💋 August 1 – National Girlfriends Day: Because Your Girl Gang Deserves a Standing Ovation 👯♀️💐
Alright, besties and ride-or-dies, it’s time to put the group chat on full blast because August 1st is National Girlfriends Day—a whole day dedicated to celebrating the soul sisters who make life infinitely more fabulous. Whether she’s your brunch buddy, emergency contact, personal hype squad, or all of the above, today’s the day to shower your girlfriends with the love, memes, and margaritas they deserve. 🍹👯♀️
Affiliate Disclosure
Just so you know, this post may contain affiliate links. That means if you click through and buy something, I might earn a tiny commission—enough to keep the lights on and maybe snag a celebratory cupcake. It doesn’t cost you anything extra, pinky promise.
💖 A Little Backstory (Because We're Sentimental Like That)
National Girlfriends Day isn’t an ancient tradition carved in stone tablets (though honestly, it should be). It was created in 2004 by Mistress of Friendship, Kathleen Laing, and her BFF Elizabeth Butterfield, who wanted to celebrate female friendships with a book and a designated day of appreciation. Mission accomplished, ladies. 🎯
👑 Fun Facts About Female Friendship:
Studies show that women with strong friendships live longer. So yes, that group text is basically a wellness plan. 📱💪
There’s actual science behind the magic—oxytocin (aka the bonding hormone) gets released when women spend time with their besties.
Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle categorized friendship into three types—and we’re pretty sure “wine-fueled gossip & support sessions” was the fourth. 🍷😉
🎉 10+ Delightfully Extra Ways to Celebrate National Girlfriends Day:
Host a DIY Spa Night: Face masks, cucumber water, and matching robes. Bonus points for ridiculous slippers. 🧖♀️🍃
Plan a Power Playlist Dance Party: Just you, your girls, and Beyoncé on repeat. 💃🎶
Send a Surprise Snail Mail Love Note: Old school and oh-so-sweet. Stickers required. 💌✨
Create a BFF Highlight Reel: Make a short video or photo collage of your most iconic moments together. Cue the tears. 🎥😭
Brunch Like You Mean It: Avocado toast, bottomless mimosas, and wildly unfiltered conversations. 🥂🍳
Have a Nostalgic Sleepover: Pajamas, popcorn, pillow fights, and maybe a little early 2000s karaoke. 🎤😴
Gift Each Other Random Crap That Screams 'You': The weirder and more specific, the better. Like a mug that says "World’s Okayest Friend." ☕🤣
Book a Friendship Photoshoot: Strike a pose, glam it up, or go full-on ridiculous. Frame that chaos. 📸👑
Try a BFF Bucket List Challenge: Check off one thing you’ve always wanted to do together—skydiving, goat yoga, or baking the world’s ugliest cake. 🪂🐐🍰
Write Your Friendship Origin Story: Dramatic narration highly encouraged. Add fake dates and historic flair. "It was the year 2009. Twilight was peaking..." 📖🖋️
Take a Social Media Moment: Give your girl gang a shout-out with a sappy post, ridiculous pic, or meme that screams us. Don’t forget those hashtags! 📲💕
✨ Theme: Rosé All Day (and Dinner Too)
Think soft pinks, florals, bubbly vibes, and a summer glow. Candlelight optional but encouraged. So are inside jokes, messy hair, and spontaneous dance breaks.
🍝 Main Dish: Rosé Cream Pasta with Summer Tomatoes & Burrata
Ingredients:
12 oz pasta (fusilli or penne—something twirly and flirty)
2 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup dry rosé wine
1/2 cup heavy cream
Salt + pepper to taste
Red pepper flakes (just a pinch, for drama)
1 ball burrata (or two if you love yourself)
Fresh basil, torn
Instructions:
Cook pasta in salted water. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup pasta water.
In a large pan, sauté garlic in olive oil until golden. Add tomatoes and cook until blistered.
Pour in rosé, simmer 2–3 minutes. Add cream and a splash of pasta water. Stir until it’s silky.
Toss in pasta, season to taste. Serve with burrata on top and basil like it’s confetti.
Mood: luxurious, pink, "we should open a restaurant" energy.
🥗 Side: Peach & Arugula Salad with Honey Vinaigrette
Ingredients:
Arugula or baby greens
1 ripe peach, sliced thin
Goat cheese or feta
Candied pecans (or walnuts)
Optional: edible flowers
Dressing: 1 tbsp honey, 1 tbsp white balsamic, 2 tbsp olive oil, pinch of salt
Toss it all together like your love life—effortless and sweet.
🍹 Drink: Blushing Lavender Rosé Spritz (Mocktail or Cocktail)
Ingredients:
1/2 cup rosé or sparkling rosé (or sparkling water for a mocktail)
1 tbsp lavender syrup (store-bought or DIY with sugar, water, and dried lavender)
Splash of lemon juice
Ice + edible flower or lemon slice for garnish
Stir, sip, and look lovingly at each other like you’re in a Sofia Coppola film.
🍓 Strawberry Rosé Shortcakes
🍓 Rosé-Soaked Strawberries:
1 pint fresh strawberries, hulled & sliced
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup dry rosé wine
Optional: 1 tsp lemon zest or a splash of vanilla
Instructions:
Toss strawberries with sugar and rosé. Let them macerate for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Try not to “taste test” half of them. (But also… live your life.)
🍰 Buttermilk Shortcakes:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cubed
3/4 cup buttermilk (plus extra for brushing)
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 425°F (220°C).
Whisk dry ingredients. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Stir in buttermilk gently until just combined. Don’t overmix—we’re making shortcakes, not bricks.
Pat dough into 1-inch thickness. Cut into rounds. Brush tops with buttermilk and sprinkle with sugar.
Bake 12–15 minutes until golden and dreamy.
🍦 Whipped Cream (a.k.a. Sweet Clouds):
1 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Whip it real good. Soft peaks = romantic peaks.
✨ Assembly:
Split shortcakes. Spoon rosé strawberries on the bottom half.
Dollop whipped cream like you’re painting a masterpiece.
Top with more berries, then the biscuit lid. Add more cream if you're bold (you are).
Garnish with a mint leaf or edible flower, and serve with blushing pride.
🕯 Bonus Touches:
Serve everything on a pink gingham tablecloth or a cozy blanket.
Light some candles. Add fresh flowers. Put on a playlist of slow jams, girl anthems, and summer nostalgia.
Write each other love notes or compliments and read them out loud.
End the night with a rom-com and a dessert of chocolate-dipped strawberries or pink macarons.
🍎 ELEMENTARY ACTIVITY: “Friendship Flowerpots” 🌸🪴
Theme: Nurturing Kindness & Celebrating Girl Friendships
Grade Levels: 1st–5th
Duration: One class period (30–45 minutes)
🎨 Overview:
Each student will "plant" a flower to represent a girlfriend (friend who’s a girl!) they appreciate or admire — whether it’s a classmate, sibling, cousin, or even a favorite book character! The class will create a “Garden of Greatness” display filled with heartfelt traits and drawings.
🛠️ Materials:
Construction paper (variety of colors)
Scissors ✂️
Markers/crayons/colored pencils
Glue sticks
Tape or stapler
Small paper cups or half sheets of brown paper (to serve as "flowerpots")
Pre-cut green paper strips (stems)
Optional: stickers or glitter (if you dare!)
📚 Step-by-Step:
Discuss Friendship (5–10 min):
Talk about what makes a good friend. Use books like The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig or Stick and Stone by Beth Ferry to frame the discussion.Create the Flower (15–20 min):
Each student picks one girl they want to honor.
They draw/write positive words or traits on flower petals (e.g., kind, funny, brave).
Glue petals to a circle center and attach a stem.
Make a flowerpot and decorate it with the friend’s name.
Share and Grow the Garden (10–15 min):
Students can share their flower aloud.
Attach all flowerpots to a bulletin board titled "Garden of Girlfriends" or “Friendship Blooms Here!” 🌻
🧠 Extension Ideas:
Add in a real planting day the next week with seeds and mini pots!
Include a writing center prompt: “A time my friend helped me was…”
📝 SECONDARY ACTIVITY: “Letters to Lift Her Up” 💌📬
Theme: Celebrating Female Friendships & Support Systems
Grade Levels: 6th–12th
Duration: One class period (or extend as a writing assignment)
✨ Overview:
Students will write anonymous or named Uplift Letters to girls they admire — friends, classmates, siblings, or even public figures. Then, they’ll create a collaborative “Wall of Women Who Wow” to post the positivity.
🛠️ Materials:
Lined or decorative stationery paper
Envelopes (optional)
Tape or push pins
Markers or pens
A “Letter Drop” box (decorated tissue box works great!)
Template prompts (see below)
🗂️ Uplift Letter Template (students can choose one or more prompts):
“You may not know this, but you inspire me because…”
“Thank you for being someone who…”
“If you ever doubt yourself, remember…”
“I admire how you…”
📚 Step-by-Step:
Mini-Lesson Discussion (5–10 min):
Briefly discuss the power of women supporting women. Reference examples from current events, books (The Hate U Give, Anne of Green Gables), or history.Write the Letters (20–25 min):
Students choose someone to uplift.
Use the prompts for structure.
Can write to a real person in the class, school, or someone symbolic (e.g., Malala, Greta Thunberg).
Share (Optional) & Display (10–15 min):
If comfortable, students can read their letters aloud.
Post letters on a board titled “Girls Lifting Girls” or “Uplift, Don’t Drift”
Option to deliver letters directly if written to classmates.
💡 Variation Ideas:
Create an anonymous Google Form version for hybrid/virtual classes.
Partner with the school counselor to include kindness themes.
Turn into a podcast-style recording session: “Love Letters to Legendary Ladies” 🎙️💕
Quirky in the Workplace
💌 “Office Gal Pal Compliment Cards” Exchange
Think Valentine’s mailboxes, but make it emotionally supportive and mildly feral.
Set up mini mailboxes (read: repurposed tissue boxes or mugs taped to monitors) for everyone in the office. Throughout the day, drop in anonymous (or signed, if you’re brave) quirky compliment cards like:
“You’re the only reason I survived Q2. And the office fridge.”
“You radiate main character energy... in a budget-approval meeting. Iconic.”
“If I had to be stuck in an elevator with anyone from this floor—it’d still be you, but I’d bring snacks for both of us.”
Bonus round: Print out stock photos of office women laughing at salad. Tape your compliments to those. Instant art installation.
🏆 Optional prize: The “CEO of Support” crown—made entirely of sticky notes and validation.
Tagline for the day:
“National Girlfriends Day: Because workplace friendship bracelets look like shared spreadsheets and emotionally loaded GIFs.”
🎬 Movie Pick: Girls Trip (2017)
Why it fits:
This comedy nails the spirit of National Girlfriends Day — it's a wild, hilarious, and heartfelt celebration of lifelong female friendship. Regina Hall, Queen Latifah, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Tiffany Haddish play a close-knit group of friends who reunite for an unforgettable trip to New Orleans. It’s about loyalty, growth, and how girlfriends keep each other sane (or not).
📺 TV Episode Pick: Broad City — Season 2, Episode 3: “Wisdom Teeth”
Why it fits:
Ilana and Abbi’s chaotic bond is one of the best depictions of millennial female friendship. In this episode, Abbi gets her wisdom teeth removed and Ilana takes care of her — in her own unhinged way. It’s equal parts hilarious and heartwarming, perfectly showcasing the ride-or-die nature of true girlfriends.
No matter how you celebrate, today’s about honoring the ladies who hype you up when you're down, call you out when you're being a hot mess, and love you through it all.
💅 Final Thought:
Life is better with girlfriends—and National Girlfriends Day is the ultimate excuse to say it out loud (and maybe throw glitter while you’re at it).
🔖 Hashtags to Help You Shout Out Your Sisterhood:
#NationalGirlfriendsDay #GirlGangGoals #BestieVibesOnly #CelebrateQuirky #FriendshipGoals #SupportYourSquad #QuirkyAndConnected
