Let’s face it, sometimes you just want to hang out with your girls. Am I right?
There are some things that only a night with your best friends can fix, and it’s much more of a need than a want to see them. Sometimes the only remedy is hours of laughter (at private inside jokes), good food, and girlfriends. Girls nights are darn near-spiritual, the togetherness with no strings, just connection, like a balm to our weary souls.
If there’s anything that quarantine has taught us it is this–we need each other. And desperately.
But what about when it’s hard to make a girls night out happen, well, OUT? What happens when it’s either inconvenient or impossible to gather the girls and head out for a night on the town?
Well then, we turn it to a Girls Night IN, of course. Yes, we love to get fancy and dress up and head OUT but there’s definitely something to be said for dressing down and settling in for a night at home with your besties. There’s less pressure, less stress, and certainly less prep time. You can stay as long as you want without worrying about closing the restaurant down and you can relax and fully be present with your friends, just as your soul needs.
That doesn’t mean, however, that hosting a night in your home has to be hard or complicated. Sure, it might take a little legwork but it doesn’t have to be stressful. In fact, there are some incredible vendors right here in Frisco who can make your hosting duties easy and, yes I’ll say it, even fun.
Follow along as we teach you where to go and what to do to make your Girl’s Night In the best it can be.
Setting the Scene
Prepping your home for a Girl’s Night might feel stressful, but it doesn’t have to be. Local design expert and realtor, Kirsten Lile, urges you to keep it simple. She’s a master entertainer and has impeccable taste — just take one peek at her gorgeous Instagram feed, Kirsten Lile Interiors, and you will agree.
Her tips for setting the scene are easy and accessible, but trust me when I say they will make a huge impact:
When I think about hosting a party with my girlfriends I first want to come up with a plan to make sure that good conversation and connection will happen because that is what we each long for and that is the purpose of gathering with friends. I believe your home needs to be a place that feels comfortable and inviting to your friends.
I love decorating with fresh florals or seasonal items like pumpkins for fall or lemons in the spring and summer that will last not only for the party but for days to come.
Keep table decor low as you’ll want people to be able to make eye contact throughout a meal. To incorporate conversation and design for your party, have a place card with a question for each person to answer during a meal. You can find beautiful paper at a craft store, and you simply need to add some fun questions to add to your table.
Candlelight is also a must for an evening get together. There’s something about a flickering candle that creates a beautiful environment for connecting with friends.
Also, having a vase of flowers and fresh linens in your guest bath is always a nice touch.
— Kirsten Lile, Kirsten Lile Interiors
Music and Entertainment
I don’t know about you, but there are some movies that I can only watch with my girls. They’re just not “significant other” material, unless, of course, you like dealing with eye rolls and dramatic sighs of a man who is NOT interested in chick flicks. So I reserve my movie choices for girls nights, where I can gather and watch with my besties, with zero complaints.
The Sex and the City movies are a perfect choice, sure to inspire the menu (cosmos, anyone?) and some great girl conversation along the way. Or maybe you’re feeling a little more Southern and a whole lot more classic. If so, you cannot go wrong with Steel Magnolias. A true girl bonding classic, the movie that made Blush and Bashful famous colors while simultaneously catapulting Julia Roberts to superstardom brings both the laughs and the tears, perfect for a girls night on the couch with your BFFs.
Not in the mood for a movie? Prefer a long night of conversation over rapt attention to a screen? I understand completely. Why not pop on a tailor-made girls night playlist and let the music set your tone.
You can’t go wrong either way. The real beauty of the evening is the connection, so choose what works best for your group and it will work out wonderfully.
Drinks
No girls night is complete without the drinks. Whether it’s a specialty cocktail, a special flavored water (because it doesn’t need to be alcoholic to be fun) or a great wine selection, the drinks set the tone in so many ways. If wine is your go-to, it’s helpful to have a few versatile bottles that everyone will love. Goody Goody has a great selection and some incredibly helpful tips on how to serve the best bottles for your crowd.
Or maybe you’d prefer something fun, a signature cocktail to set the tone for the night. Don’t stress about this; the experts tell us that it doesn’t need to be expensive or hard to create the perfect cocktail for your evening IN. Head Bartender Adam Boyer (otherwise known as Whiskers) of Bottled In Bond, wants to help; he urges you to ditch the expensive bottles because you don’t need to spend more money than needed to make a high-quality cocktail.
Instead, he tells us, a higher proof alcohol is typically less expensive and doesn’t sacrifice any flavor at all, especially since most cocktails are made by adding sugary mixers that mask the flavor of the alcohol and hide it’s “quality” well. So don’t break the bank, use economical lower end alcohol for your base. Your guests will be none the wiser.
But if you’re really not interested in being “head bartender” of your own night, Bottled in Bond has you covered. Their Bespoke cocktails are ready-made drinks, perfect for your girls night in. We recommend the Cosmopolitan (especially if you’re watching one of those Sex and The City flicks) or the Laters, Baby (citrus vodka, strawberry shrub, lemon, brut champagne.
Both which work perfectly and will surely set the tone without all of the work on your part. Reach out to Bottled in Bond for more information on how to order.
Food
Now that we’ve got our cocktails covered, let’s talk menu. This is important for more than one reason. If you’re serving drinks, especially cocktails, food is important to help offset the effects of the liquor. (Of course, responsible drinking is always imperative).
But also, in a more aesthetic tone, food is festive. It creates the connection and the community. Whether you’re serving a full-out dinner or just tapas, the menu matters. BUT, it doesn’t have to be complicated.
Our favorite way to serve a crowd is also one of the latest entertaining trends, the Grazing Board. Sure, you can go to the lengths to create your own graze board spread, but why do that when there is a local expert who can do it for you?
Graze A Board is a local company poised to create a perfectly personal and beautiful graze board tailored directly to your needs. Jessica Sublet, owner, founder, and expert board creator is ready to tackle all of your Girls Night In needs:
Let Graze A Board make your girls night 5 star worthy! Gourmet entertaining with class and style. These healthy boards will save you time and energy. Graze A Board’s are unique, tasty, fun and makes a beautifully styled centerpiece for great conversations.
Whether you’re entertaining an intimate gathering or a large scale event, Graze A Board’s are perfectly curated and fully customized for you and your guests. Enjoy a tasty treat and leave with the satisfaction of a full course meal!
Dessert
Nothing tops a fun and relaxing evening in with your girls better than a sweet treat to send everyone home with a smile. This doesn’t have to be complicated, though. Sure, you can spend time baking something on your own or make a run to the grocery store and grab a pre-packaged box of treats.
But there are better options, ones that practically scream GIRLS NIGHT in their uniqueness and flavor.
Marlei’s Sweets is a fun Brazillian bakery right here in our very own backyard. This Mother-Daughter team offers beautiful cakes, pavlovas and, our personal favorite, the “dessert in a jar”. Daughter Vanessa Bordasch says,
Marlei sweets doesn’t just make your regular dessert. It is a Brazilian way of making desserts with a Portugal inheritance. It is the kind of sweets you want to offer to your best friends and loved ones to cause a BIG impression. Our desserts are made from scratch with our family recipes that were curated over the years through many generations.
And while all of Marlei’s sweets make a perfectly sweet ending to your evening with your best, for a girls’ night I don’t think you can find anything more symbolic than the Martha Rocha cake (in a jar, pictured above), a fun little jarred sweet that is as delicious as it is meaningful.
Martha Rocha was a gorgeous Miss Brazil that was the favorite to Win the Miss Universe pageant in 1954, even among Americans but lost the crown to Miss America because she had 2 extra inches around the hips. It is notorious because she had won the hearts of the people.
In her honor, a Brazilian baker baptized its new incredible cake creation with her name because it’s many layers of goodness got a little tilted. It became one of the favorite cakes in South Brazil and teaches you don’t need to be perfect to be fabulous!
So the next time you’re craving some girl time but don’t want to head out on the town, give a Girl’s Night In a try and if you follow any of our tips, let us know. Share some pictures and tag us. We’d love to see these Girls Nights brighten up our days on social!
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