If you’re not in full blown Hallmark hearts and flowers lovey-dovey mode, February can be one of those months you’d rather avoid! Even if there isn’t someone special in your life making your heart pound (or your stomach turn, whatever the case may be!) there’s plenty of reason to celebrate! How about your kids?! Or BFFs who get you through all of those empty loveless nights?! Okay, stop crying and blot your tears! You’re about to have a Friendsgiving party!
What The Frack Is Friendsgiving?!
Galentine’s Day is a relatively new term loosely described as “Friendsgiving” in February. But you don’t have to just party with the girls. Friendsgiving could be your new favorite excuse for corralling the neighbors or pals from work. This year, bag on expectation and tradition and round up the troops for a little noncommittal fun.
Divide The Love & Potluck It
First off, no one need stress about throwing a little par-tay! Everyone is going to pitch in and help with food and drinks! Create a theme – it can be as simple as “Bring the Foods You LOVE!” or something snarky like “The Stupid Cupid Party,” which obviously that bow and arrow wielding baby-man must be if he hasn’t found you a mate! #duh!
Organizing Your Friendsgiving Celebration
Create a Google doc to share with the invitees so everyone can bring their fave item and the buffet table won’t have 9,000 versions of 7 Layer Bars and nothing resembling food! Consider dividing your list into categories such as Savories, Sweets & Beverages so that you end up with a little of everything. If you’d rather focus only on sweet treats, do a dessert bar theme and get super detailed with categories such as Barks, Bars, Balls, Pops, Cakes, Donuts, Candy, Fruit Flavors & Chocolate! Look, just because you have to bring something doesn’t mean you have to bake it. Let the grocery store bakery do the work for you!
12 Valentine’s Sweets We Love
Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Pops
I love desserts that look fancy but are actually super simple to make. Stack marshmallows on a stick. Dip in chocolate. (okay, easy enough!) Once the chocolate has set melt colored candy wafers and pipe on a ribbon design. That’s it!
Dipped Strawberry Wafers
Store bought wafer cookies dunked in melted chocolate and colorful pink and red sprinkles! A lazy baker’s dream dessert!
Heart Shaped White Chocolate Bark Bites
Those heart shaped ice trays aren’t just for ice! Sprinkle candy and sprinkles in the bottom then fill with melted chocolate and let cool. These are great for cellophane party bags!
Cupid’s Crunch
Because cereal’s not sweet enough on its own (yeah, right!), this one adds some candy! Perfect for family friendsgiving celebrations with kids!
OMG! Love this pretty and super easy pink popcorn for Valentine’s Day. It looks like a kid-friendly recipe that my girls will love making and they can even share it with their friends as a Valentine’s Day treat to go with their Valentine’s Day cards at school!
Pink Layer Cake
Okay, this one requires some baking skills for sure, but it’s really freakin’ beautiful. They do say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, right?! This cake will definitely woo and wow him!
This recipe takes your ho-hum rice crispy bars to a new level with Strawberry Bits. There is also a Red Velvet Rice Crispy Bar version! Click the link above!
I love that they look fancy but are really simple to make!
Dipped Pretzels
Eh-hem! See note above about the lazy baker!
This ooey-gooey blondie is decked out in Valentine’s M&M’s! And get this, (as I’m sure you already know) you can buy a bag of just red, white, and pink M&M’s just about anywhere at this time of year! Keep your kids busy for a minute and have them fish out the pink ones!
Don’t Play With Your Food (Yes, Do!)
I don’t know if you’re supposed to play tic tac toe with this crunchy graham cracker treat or eat it or both! Maybe not a great option for the adults but it will keep the kids entertained and fed!
Pink Donuts
Last week we talked about “Faked From Scratch” desserts that make you look like a superstar even when you just picked them up from the supermarket. All you gotta do is buy plain cake donuts at the grocery store, dunk ‘em in pink glaze and sprinkles, and bask in the glory of compliments all night long!
How To Make Friendsgiving Even MORE Fun!
Booze, people! Drunk people are inordinately more amusing than sober ones! So make sure you’ve got some fun Friendsgiving Day cocktails!
3 Valentine’s Cocktails To Get People In The Mood
Who knows, maybe it will incite passion in your guests. At the very least, it should make them forget that there isn’t anyone shopping at Zale’s for them this year!
Raspberry Pink Champagne Float
This is like dessert and drunkeness all rolled into one. Plus, it looks elegant so it’s a win-win!
This pretty in pink Cupid’s Cocoa is perfect for Valentine’s Day! Warm mugs of strawberry milk are topped with whipped cream, sprinkles and a gorgeous candy pic!
Sunday Brunch Ideas
Okay, so let’s say there’s No Way Jose that your peeps are gonna party with you on Wednesday, which is when Valentine’s falls this year. All that means is that you switch the party to Sunday and swank it up by calling it Brunch! Bottomless bubbly is in order for that kind of party. Sure, pink champagne fits the theme, but want to know what’s even better?!
7 Different Ways To Do Sugar Cubes!
Set out decorative bowls with different types of sugar cubes and you’ve got your own self-serve Champagne Cocktail Bar!
Not only are these adorable on Valentine’s Day for Champagne Cocktails, they’re lovely for tea parties as well!
Sugar Cubes With Painted Hearts
If you’re having heart overload, try painting lips or flowers instead!
Traditional Champagne Cocktails are made by adding a drop or two of bitters (which typically has its own magenta color) to the sugar cube before the alcohol is added. These flavored sugar cubes operate using the same concept, and the flavors you give them are practically unlimited!
Using candy cutters, create fun shapes that you can also put in clear cellophane bags as party favors for your guests to take home and use in their coffee or tea the next day!
For more love day ideas check out my Valentine’s Board on Pinterest! Next week we’ll be getting the romance on with tips for writing love letters, corny ways to say ‘I Love You’ and more!
Hi, I seen quite a few heart sugar cubes using those silicone trays. I have a small mini heart shapped cookie pan or candy pan. I am thinking of trying to use that for the heart shaped sugar cubes. I also have every size of heart shaped cookie cutters too. I see it looked like you rolled out your sugar and used a cookie cutter. Either way if I use my mini pan or do it the way you have shown, hows the best way to lift them so they don’t crack? Also can I use liquid food coloring or does it need to be a paste? I didn’t see you recipe for the purple ones you show here so if you can, just let me know if my pan would work and if using a cookie cutter, how do you prevent any cracks? Also is liquid food coloring ok to use? Thank you
Hi there – Here’s the link, which is also in the blog, to the sugar cube recipe: http://makingniceinthemidwest.com/?s=sugar+cubes