Sure, receiving roses on Valentine's Day is great, but have you ever had a really good night out with your girlfriends?
There's nothing quite as sweet as the unwavering support, emotional honesty and overall let-me-adjust-that-crown-for-you vibe that comes with solid, no-drama female friendships. Which is why Parks and Recreation's "Galentine's Day" episode hovers high on the list of reasons we'll always hold a special place in our hearts for the city of Pawnee, Ind.
Because before series co-creator Michael Schur penned that 2010 occasion, Feb. 13 was just another day, rather than a moment to honor all the great gals in our life. Or, as he put it to LAist, "a day set aside where we just celebrate friendships, especially female friendships."
And is there truly a better way to hear it for the girls than to pop a few bottles of bubbly and gather for an evening of good food and better conversation?
That's what influencer Joy Wilson (i.e. Joy the Baker) has planned for Galentine's Day eve, when she'll host her nearest and dearest at her New Orleans home for a gathering that's heavy on sweets and low on stress.
As Joy put it to E! News while laying out her simple-to-follow celebration plans, "Coming out of the past few years that we've had, my desire is to keep everything very easy." We'll raise a glass to that and her suggestions for a fun night in.
Shower your squad with presents.
For Joy, February 'tis the season of giving. "I feel like the Christmas holidays get so busy, inevitably there are people that I've forgotten to gift properly," she explains. "So I have started to give my girlfriends really special Galentine's Day presents." Before she even sets the menu or dusts off a single champagne flute, she begins gathering up thoughtful trinkets for her gals.
But if the December holidays have soaked up every last one of your gift ideas, feel free to steal her go-tos, which include "a jewelry moment or something for the kitchen, like a big, beautiful trivet and a stone lazy susan." Or consider giving them, uh, a hand in the form of a small bottle of lotion to place by their sink.
For those on a budget, she recommends scouring thrift store shelves. "Take a little small votive that you find at Goodwill and fill them with cute matches and put a little trivet underneath," Joy suggests. "You can always repurpose something if you have a little bit of creativity and time to search." Overall, she says, the goal is to find "something that I feel like my friends wouldn't buy for themselves, so it feels extra special."
Plate up some comfort food.
Planning her fete for the night before Galentine's Day, Joy is going with "a Sunday night supper kind of thing," she shares. And in the interest of keeping things easy like Sunday evening, she's opting for "a one-pot chicken dish."
With more than a few recipes to choose from, her marry me chicken is a top contender. "It's cheeky," she allows, and packed with ingredients that are likely already in your pantry like olive oil, chicken broth and dried oregano. Plus, it accomplishes her No. 1 aim. As she says, "I want to make a cozy dish and then a big, fresh salad to go with it."
Don't forget to pop some bottles.
For Galentine's Day, bubbles are basically a must. "There should be champagne," insists Joy. "And maybe it's not the most expensive stuff, but it's not the cheap stuff because we're worth a little fance."
She likes to serve hers up with some juice for an easy cocktail (consider her kombucha grapefruit mimosas). And for those that would rather not imbibe, she's a big fan of Champignon Dreams, the adaptogen-rich apéritif from Katy Perry's De Soi brand.
Set the music mood.
Though there's no shortage of female-focused playlists to be found on Spotify and Apple Music, Joy likes to lean into a more narrowed theme. "I usually find a genre," she explains. "Like, is this an Alanis Morissette year? Is this what we're feeling? I just find a lady-centric genre and I dive in there."
As far as décor, Joy is a big fan of KISS-ing—as in keeping it simple, stupid. Scoop up some flowers from Trader Joe's, "zhuzh them up," she says, and place a few bouquets around your space. Add a few candles (on the table, in your kitchen, above the bathroom sink...) and you've got a look that's understated, elegant and didn't require a large portion of your afternoon.
Get people talking.
Depending on how active you want your fete to be, you can set up a manicure station, karaoke or board games, or stream a steady supply of rom-coms to your TV screen. But Joy is a big fan of just indulging in a night of girl talk.
And while it's likely not all that hard to get the conversation flowing amongst good friends, Galentine's Day does provide a nice opportunity to dig a little deeper. Ahead of a recent dinner party, Joy wrote out 10 conversation-starting questions she found on the Internet and placed the cards in a bowl. Before each was opened, the cookbook author details, the reader would someone to respond. "You might know each other really well but there's so much to still learn," she explains. "I feel like those kinds of games help you know each other better."
Don't forget the just desserts.
Why, yes, of course Joy will be serving up a sweet finish at her get-together. As you may have gathered from her name, she "always" includes a dessert on her dinner party menus. And for Galentine's Day, she'll be slicing into her chocolate basque cheesecake.
Not only is it "really rich," she notes, "it's the easiest cheesecake you can make because there's no crust and you don't have to bake it in a springform pan, you bake it in a six-inch pan. And you can make it even a couple of days ahead of time and just finish it off with whipped cream and fresh fruit and it's stunning."
Eat your heart out, Valentine's Day.