Girls Night

Girls’ night is the perfect excuse to get together with friends. Everyday life is so hectic–what better way to relax than host girls’ night! So why wait—invite the girls, set a beautiful table with all your favourite things, get dressed up and, most importantly, have a great time!

Dream up an occasion and invite the girls over!

Does this sound familiar? “Let’s get together, we’ll have dinner!” Or: “Drop by for dinner sometime, you’re always welcome!” How many times have you heard or uttered those same words yourself? All you have to do is create the occasion and send out invitations!

Want your friends to meet? Want to get together with old friends? Just want to spend a great evening with people you don’t get the chance to see often enough? Simple: Pick a date (ideally, in three to four weeks which gives you, and your friends, time to get organized), then:

Write and mail or email your invitations
Ask for an RSVP within 10 days
Insist on evening dress!

Plan your evening

No time to prepare everything? Ask your friends to bring something!

We all rave about this or that friend’s specialty, be it an appetizer, soup, fish, poultry or meat, salad and vinaigrette, or a to-die-for dessert. Now that you’ll all be together, why not have everyone contribute and create a feast of flavours?

Decide on a menu and then ask each friend to prepare one dish. All you’ll have left to do is warm it up or put it together on girls’ night. Those who are not preparing a dish can bring the cheese, the bread, the raw vegetable platter… The main dish is usually more intricate and requires more time to cook so you should probably take care of it yourself.

As the evening progresses, you can all comment on each other’s dish and later exchange recipes by email. You’ll end up with some exceptional recipes that you can save and create a custom recipe booklet you can give to your friends as a souvenir on the next girls’ night!

Do you have time to prepare everything?

Great, plan your menu and get started! If you prefer to do it all yourself, here a few pointers to help you:

Plan your menu according to your guests’ tastes and be mindful of possible allergies. For inspiration, consult the vast choice of Metro recipes:

Appetizer or soup
Main entrée: meat, poultry or fish
Desserts
Cheeses

Once you’ve set a menu, make a list of the ingredients you’ll need from the supermarket.

Plan each task so that you don’t start by cooking the meat when you should have had it marinating for two hours first! At the same time, list each task in its proper order, for instance: cut the vegetables, prepare the cream for the dessert, prepare the cheese plate, prepare the salad ingredients, etc. Planning ahead allows you to get all the preparations done a good forty minutes before the arrival of your guests. Plenty of time for you to get dressed and ready!

The day before, get the grocery shopping done and select the wine. Make sure you have regular or carbonated water and juice on hand. You can start to cut vegetables, make your sauces or dips, prepare the ice, take out the silverware, choose a tablecloth and napkins, serving plates, dinnerware. Take the time to make hand-written or computerized menu cards that you can display in front of each place setting. Your guest will appreciate being able to refer to it during the meal!

On the day itself, buy fresh bread and a beautiful bouquet of cut flowers. Set the table according to proper table etiquette, don’t forget the candles, check the lighting, walk around the house (make sure all needed amenities are in place), organize your kitchen, take out your recipes and start preparing your dishes!

Come on in and celebrate!

Now that everything is ready, the evening can get under way! What a pleasure it is to entertain your girlfriends! Take time to greet and welcome each one. Make sure you introduce guests to others they may not know. Invite them into the living room for cocktails; serve Champagne or sparkling wine with charcuteries and Irresistible canapés, roasted nuts, vegetable chips, bean dip, cherry tomatoes, cucumber slices. Choose your background music with care. Let the party begin!

Dinner is served!

A good thirty minutes after your last guest has arrived, invite everyone to the table. Ask one of your friends to help you with the first course. Because everything is ready, all you have to do is serve and enjoy!

Liven up the evening!

If you want to get the laughs rolling, go around the table and ask each person to reveal their most embarrassing moment. You have to participate too!

Everyone is having fun and asking for more? This time do a round of true/false: take turns getting one guest to tell one truth and two lies. Everyone gets to ask her one question to find out more about the affirmations. Once everyone has had a turn asking a question, each gives her opinion. The truth comes out at the end and you move on to the next!

You can also prepare questions that you put in a hat. Each person picks a question and must answer of course! Lots of laughs and a memorable evening… guaranteed!

And last, but not least…

At the end of the evening, arrange for everyone to ride home in a taxi or arrange for a designated driver (perhaps your husband who babysat the kids). If that’s not possible, make girls’ night a sleepover! After a good cup of coffee and peanut-butter toasts, your guests will be back on track!

Have fun girls!