Spend Less Saturday: Girls' Night Out!

Today's post is a follow-up from my Thrifty Thursday post. I received several great ideas for fun, inexpensive, and easy ideas for a good Girls' Night Out. You don't have to go to The Melting Pot and spend $40 to have a good time with your girlfriends. Here are some more ideas from other readers:

Xazmin over at This is the Year suggested a Progressive Dinner!

She wrote: "...you move around to each other's houses. People could "team" up if you have a bunch. The first house, and team is in charge of appetizers, then then next team, and next house is the main course, then you move to the last place fore dessert! We used to do this at Christmastime when I was a kid and it would be our family, then my uncle's house, then my dad's cousin, and close family friend. Our 3 families were really close and we did this every December."

Xazmin's other idea was to start a Book Club. I think this can be loads of fun when it's done right. None of this "I'm only coming to the meeting if it's a book I like" stuff. To be fair to the other members and hostesses, members should make an effort to attend if at all possible. If each member brings a snack to share, the hostess only has to worry about giving her home a quick once over. You don't have to discuss canonized literature...why not switch it up and do some chick lit, a cookbook (each person try a recipe, bring it to share, and/or review it), mysteries, etc.? Have fun with it!

Carole from Hey Mom, What's for Dinner Tonight? had some great suggestions for the Yard Sale Morning idea I offered.

She wrote: "A friend of mine joins me and we go to the local thrift shop. It's huge and it's like hitting many garage sales at once; might save on gas, too, because you're not driving all over town going to multiple garage sales. It's so much fun to shop thrifty with like-minded people.You could actually make a morning (or afternoon) out of it by bringing along your own fresh-baked muffins & coffee so you can recharge in the car."

Suzanne over at Southern Inspiration had a fabulous idea for a Girlfriends' Swap!

Suzanne's comment? "I think it would be fun to have a swap night.....it could be to swap anything.....like maybe a theme swap, recipes, coupons, half completed projects, decorating ideas, or decorating items that maybe you're tired of.....maybe even clothes or accessories!See what you could do with this idea???"

Love it, Suzanne. Good thinking! I'd love to swap with you, cuz I know you have good stuff over there!

My sister, Alison, whose blog is hilariously titled They Gave Me a Mullet, had several awesome thoughts:

"1. Get obsessed about a TV show and watch it together every single week...I mean, come on, it's 1 hour. We TIVO the show, swear we won't watch it and then pick a good night that we can watch it together (Therefore, when we all have to work or study a 1 or 2 hour show can actually be like 35 minutes!) Typically, there is also a theme...When Stacey and I watch Biggest Loser - we eat chips and salsa or pizza. When we watch Intervention on A&E - we drink a glass of wine.

2. Just meeting for a walk. It doesn't take more than 15 minutes of planning ahead to call somebody up, strap on your tennies, and park in front of their house to meet for a walk! (I have to insert here that it always takes more than 15 minutes of planning when you have kids because it involves scheduling around naptimes, packing snacks, finding stray shoes, shuffling kids to the car, etc. But it would be worth it!)

3. Something else I love - I google "Best of ________" (the blank is the city I live in) and then pick something off the list and go see it and bug someone to come with me. Best of BBQ? Best Place to Cure a Hangover? Best Park for Kids? Best Museum? Sometimes you can find things like a drive-in movie or music on the lawn that you never knew existed!"

Amanda at Imperfectly Beautiful had a fun, fun idea for something you could do with your friends and their kids!

She mentioned starting a Kids' Book Club. I think this would be so fun and a great learning experience for elementary school-aged children! (At the stage I'm in, a kids' book club would involve a riveting discussion of the symbolism in Good Night, Moon.) At the end, the kids could play while the moms chat.

Thanks everyone for your wonderful suggestions! I'm looking forward to some sanity-saving Girls' Night of my own this summer. Gotta survive until preschool starts up in September!