Galentine’s Day Book Club

In advance of Valentine’s Day, I gathered a group of book loving girlfriends for a Galentine’s Day Book Club inspired and super feminine afternoon to celebrate all things friendship.

My book club meets every six weeks at the home of my dear friend Danyale. It’s a pretty casual setting with the attendees pitching in with appetizers, desserts and sometimes cocktails but always wine. We are often, (at least I am anyway), in yoga pants and tennis shoes….flip flops in the summer. The vibe is low key with the focus primarily on conversation surrounding the latest read.

If there are food references in the books we peruse, I’ll try and recreate them to tote along to book club. So far, the most fun I’ve had with that is recreating one of Madeline’s lunches for my inRegister column from the New York Times Bestseller, Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus.

When Allrecipes asked me to choose some recipes from their website for a Galentine’s Day article featuring me, I thought why not merge the two- Galentine’s Day + a Book Club gathering. Since our book club host had a birthday party the Saturday we needed to pull this off, I took over as hostess and we shifted the location to my house and that’s when things turned glam, leaving the yoga pants behind and swapping my usual simple pearl earrings with dangling sparkly hearts.

With the Galentine’s Day Book Club theme top of mind, I set out to create a beautiful afternoon of celebrating friendship alongside Allrecipes’ delicious dishes.

With the hustle and bustle of life, I think it is so incredibly important to take a moment to pause and celebrate the special bonds you have with others, particularly your gal pals. I am very fortunate to have a group of ladies who support not only my career ambitions but are there to support the everyday minutia so I wanted this day to be extra special.

The Strawberry Bellini recipe calls for a blended puree. I doubled the recipe, added a bit of strawberry lemonade and froze the puree into a heart shaped silicone ice cube mold. Super easy, very festive and incredibly delicious.

From the deconstructed book page backdrop and table runner, decoupaged wine bottles and painted book spines I left no detail unturned. My inner Martha was Martha’ing. The chinoiserie vases, inspired by the planter I inherited from my grandmother were even part of the inspiration. The teacups holding chocolates belonged to my grandmother as well, acquired from various travels.

A passionate reader, my grandmother was a retired teacher who obtained a master’s degree in the 1930s, quite unheard of for that era. I’ve written about her and her sorority cookbook before. She would love knowing that she is continuing to inspire me…and that I, too, am continuing to read! The chinoiserie motif, but in pink, was carried over to the personalized bookmarks serving as take home favors.

Shockingly, I found the blue and white patterned bunting at Party City, on super sale as they are going out of business. Adorned with shades of pink satin ribbon, it was just the girly touch that the antique mirror turned book page backdrop needed to dress up my open concept dining room. I’m going to reuse it for a bridal shower because the blue and white pattern with the pink florals is just so beautiful and striking.

And yes, the bottoms of the book pages were meticulously scalloped via a paper punch. The vintage milk bottles were sourced for my rehearsal dinner nearly 15 years ago.

In addition to the book discussion, we also swapped books incorporating the Blind Date with a Book idea.

What is Blind Date with a Book?

I stumbled on the “Blind Date with a Book” concept while antique shopping, A vendor was selling these cutely wrapped bundles-sticky notes, a pen, some herbal tea tucked in the pockets of the packaging of a hidden title book. Intrigued, I headed to Google where I learned that Blind Date with a Book is very much a thing and some people have made businesses out of selling the secret books- just search Etsy and see for yourself.

The idea is that the book is wrapped or otherwise disguised keeping the title and author hidden from the recipient. The reader chooses a book based on clues, including the genre written on the packaging. I created a library looking card for mine rather than writing on the packaging.

I gifted Did You Hear About Kitty Karr by Crystal Smith Paul and the card indicated that it was a historical fiction read, a Reese’s Book Club pick and included this quote:

“We have to make our own luck. Be twice as smart, three times as good—but don’t you let them know it.”

I also included its goodreads score of 3.8.

I received What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty, though no photo of its cute wrapping and clues.

The book swap was so much fun and though I was terrible at the guesswork portion, it makes for an interactive addition to your book club or goodreads inspired girlfriend gathering. And since we are talking about goodreads…I give the entire Galentine’s Day Book Club get together 5 stars- highly recommend.

All photos compliments of Natalie S Miller Photography for Allrecipes.

Full menu details can be found in my interview on the Allrecipes website: How Allrecipes Allstar Aimee Broussard Celebrates Valentine’s Day With Her Book Club.