Each month our little party boutique hosts a girl’s night out, which in all actuality, is designed to give parents an opportunity to enjoy a night out in our quaint downtown area. Not surprisingly, our annual Galentine’s gala the weekend of Valentine’s Day is one of our most popular events, second only to our Halloween GNO. What’s not to love about a night full of crafts, dress-up and having mini makeovers with your BFFs?!

Being one who absolutely loves puns, this year’s theme is “Mint” to be Best Friends Forever. I was going for a glam shabby chic feeling, and finding the mint green sequin tablecloth provided the perfect bit of wow to get the decorations started. I also have a collection of vintage doors and windows, all of which have a slight minty-aqua color to them, so adding them was a no brainer. Our old school chairs received a little makeover with a bit of a gold spray paint, and paired beautifully with the table setting. A little bit of bunting added to the backs of the chairs gave them a hint of whimsy.

Since this is an event for little girls, I opted for paper plates, and was smitten with the elegant shape of the chevron plates from Oriental Trading. The ombre pink napkins perfectly matched the scrapbook paper, which was used as placemats, as well as for the paper rosettes used throughout the décor.

Guests will sip sparkling raspberry lemonade from cute French milk bottles, which are dressed up with hearts and glittery arrows. Place cards used to designate the seating will also double as tags for the bags we’ll place each girl’s crafts in at the end of the night. We couldn’t resist adding a bit of glitter to the wooden cutlery, which also received glittery golden arrows – because even disposable cutlery deserves a little sparkly moment!

DIY paper mache heart boxes, also from Oriental Trading, were painted to match the theme, and filled with Hershey’s Hugs candies, then tied with bakers twine and adorned with a mini golden arrow.

The centerpieces were mini heart balloons clustered in vases with arrows, along with boxes filled with peonies, hearts and arrows. Although I love real flowers as much as the next gal, I am sadly horribly allergic, so these faux flowers are my trusty go-tos. The added bonus is that I’ll be able to reuse the same centerpieces the night of the actual GNO, and not have to purchase more! #winwin

Desserts for the big night will consist of white chocolate cupcakes with strawberry icing, strawberry cookies, strawberry shortcake custard, and bags of strawberry and vanilla popcorn – can you sense a theme here?! To mix things up a bit we’ll also have powdered sugar donut holes, and you can’t have a Galentine’s night without conversation heart candies! The gorgeous cookies are all hand-painted by my talented friend Mel of Say Anything Bakery.

Each girl will also receive a plastic heart ornament with a cute game of tic-tac-toe inside, complete with M&M candy playing pieces.

Our Galentine’s night would not be complete without taking a ton of selfies with besties, so having a photo booth, complete with fun props, is a must! We layered simple crepe paper streamers in our theme’s colors of pinks, gold, mint and white, added a few rosettes to the top, and a fun Hooray pennant.

The absolute showstopper of the entire décor has got to be the ginormous BFF balloons hanging on the wall! Each was spray painted after inflating, and then received heart-shaped stickers and either streamers or tassels. I am positively obsessed with how they turned out, and wish they would last forever…kinda like the friendships which are forged in our childhood! I cannot wait for the littles to arrive and celebrate with us!

Credits:

Party Styling: Annaliese Johnson, Made of Sugar and Spice Parties

Graphic Design: Jen T. by Design
http://jentbydesign.com/

Cookies: Say Anything Bakery
https://www.instagram.com/sayanythingbakery/

Heart Boxes, Wooden Heart Ornaments, Plastic Heart Ornaments, Hershey’s Hugs, Plates: Oriental Trading
http://www.orientaltrading.com/holidays/valentines-day-a1-550626.fltr?categoryFromSearch=true&rd=valentines

Balloons: Northstar Balloons via Oriental Trading