I don’t know about you but nothing invigorates me like hanging out with my girlfriends! I’m not like those chicks who get their kicks pointing out that they’re “not like other girls- that they’re far too laid back and drama free,”. Nope those just ain’t the kinda girls for me! Give me a clique I can connect with, who can relate to my insecurities-to that guy who was the mistake that I had to keep making, before I could actually learn from my mistake, mistake. Give me a girlfriend who is transparent about her imperfection, yet always striving to be better than she was before…THOSE GIRLS ARE MY TRIBE.
Saying all that to say, even when we find our tribe, it gets kind of hard with work, life, kids, marriages and everything in between to keep those relationships in tact. I have no kids, relationship or marriage for that fact to keep in tact and I still find it hard to do. So this post is one for the women who want to reconnect with their friend base or need some idea’s to keep those connections thriving!
Sure going to dinner and drinks can do the trick and can be just as fun as the other idea’s on this list. But if you’re like me, you get joy from breaking away from routine and creating new experiences! While these idea’s aren’t innovative, they are unique in how you put your spin on it, or if you’ve never tried them with a girlfriend before the experience will be completely new.
So without further ado…
Have a Themed Movie Night
Sure watching a movie with your girlfriends isn’t some groundbreaking idea, but treating it as a theme night could make it new! You could create a theme around the food you serve or the movie you’re watching. I really loved these idea’s here and here . No need to get all extravagant either! Take small idea’s that speak to you and tailor them to fit your needs.
Host a Pamper Day
Create a pamper day for you and your girls and give each other facials, mani’s and pedi’s. You could go to the Dollar Store and stock up on individual kits, face masks and the like, and get a cool cucumber cocktail going as spa music plays from this Pandora station. Serve light snacks like finger sandwiches, fruit and crudities. I loved this little spa kit to personalize the day even more! Take it a step further and do each others makeup and take memorable photo’s to commemorate the day.
Volunteer
Pick a charity or shelter close to your heart and gather up your girls and give back! You can make it an annual event and watch it grow and grow! Not only are you doing your part and spreading love and kindness, but you’re doing it with the people you care about. I did this with a friend of mine recently who had lost his mother. She was very active in supporting causes related to women and gave a great bit of time in support of them. He chose to honor her by volunteering at a local women’s shelter, and enlisted his close friends to join him. It was truly a beautiful experience, made even more beautiful because of who we were honoring and that were doing this together.
Rock out at an outdoor concert
Outdoor concerts are different from indoor in the sense that they encourage more interaction among the people there. It’s one of the many reasons I love doing this in the summer. There is nothing like packing a tasty lunch, a cozy blanket and a bottle of wine to share with your girls under the sky as you listen to beautiful music, laugh and catch up on the things going on in your life. It’s the intimacy of an outdoor concert that I love, and my friends with kids are often able to bring them along so it makes the experience that much more special.
Museum Hop
I’m always looking for ways to incorporate more cultural activities in my life. I can tell you it’s a hell of a lot more fun when I can do this with my friends. Look up a new art show, botanical garden or exhibit and get your crew together to check it out.
Bike Around Your City
The cool thing about living in Long Beach is that we have an event called Beach Streets where the streets are shut down to all cars, and bike riders can ride around neighborhoods and stop at eateries, enjoy free entertainment, or have a drink at a local pub. I once got my friends together for this fun event and we all had a ball! It was my opportunity to introduce them to my home town and get a bit physical activity in. Even if your city doesn’t have an event like this, why not get the girls together and enjoy a ride anyway? You can turn it into a fun day by visiting your own local eateries and bar hopping along your route.
Attend a Class or Workshop
Picture this, you and a friend of yours have always talked about your love of photography. You want to start capturing those beautiful moments in your lives but don’t know how to use that expensive camera you both bought last year and swore you’d learn how to use… Well sign yourselves up for a photography workshop together and take the fear out of learning this new interest on your own. You can learn how to use the camera and have a day where you just go out and take pictures around town. You can incorporate any of the fun activities from this post and commemorate it with the skills you learned in the photography workshop you attended. I’m using photography to explain how you can incorporate this into your girls day, but it can work with anything really – a cooking class, an improv class, a computer class. Plus having your besties there with you make the experience a lot less daunting.
Do Acts of Kindness Around the City
I once read a blog post that had the cutest random acts of kindness you could do to elevate your mood . Some of the suggestions were to pay for someones expired meter, tape money to a vending or candy machine with a nice note attached to enjoy a snack on you, play with animals at a local shelter, put sticky notes with positive messages or inspirational quotes around your city,visit a nursing home and offer to read or play games with the elderly, buy a gift card at Starbucks and hand it to someone in line… There’s a ton of things you can do to spread kindness! Doing it with the people closest to you makes the experience that much more special. Here are more idea’s you can incorporate.
Create a Craft Together
I’m not crafty, It’s one of those things I want to be, but I just find the whole process boring and mundane. But have someone there who I can talk and laugh with and the whole experience just changes! Plus I get a cool new craft out of the deal. If that doesn’t excite you then think about this, a lot of major businesses were created after two friends created some special thing together.
Of course hanging out with your friends (especially when they’re really close friends) doesn’t require you to do much of anything. A lot of the time it’s just the chance of being together and enjoying each others company, that makes the experience truly special. However, there are so many days that we spend not doing anything out of the ordinary, if there are chances (no matter how small they may be) to do something new, try something we’ve never tried before, or learn a new skill that will enhance our lives. Why not do it? More even, why not do it with the people we love!?!
Do you have any girls date idea’s you’ve experienced and would like to include? I’d love to know in the comments below.