GNO time! Plan a Girlfriend Happy Hour …

or … where to wear your favorite new pair of shoes, or … the perfect end of a day with your ‘besties.’

When was the last time you saw your best friends? Got out of the house and didn’t have on yoga pants? (Okay, that might be a stretch, no pun intended.) Had so much fun laughing that you forgot all the stress in your life?

We’re on a friendship journey through September, aka: our Month of Friendship of celebrating our friends. Everyday we’re sharing a way to reconnect with old friends and build into new friends.

Today’s ‘girlfriend challenge’ is as easy as sitting at a bar with your girlfriends. Host a Happy Hour with your favorite female friends. You don’t always need a reason, like a birthday or your partner out of town (although those are fine reasons to hang out with the girls!) – just a ‘Hey, it’s Tuesday – let’s have a GNO” (Girl’s Night Out) will do. Just take a leadership role and organize a girlfriend get-together.

Our girlfriend advice for throwing a GNO happy hour:

• Pick a Date – Two schools of thought: pick a date that works for you or let your friends vote from several dates that work for you. Recently I contacted several girlfriends through Facebook to ask them which date would work best for them for our upcoming Cincinnati Girlfriendology Happy Hour. I was open to various dates and was happy to know they were saving the date to get together.
• Pick a Location – What nearby, centrally-located, easy to park at bar or restaurant is most conducive for a bevy of ‘besties’ talking and laughing? Choose a location that works for you and the other attendees. Also, find out if they have any happy hour specials – or ask the manger if you can have some for your group. (Sometimes they will donate some food if you bring in a group on a slow night.)
• Invite the Girls – We girls like to plan ahead, so try to invite the attendees several weeks before the event. Send an email or evite, or invite them through a group Facebook message, with all the scoop – date, time, place, who else is coming (potential carpools), etc.
• Etc. – If girlfriends can’t come because of their kids, perhaps suggest they share a baby sitter. Make sure and bring a camera and share the photos on Facebook or Flickr. Feeling especially blessed to have ‘besties’? Make a little gift bag for each friend (dollar stores are great for tiny gifts for such bags) or have a card for each girlfriend. Send out a thank you email/Facebook message to tell each girlfriend how much you appreciate her attending and how thankful you are for her friendship.

Actually, with September being the National Women’s Friendship Month, you can even use that excuse to get the girls together. We’re doing that in Cincinnati. Girlfriends are getting together on Monday, September 27th (location TBD). Currently we’re tweeting to get recommendations on where to have the event. (So, if you’re in Cincinnati, tweet us your ideas @Girlfriendology and check back at Girlfriendology.com for the info.)

What is your girlfriend advice for hosting a girlfriend Happy Hour? What makes a GNO extra fun? Share and inspire!

Days 1-13 of our Month of Friendship:

• Day 1: Throw a girlfriend dinner party
• Day 2: Girlfriend Gratitude
• Day 3: Social Media Friends
• Day 4: Make a memory gift for your girlfriend
• Day 5: Phone a Friend!
• Day 6: Plan a Girlfriend Trip
• Day 7: Pamper your Pals
• Day 8: Make a Friend Laugh
• Day 9: Start a Girlfriend Tradition
• Day 10: Go Shopping with your Girlfriends
• Day 11: Remember a friend you’ve lost, in honor of 9/11
• Day 12: Make dinner for your girlfriend
• Day 13: Send your girlfriend a card

Tags: girlfriend happy hour, girls night out, GNO, Happy hour, month of friendship

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 14th, 2010 at 3:32 pm and is filed under Be a Better FRIEND. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.