Ladies Night In Part Two- The How To!

Photo Credit to Women of Google+

Ok so we've talked about what you wanna do, now let's talk about HOW to do it! Here is the RECIPE of how I generally host my Ladies Night In. You can tweak it to what suits your group best.


INGREDIENTS

Invites:

Generally since I'm cheap I stick with a healthy combination of Facebook invites and mass text messaging (for those who refuse to get/keep Facebook pages). I include all the info in the email about childcare, food, drinks, location, start time and end time, and I make sure to encourage the ladies to bring friends. There are only 2 rules that are not to be broken under and circumstances:

 

#1.Absolutely, positively NO MEN ALLOWED. Even MY own husband is kicked out of the house for the whole evening until the last woman leaves. If for some reason he cannot stay gone he is confined to our bedroom for the remainder of the evening. Generally, you're not going to have a hard time convincing your hubby to stay away from a house filled with 20 women.

 

#2. Absolutely, positively NO DRIVING HOME DRUNK. Be sure to have PLENTY of non alcoholic drinks available. In most cases your Ladies Night In is going to be serving the purpose of allowing some much needed socializing and the opportunity to try a few drinks they enjoy or havent had before. If binge drinking is the sole purpose of your party, then I suggest finding ideas elsewhere, becuase this is not the right recipe for your kind of party.

 

Childcare:

The one thing I always make sure to have on hand no matter how many ladies plan on attending is a responsible babysitter and a very SOLID BACK UP BABYSITTER just incase. HOW MUCH SHOULD YOU CHARGE? Make sure when you have the ladies RSVP you ask for a head count of how many kids they are bringing. I generally figure in that on average I have about 10 kids show up. So if I make a donation of $5 and then charge a minimum $2 donation for each kid that sitter is for sure going to make at least $25 and all they have to do is watch the kids tear up my kid's bedroom for a couple hours without hurting themselves. Generally since I call it a donation a few of the moms who can afford to chip in a little more. Some do/ Some don't. I also make sure near the end of the party to go upstairs and make an announcement to the kids that if all the toys that they got out are put away within 15 minutes I have cupcakes and punch for everyone downstairs. THIS HAS YET TO FAIL ME. Why should I be left cleaning it all up the next day by myself when 10 kids can be bribed to do it with cupcakes in a fourth of the time?!??!

 

Food & Beverages

On the invite I request that each lady bring some sort of appetizer of their choice and to RSVP with the appetizer so we don't end up with 23 different crackers and dip combos (this happened at the first one...lesson learned). One thing I have learned is this gives alot of my friends the opportunity to try out one of those 6,437 recipes they have pinned on their Pinterest Page LOL! I also make sure to include on the Invite to bring a tupperware container, as we always have a ton of leftovers. And this way if they didnt have time (or stomach room) to try everything, they could try some later in the comfort of their own home! Not to mention it gives me the opportunity to use those cool serving trays I got from my wedding registry that I never use otherwise!

 

Entertainment:

I won't go into a lot of detail on this one but some people will entertain themselves with socializing at the food and drink table, some people will want to play games, some may want to watch a movie.... Ultimately the best part about a ladies night in is that you can do all of these at once if you wanted! Or if you are like me and plan on hosting one each month you could take suggestions each month and let your guests vote by a certain date. The possibilities are endless on this section.

 

 

Directions:

Mix all ingredients in any size home and see what you can cook up with these EASY PEASY LEMON SQUEEZY LADIES NIGHT TIPS!