Host Galentine's as a late-morning brunch with a waffle bar and a mimosa bar. Add one quiet moment where every friend gets a card full of compliments to take home. The food fills the table, but the compliment cards are what make it this party and not just brunch.
This one is for adult friends, around February 13 or the weekend closest to it, in late January or February. It is an indoor party at a table, and it works in a small apartment. The sample is 12 friends for 3 hours, 11 am to 2 pm. The Galentine's party theme has the decor and food ideas; this post walks through running it.
How to pull it together
- Send invitations 3 to 4 weeks ahead. Mid-February weekends fill up with other plans. Say "brunch, pink encouraged, no gifts needed," and ask about food allergies on the RSVP. A Galentine's plan handles the dates and the RSVP link.
- Collect fun facts a week before. Text each friend for three facts nobody would guess, like a first concert or a weird talent. You need them to write the "How well do you know us" game. Give a 3-day deadline and chase the stragglers.
- Write the trivia sheet. Pick 2 facts per friend, about 24 in all, and number them. Print one sheet per guest with a column for guesses.
- Write one compliment place card per friend. Fold a card for each seat, with her name on the front and your own compliment inside. It sets the tone before anyone sits down.
- Make the waffles ahead. Plan 2 waffles per guest, so 24. Make them that morning and hold them on a rack in a 200°F oven. Or run two irons and let guests make their own. One waffle iron alone at serving time makes a 30-minute line.
- Bake the quiche the night before. Two quiches give 16 slices for 12 friends. Reheat them at 325°F for about 15 minutes while guests arrive.
- Set up the card-making table the night before. It's the activity station in the games below, so it only needs a corner and a cleared tabletop.
What brunch for 12 costs
| Level | Per guest | 12 guests |
|---|---|---|
| Simple Home food, homemade games | $10 | $120 |
| Standard Bakery cake and one hired activity | $20 | $240 |
| Splurge Entertainer, rentals, and custom decor | $40 | $480 |
| What it covers | Simple | Standard | Splurge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Waffle bar and toppings | $45: homemade waffles, berries, cream | $70: adds bakery pastries | $155: catered brunch |
| Quiche, fruit and cookies | $25: homemade | Included above | Included above |
| Drinks | $30: juice, 2 bottles of bubbly, sparkling cider | $65: adds alcohol-free sparkling wine | $110 |
| Flowers and decor | $20: grocery roses, paper hearts | $45: adds balloons and a photo wall | $85: florist arrangements |
| Cake | Homemade cookies instead | $25: grocery bakery heart cake | $50: a decorated bakery cake |
| Activities and favors | $0 | $35: card supplies, prize, bud vases | $80: a flower bar: buckets of grocery stems and a vase for each guest (a hired instructor runs $75 or more a person) |
Decor: pink, but not everything
A long table with grocery roses. Two or three bunches of grocery roses, split into 6 small jars or bud vases down the table. They become the favors at the end.
Paper heart garland. Cut hearts from pink, red and white paper and string them on baker's twine. One garland across a window or the photo wall is plenty.
The heart frame photo wall. A large heart-shaped frame cut from foam board, painted pink, for photos of pairs and the whole group.
DIY the garland, the frame and the place cards. Buy the roses. Skip head-to-toe pink: pick pink, red and white, and keep plates plain white.
The menu, waffles to mimosas
| What | How many | Why |
|---|---|---|
| lb of food | 12 | About 1 lb a guest for a meal |
| Plates | 24 | 30 cups and 36 napkins too |
| Drinks | 48 | Soda, sparkling water, beer or wine: 2 a guest the first hour, then 1 |
| Waters (8 oz) | 18 | 4 oz a guest an hour; or about 1.5 gallons in a dispenser |
| lb of ice | 24 | 2 lb a guest; double it on a hot day |
| Seats | 8 | About 60% of guests at once |
| Dessert servings | 12 | Cake or a dessert table: an 8-inch round or a dozen cupcakes |
- Waffle bar: 24 waffles, 2 pounds of strawberries, 2 pints of blueberries, 2 cans of whipped cream, maple syrup and a chocolate spread. Add a nut-free label to the spreads table if needed.
- Quiche, 2 of them, one vegetarian.
- Fruit platter, about 3 pounds of cut fruit.
- Heart sugar cookies, about 2 per guest.
- Mimosa bar: orange, grapefruit and cranberry juice in carafes. A 750 ml bottle of sparkling wine makes about 6 to 8 mimosas, so 3 bottles cover 12 friends. Set out a bottle of alcohol-free sparkling wine or sparkling cider in the same kind of bottle, so a non-drinker's glass looks like everyone else's.
- Coffee and tea, because brunch.
For a bakery cake, ask a grocery bakery for a pink heart-shaped cake with red sprinkles. For DIY, bake one 8-inch round and one 8-inch square. Cut the round in half and set the halves on two sides of the square, turned like a diamond, to make a heart. Or skip cake for a tower of strawberry cupcakes.
Galentine's games and activities for friends who know too much
Brunch sets a slow pace, so plan two table games after the waffles and let the card-making table run on its own the whole time. Everything below works for adults and teens; kids get the heart hunt.
Compliment cards
Ages 10 and up · 10 minutes · the whole table
Write each friend's name at the top of a card and pass the cards to the left. Everyone adds one specific line, like "You always remember my mom's birthday", and passes again until each card comes home. Each friend keeps hers.
- You need: 12 cards from the free printables or plain cardstock (about $4), 12 pens
How well do you know us
Ages 16 and up · 20 minutes · 6 to 16 players
Read out the facts you collected, one at a time, and everyone writes down whose fact they think it is. The friend reveals herself after each one, which is where the stories come out. Most right wins the prize.
- You need: the printed trivia sheets (free), 12 pens, 1 small prize (about $5 to $10)
Two truths and a lie, brunch edition
Ages 12 and up · 15 minutes · any number
Each friend says three things about her past year, one of them made up. The table votes on the lie by raising hands. It needs nothing and fills the gap while the second round of waffles comes out.
- You need: nothing
Galentine's bingo
Ages 10 and up · during brunch · everyone
Hand out bingo cards with brunch moments: someone takes a photo of the waffles, a friend tells a story twice, a toast happens, a mimosa gets refilled. First full row picks a rose to take home first.
- You need: 12 bingo cards from the free printables (free), the same pens
Kids' corner: heart hunt
Ages 5 to 10 · 10 minutes · all the kids
Hide paper hearts around one room with a letter on each. Kids find them all and lay them out to spell a message, like "BE MINE" or a friend's name. Run it twice with a new word if they ask.
- You need: 10 to 15 paper hearts cut from pink cardstock (about $3), a marker, tape
Activity station: the card-making table
Clear a table about 3 by 4 feet and set out cardstock, doilies, heart stickers, washi tape and markers. Friends drift over between games and make a valentine for someone outside the party: a grandparent, a neighbor, a coworker. Put a stack of envelopes and a pen for addresses at the end.
- You need: a pack of red and pink cardstock (about $6), a pack of doilies (about $3), heart stickers (about $3), 2 rolls of washi tape (about $4), 8 markers (about $4), envelopes (about $3)
Prizes: one small prize for the trivia winner, like a candle or a nice pen, and a rose for the bingo winner. Kids all get the same heart sticker sheet, about $1 each. If teens come, set their sparkling cider on a separate tray from the mimosas.
Games shopping list: cardstock in pink and red, pens, a small prize, doilies, heart stickers, washi tape, markers and envelopes.
Brunch, hour by hour
| Time | What happens |
|---|---|
| 11:00 | Arrivals, mimosa bar, find your place card. Galentine's bingo cards at each seat. |
| 11:30 | Waffle bar opens. Quiche and fruit on the table. |
| 12:15 | Compliment cards, about 10 minutes. |
| 12:30 | How well do you know us, about 20 minutes, then two truths and a lie. |
| 1:10 | Card-making table, cookies and cake. Heart hunt for any kids. |
| 1:40 | Photos at the heart wall. Everyone takes a rose. |
| 2:00 | Done. |
If friends bring kids, give them a corner with paper and stickers between heart hunts. The free Galentine's printables include a fill-in invitation, thank-you cards, a door sign and Galentine's bingo.
Favors that mean something
- The compliment card. Each friend takes home a card covered in notes from the group. It costs nothing and it is worth keeping.
- A rose in a bud vase from the table, about $2 to $4 each with the vase.
- A bag of two heart cookies, about $1 each to make.
Galentine's mistakes
- Asking for fun facts the night before. Some replies won't come in time. Text a week out.
- One waffle iron at serving time. Make them ahead or borrow a second iron.
- Mimosas only. Friends who don't drink deserve a real option, not a glass of plain orange juice.
- Turning it into a gift exchange. Say "no gifts" on the invitation. The cards are the gift.
Spin-offs for your crew
- Galentine's dinner: start at 7 pm with a pasta bar and a dessert board instead of waffles. Keep the compliment cards.
- Kids' or classroom version: the heart hunt, card mailboxes made from shoe boxes, and cookie decorating, in 90 minutes.
- A February birthday: for a kid with a birthday near Valentine's, the berry sweet birthday party plan keeps the pink and adds strawberries.
Galentine's party questions
When is Galentine's Day?
February 13, the day before Valentine's Day. Hosting on the nearest weekend makes it easiest for friends to come.
What do you do at a Galentine's party?
Eat brunch, write each other compliments, play a game about each other, and make something. Three hours is enough for all of it.
Do you exchange gifts at a Galentine's party?
You don't have to. Small favors from the host, like a rose or cookies, plus the compliment cards, are plenty.
What games are good for a Galentine's party?
Games about each other work best: compliment cards, a how-well-do-you-know-us quiz and two truths and a lie. Add bingo during brunch and a card-making table for quiet time.
