abigailvalencia

“Let all that you do be done in love.” 1 Corinthians 16:14

The month of love is here! And although nothing beats getting showered with your favorite flowers and chocolates by the love of your life – what a great time to celebrate with the group of ladies who are your sister’s in Christ!

Galentine’s Day was created (not sure by who) to celebrate love in women’s friendships on February 13th. However, it can really be celebrated any day and this year we chose to party on February 8th. Did I forget to mention it’s for girls only? Sorry guys, no boys allowed!

I attend a very small church in a very small town where a few members come from out of town. So, there’s not many opportunities for the women of our church to gather together and fellowship with one another. The last two years we have only had Christmas parties together and I felt like that was not enough. In January, when we were meeting as a church and setting the calendar of events for the year, I decided to sign myself up to plan and host a Valentine’s Galentine’s Day party for the ladies.

After gathering many pinterest ideas and dragging my mom to help with decorations, here’s how it turned out! Read below to find out how you can host the best Galentine’s party for your group!

Host a Galentine’s Party for Your Church Like This!

• Set your date, time, and location – indoors or outdoors?

I decided to pick the Saturday before Valentine’s Day (Feb. 8th) at 11am at our church! This was honestly the most convenient for everyone and 11am seemed like the perfect time- not too early, not too late -to have a brunch and still give everyone a chance to get some Saturday shopping done, if they needed to!

• Send out an invitation or make an announcement during church service

I created a cute invitation on Canva, saved it, then shared it in our group text. I also reminded everyone at our church service the Sunday before the party.

• Decide on the food

You really can’t go wrong with whatever you decide to serve at this party. Appetizers, finger-foods, potluck, or a full meal are all great options. Since I knew I wanted to have a brunch, I chose to provide most of the meal and my mom helped me prepare it. There were a few ladies who insisted on helping out and brought a few items as well. (Thank you!) We had waffles, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage patties, and hash-brown patties, fruit, pecans, and syrup. SO GOOD! For drinks, we had coffee, orange juice, and water bottles.

We also had like a dessert table full of more yumminess. You know there had to be chocolate covered strawberries there!

• Decide on a theme

This is totally optional! I love themes because it helps me have an idea of how/what to decorate and it really makes everything come together.

For this party, I chose all things red, pink, hearts, bows, and candles. I feel like bows and candles are super trendy right now. Or maybe they have been for a while, I just don’t go out much. Also- I did ask all the ladies to either show up in something red or pink. Obviously.

When deciding on how to decorate the table where we would be eating at, I came across a picture on Pinterest and HAD to steal the idea! I put white table cloths, a pink runner, a red valentine’s garland, and a 2×4 of wood with several holes for candles- this was a DIY that I definitely made my dad participate in haha.

• Decide on decorations and tableware

For the decor, I truly kept it simple. I used pink and white tablecloths and pink table runners I already had. I bought red and pink ribbon and candles and heart shaped bowls and plates (for desserts) from Hobby Lobby – along with balloons! I made a balloon garland to place on top of the meal table and then made a heart out of balloons to place on top of the dessert table. Our church has an area on a wall that has white curtain so I decided to put bows on it. For tableware, I couldn’t find what I was envisioning so had to settle for pink paper plates, red/pink forks and knives, and white napkins. It was simple but cute!

• Will there be games?

I really wish I would’ve had just a litttttle more time to find some fun games for us. However, the only game/icebreaker we played was conversation hearts questions. I wrote questions on small pieces of paper that were heart shaped, threw them in a small bucket, passed it around and everyone drew a question and answered it. It was so quick and easy to do. It was a great way for us to get to know each other better and have some good laughs. 10/10 recommend!

• Will there be a Bible study/devotional?

Since I didn’t plan fun games, I decided to go over a short devotional that would be fitting for our party. I wanted to speak about something related to love and came across a study called “10 Simple Ways to Show Christ-Like Love Today.” My main focus was to share with the ladies that we are so fortunate to experience true, unconditional, everlasting love through Christ and because of that the least we could do is share love with others. It was a great study that we were able to learn from and it brought great discussions.

• Party Favors

This is something I decided on (last minute lol) but do not feel obligated to do it! I chose to make goodie bags for the women with a few snacks and the “10 Ways” paper in it. I bought small white paper sacks from Walmart and painted cute Valentine’s Day things on them. The snacks I put in there were a small bag of smart food cheddar popcorn, a bottle of strawberry lemonade, a little Debbie chocolate heart-shaped cake, and some chocolates. If you don’t want to do a goodie bag, you could do a bookmark, a car freshener, a token shaped like a heart, or even a notepad and pen. There’s various options.

So there you have it! If you’re wondering how to plan the best Galentine’s party for the women at your church just follow the list below!

1. Set your date, time, and location
2. Send out and invitation or announce at church
3. Decide on the food
4. Decide on a theme
5. Decide on decorations & tableware
6. Games
7. Bible Study
8. Party Favors

The only time we see one another is at church on Sundays or Bible Study on Wednesdays. So doing this really helped us connect with each other outside of that and, to be honest, we really had a great time.

I hope this will help ya out if you decide to host a party for your Women’s Ministry. And I pray that it will help your women grow together and grow closer to God!

Many blessings,

Abby