How to throw the perfect Galentine’s Day party

With Valentine’s Day fast-approaching and love in the air, it can be easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of antics for this romantic holiday. But before we indulge in the commercial celebration of romance (or throw a pity-party for the lack thereof), there’s one exciting day worth noting that comes first: Galentine’s Day.

What is Galentine’s Day?

The term was coined by fictional character Leslie Knope on the television series, Parks and Recreation, marking the day before Valentine’s day. Best put, it is “ladies celebrating ladies.”

February 13th is a day to celebrate your nearest and dearest lady friends in your life: your support system, your girl gang, your lady loves, your squad, and your besties. There are no particular rules to Galentine’s Day; the main goal is to commemorate your female friendships while indulging in whatever makes you happy.

As a woman-owned business with an internal staff of all females, Mirus Promotions is all about women empowerment and girls celebrating girls. We’re taking this extraordinary holiday as an opportunity to do just that, and we’ve prepared some fun ideas and yummy suggestions to share for your own Galentine’s Day party.

Get Crafty!

Making your own decorations is a great way to customize your party theme to your preferred style. Take some time before your party, or set aside some crafting time with your girlfriends at the very beginning, for this easy DIY heart garland project to set the tone with both stylish and reusable decor.

Galentine’s Style Tip: Feel free to ditch the traditional red and pink Valentine’s Day theme if it doesn’t suit your crew. Try using a Chevron pattern or Glitter paper for a striking design.

Love the Wine You’re With

Cheers to all the special women in your life! Gather your girls together and pop some bubbly,creating your own mimosa bar with fresh juices and berries, or proclaim “Rosé All Day!” and stick with a classic pink wine. Remember, there are no rules and no stress when it comes to Galentine’s Day drinks.

Our Top Wine Picks are: Pommery Champagne | McBride Sisters Sparkling Brute Rosé | Yellow Tail Rosé

Beer My Valentine!

Need suggestions for the beer drinkers in your group? 

Angry Orchard Rosé is a pink-hued hard cider, similar in taste to a semi-dry wine.

You can also try a “beermosa,” made with Allagash White Belgian beer topped off with orange juice. A crisp and subtly spiced wheat beer will pair well with fresh OJ, spruced up with a twist of orange peel.

Treat Yo-self to Some Snacks!

Meat and cheese go together like wine and friendship – not necessary, but extremely complimentary and always a great idea! Build a custom cheese and charcuterie board to munch on while you socialize or watch your favorite chick-flicks. Olli Salumeria artisanal slow-cured meats are perfect for entertaining. Create your own antipasto plate with cubed cheddar, Olli Salumeria Smoked Hard Salami, and green olives.

Galentine’s Day calls for quality sweet treats. Upgrade your brunch game and let your snack queens know you like them a waffle lot – with some heart-shaped waffles, of course! Go the extra step by making some bourbon maple syrup to drizzle on top. Here’s an amazing recipe we tried and highly recommend:

Bourbon Maple Syrup Recipe: 

Ingredients

1 cup pure maple syrup
2 tablespoons Clyde May’s Bourbon Whiskey
Dash of pure vanilla extract

In a small saucepan set over low heat, gently stir together the maple syrup, bourbon, and vanilla until just warmed and well combined. Serve warm over waffles shaped with cookie cutters.

Play Games, not People’s Hearts

Perhaps eating, drinking and being merry with your gals isn’t enough and you want to add in a little friendly competition to spice things up. This Galentine’s “Chick Bowl” game, a play off of fish-bowl, is perfect for any sized group and will be sure to spike some extra enthusiasm into your party.

How it works:

All participating members sit in a circle or around a table. Every other person will be on the same team, forming two teams (i.e. team 1, team 2, team 1, team 2…). [If there is an odd number, ensure that one person from the lesser team goes twice.]

On individual pieces of paper, write the following Valentine’s-themed words and phrases and fold them up, placing them in a large bowl. You can add or detract from this list, depending on the number of people playing. Typically, there are 3-4 terms per player.

Round 1: Taboo

The starting team selects a player to go first. With 45 seconds on the clock, this player draws a paper (one at a time) from the bowl and have their teammates guess the word or phrase that is on the paper. They cannot use any hand gestures — only words. They can’t say any of the words that are on the paper, as they are the “taboo” words. For example, if the word is “cheeseburger,” they might say, “You eat this at McDonald’s.”

If the player thinks the word or phrase is too hard, they can “pass” and put the paper back into the fishbowl. However, players are only allowed to do this once per round.

If the team successfully guesses the word, they get to keep the piece of paper.

After 45 seconds have elapsed, the other team gets their turn.

Each team continues to take 45 second turns until all the pieces have been removed from the fishbowl. When the fishbowl is empty, each team counts the pieces of paper they have gathered (1 point per paper). After tallying the scores, fill the fishbowl with the pieces and move onto round 2!

Round 2: Charades

The same rules continue onto the second round, with charades instead of taboo. Players have 45 seconds to act out the words and phrases without saying any words or making any noises.

For “cheeseburger,” they might pretend to be holding and eating a cheeseburger or drawing out the McDonald’s golden arches.

At the end of the round, the scores are tallied up once more and all the papers are put back into the bowl for round 3.

Round 3: One word

The final round is similar to the taboo round, but only one word can be used to describe the word or phrase. So, if the word is “cheeseburger,” this time they may use a single world like “McDonald’s” to describe it.

*If you want to make this round extra challenging, you can add in this extra rule: no fillers like “uh” or “um” allowed – if the player says one of these first, they must stop and have teammates try to guess without proceeding to say their word.*

We hope you enjoy our Galentine’s suggestions and take this special day to celebrate the lovely ladies in your life. Happy Galentine’s Day!

“Behind every woman is another strong woman.”