic)

1 part club soda

1 part Seven-Up or Sprite

1.5 parts orange juice

1.5 parts cranberry juice

Makes 1 cocktail

What’s your favorite holiday cocktail? Share your ideas in the comments!

The other day, we received a reader comment that really made us pause. A reader who identified herself as Jasemine said:

“Ever since I was ditched by two friends nearly 3 years ago, I have sworn I would never have female friendships again. Their actions hurt me deeply and I have never got over it. So for me the sisterhood and all things supposedly connected to women’s friendships are a farce to me.”

We’ve all been there, haven’t we? Hurt by the betrayal of a friend or supposed friend. It’s easy to become bitter when you’ve been “ditched.” But we don’t believe swearing off female friendship is the answer. That’s why we wanted to reach out to Jasemine and let her know that the “sisterhood” is indeed real, and available to all. We hope you can help!

First of all, let’s acknowledge that it’s not a pink and perfect world out there in girlfriendland. Friendships do end, for a variety of reasons. Lives evolve, circumstances change, people move on. Sometimes girlfriends are just mean and rotten. But losing a friend (or two) does not make you “unfriendable.” Actually, the opposite is true: A friendship breakup is a great learning experience. It can show you what you don’t want in a friend, or what you can do differently next time you find a potential pal. More often than not, the problem may be about them, not about you.

“If you’re feeling angry at a girlfriend who did something that hurt you or made you lose trust, it’s important to try to figure out what happened. Did you make a poor choice? Did you become too close too soon? Did YOU do anything to provoke the breakup?” says “friendship doctor” Dr. Irene S. Levine, author of Best Friends Forever: Surviving a Breakup with Your Best Friend. “Sometimes, however, the reason for the breakup is impossible to decipher. Jasemine’s friend may have had something else, entirely unrelated to the friendship, going on in her life that was simply too painful to share. If you don’t know what happened to a friendship, it’s often because there’s a missing piece of information. Try to forgive and let go of the lost friendship or else you’ll lose out in the end.”

Readers can find advice on how to make new friends in several places on this site, from the Girlfriends-in-Chief as well as some fabulous guest bloggers. But that’s not necessarily what Jasemine needs right now. Girlfriends, would you share your experiences? What does female friendship mean to you? Is “the sisterhood” a farce? Have you ever been “ditched” by a girlfriend? How did you recover? What advice do you have for Jasemine? Here’s hoping she reads your responses and gives female friendship another try.

Update! Jasemine sent us this reply:

“Thank you for taking up my comment. But the pain of being ditched still ricohets today. I was dumped by these two so called friends out of the blue. One ditched me because I feel because I was single, childless and not married. The other one just suggested we take a break from each other. I contacted the other friend to arrange a meeting up, but unfortunately I had a serious situation at work, but this person did not understand that and I tried to explain, but they just said they had made plans and the phone was put down on me. I wrote a letter trying to explain that I was sorry if she felt I let her down but to no avail. Towards the end of the year when it happened it was her way of ending the friendship. It dawned on me that I was being ditched. First shock, denial disbelief then despair, now just bitterness. So I dont like other women. Its just big one big bitchfest with women. I have had with it with female friendships. Its nice if the sisterhood works for you but for me it hasnt worked out at all. Its all just one big farce I choose to stay away from. So much for sex in the city and friends and all that, but for some of us friendship just doesnt work.”

Editor’s Note: This article previously appeared on GirlfriendCelebrations in 2008. All right, bargain huntresses, Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving and biggest shopping day of the year, in case you’re not aware) is just around the corner. The wee morning hours, mobs of people, neverending lines, and aching feet: remember those from last year? Who wouldn’t need a drink after the race to that finish line? Since you are going to be out and about anyway, why not meet afterward for some girl time? It will give you the opportunity to show off your bargains, get some wrapping done and nourish your body, soul and mind with good food and company. Yes, GirlfriendCelebrations has planned a Black Friday party with you in mind! Read on for all the details, including some easy and fun connecting activities to help you and your girlfriends get the most out of your hours together.

Invitations

All right ladies, this is a no-brainer. Quick and to the point. Thanksgiving is on its way and we have no time to delay. Use evite or socializr for the quickest invite. You might say something like this:

Join the girls Black Friday

after your shopping is done

let’s get the gifts

all wrapped up

and have some fun.

Ask each girlfriend to pick up a few rolls of wrapping paper, tape, boxes or ribbons on their way through the checkout and bring them to the gathering. It is always better to have too many wrapping materials than too few. This will also help to reduce the cost of wrapping for each person. Plus, moms take note: it is always nice to wrap your kids’ gifts in paper that isn’t physically in your own house. Lest your five-year-old say, “Mommy, is Santa real? Because why would he use the same wrapping paper that is under your bed?” Lesson shared from my house to yours.

Setting

The house does not have to be spotless; everyone is busy with the holidays and should be very understanding. They will just be excited to hang out and put up their feet. Plan to use the room in your house with the biggest area to wrap gifts.

Set up a wrapping station. A large table donned with wrapping paper, scissors, bows, tape, gift tags, pens and 3×5 cards—all the accessories to make a girl’s wrapping complete. The cards can be used in lieu of gift tags –just tape to the bottom of their wrapped gift. This comes in handy for gifts from Santa. On the 3×5 card they can write what is inside and who it is for. Just be sure to tape the 3×5 card securely; it would be a shame to have to unwrap a gift just to find out what is inside and who it is for. Another lesson shared from my house to yours.

Food and Drink

Make it simple– order out! Just make sure to order from someone who delivers. Pizza is the perfect comfort food. Or Italian, Chinese—whatever you are in the mood for, just make sure you can call it in. You don’t want to have to stop on your way home; the day is too busy for that. Instead, let your fingers do the walking and you can do the talking—with your girlfriends.

While you’re shopping for Thanksgiving this week, just throw a few extra things in the cart. Some ideal quick munchies might include: Hummus and pita chips, pretzels and spicy mustard, pre-cut cheese and crackers, and carrots and veggie dip. Those are all things you can throw in a bowl and serve without having to think about it.

Some drink ideas to warm the soul: Hot cocoa with a side pour of schnapps, spiced eggnog or any holiday-spiced beer. Be sure to offer water as well. After all that running around, everyone is sure to need a little shot of H20.

Connecting Activities

A lot of wrapping and chatting will be done at this gathering, so the activities will be pretty minimal. But some quick suggestions might include:

Quizzing everyone after the wrapping is done. Write down the gifts that each girl is wrapping: What gift and to whom. Then afterwards, quiz the girls to see who was most observant. The one with the most correct answers wins.

Things to talk about. 1. How did you learn the truth about Santa and at what age? 2. What do you enjoy most about the holidays? 3. Are there any holiday traditions in your family that you feel are important to pass on? 4. If you could only remember one Christmas, which one would it be and why? 5. What is the most non-traditional thing you have adopted into your holidays?

Match the Santa list. Ask everyone to write down some of the things they asked Santa for as a child. The hostess will randomly read off the lists of each girlfriend’s childhood wants. Your gal pals try to match the guests with what they asked for. The one with the most correct answers wins.

Weirdest gift guess. Ask everyone to write down the weirdest gift ever received at the holidays. The hostess will read the answers randomly. The guests will try to match the weirdest gift with its receiver. The one with the most correct answers wins.

Prizes and party favors are not necessary for the games or this party. It will be enriching just to learn some things about the girls that you never knew. Learning more about each other enhances our girlfriend relationships. What better prize could a girl ask for?

We hope you take time to turn the race of Black Friday into something special, a winning finale to this busiest of all shopping days. Your girlfriends will be appreciative, even if the invite is last-minute. If you have any other Black Friday traditions with your girlfriends, we’d love to hear about them in the comment form below.

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