One of the best holidays of the year is almost here, and it’s not Valentine’s Day! Galentine’s Day, celebrated the day before Valentine’s Day on Feb. 13, is a relatively new holiday but one that has risen in prominence over the last couple of years. Instead of romance, it’s a day to celebrate female friendship and love for the people around you.
Where did this holiday come from? It originated from an episode of Parks and Recreation back in 201. In the episode, Leslie Knope, played by Amy Poehler, gathers a bunch of her closest gal pals for a brunch consisting of waffles and lots of love. Focused on ladies supporting ladies, the festivities are supposed to simply celebrate the platonic love that develops between female friends.
“Every February 13, my lady friends and I leave our husbands and our boyfriends at home and we just come and kick it, breakfast-style. Ladies celebrating ladies.”
– Leslie Knope
The idea of Galentine’s Day was born from this episode, and the celebration has become more important every year since.
Galentine’s Day is a perfect excuse to get together with your closest friends — whether that be in person or over Zoom — and celebrate your friendship. If you need some ideas for how to create the best Galentine’s Day in a virtual setting, VALLEY has some suggestions. Luckily, there are many virtual events or virtual plans that you can take advantage of this Galentine’s Day.
Virtual Hangout
Get all of your friends together over Zoom and have your own safe celebration. If you want to have that party vibe, send your friends some care packages full of decorations or anything they might need for a fun activity that you can do over Zoom. One example would be sending an ingredient list for cookies; have everyone bake their cookies before your party and then have a decorating contest!
Send Love
If you don’t want to plan a party or if your group is too busy to celebrate, make the day a little more personal by sending mail. Send some letters expressing your love or send little gifts like chocolates, flowers or gift cards to their favorite places! This will show your loved ones that you are thinking of them, and it’s a relatively quick and cheap way to celebrate friendship.
Movie Night
If you want to have a chill, relaxed Galentine’s Day this year, have a movie marathon together but apart! Have everyone order their favorite meals, choose your favorite Galentine’s themed movies and watch together. There are several ways to do this: everyone can hit play at the same time, you can use browser extensions that allow everyone to see the screen or you can use streaming services like Netflix or Disney+, both of which have special controls to let people watch movies together remotely.
Game Night
There are tons of fun games that can be played virtually! Have a BFF trivia competition where everyone writes questions about themselves and the rest of the group has to answer. One trend that has been popular since quarantine is to make funny PowerPoint presentations. Give everyone a playful topic to research and compete to see who’s presentation is best. To make it even more fun (and competitive!), have everyone decide on a fun gift for the winner.
Although some people believe that the holiday is exclusionary, anyone can celebrate. Whether you’re single, in a relationship or somewhere in between, spend the day with your best girlfriends and celebrate female friendship.
1 Comment