Galentine’s Day is on the horizon. Think potent cocktails, indulgent fare, laughter amongst friends and memorable finishing touches in the comfort of your own abode.
We've curated a guide to to perfecting your Galentine’s Night In, with everything from martinis to making your home feel lush and welcoming. Gather the girls and let the often overlooked, extraordinary love between friends shine through this V-Day.
The flicks
No Galentine’s Day gathering would be complete without a marathon of classic, cheesy, cheerful chick flicks. Our top picks? Think Sex and the City, How To Be Single, Bridget Jones’ Baby, Bridesmaids and a whole hoard more. Raid your stash to curate a lineup of old icons and new favourites. Stuck for ideas? Have a peruse of this list.
The atmosphere
If French is the language of love, fragrance is the language of memory. With our sense of smell and memory so intrinsically linked, a Galentine’s to truly remember calls for striking a match on an irresistible soy wax candle. After all, candlelight isn’t just reserved for rom-com scenes and Italian Bistro dinner tables. For a charming, alluring touch to your soirée, ‘woo’ your girlfriends with an innately summer scent. Think Gardenia or Frangipani to exude more romantic, captivating aromas than a traditional bunch of red roses. And there you ‘glow’, you’ve successfully seduced your ultimate girl crushes.
The menu
The easier and the more devilish, the better. Go to town on simple, collaborative creations like DIY pizzas or spin a Mexican twist on the evening with a help-yourself taco station. If you’re stuck for ideas and know that your tribe go wild for a good cheese board, swathe the kitchen bench in antipasto platters or outsource some freelance platter services. For outsourcing your boards in Melbourne, turn to I Am Board for bespoke platters and boxes that will be sure to impress and satiate. Ripe fruits, dreamy cheeses, shards of chocolate, dips, crusty baguettes, quince paste - that’s what we call ‘true love’.
The tipples
Less roses, more rosé. If you’re wanting to go all out, load your bar cart with a celebratory bottle of Mumm, or go for a lip-smacking, sweet cocktail with some festive martini creations. Set up an island or bench dedicated to Cosmopolitans in an ode to Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha. You can sit back and watch the boozy bartending unfold as your favourite girls shake their own concoction of vodka, Cointreau, lime and cranberry juice. If cleaning up is to be kept to an all-time minimum, let a boutique wine delivery service act as your ‘middle man’ and get outstanding drinks delivered right to your doorstep. The Pretty Pinks pack from Sunday Wine Co is our favourite, spanning a trio of refreshing rosés. Don’t forget to take a ridiculous number of photos!
The ambiance
If it’s ambiance you’re longing to achieve, reach for a potent Abode Aroma reed diffuser. Finding a scent that feels bespoke to your night in will enthral the girls in a lively, intoxicating fragrance trace. Our pick for the evening? Embrace the last balmy, summer nights of February with the foliage and citrus-based Olive Grove scent. Expect notes of Mediterranean olive leaf, married with delicious tangs of blackcurrant. It’ll throw perfume all the way from where you start cheers-ing and chatting in the lounge to where you dance the night away in the living room.
Fire those invite texts away, prep the party palace and get ready to make this V-Day the most love-filled yet with the leading ladies in your life. Here’s to the friendships, flutes of bubbly and fragrances that are set to have you smitten.