How do you keep in touch with local girlfriends?

[Anonymous]

Looking for ideas. Seems so hard to get people together lately. What do you do to stay in touch with your girlfriends? I am thinking of a monthly wine and dessert or pot luck of sorts at my house. Casual but fun everyone can come. What do others do?

[Anonymous]

I know some people who do book clubs.

The answer for me is that I pretty much don't stay in touch. Esp for girl friends with no kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know some people who do book clubs.

The answer for me is that I pretty much don't stay in touch. Esp for girl friends with no kids.

Wow - you're a true friend.

OP,

Happy hour with the gals is always good, and if you have kids, keep them home with the husbands. Usually, if the girls go out, the men get together with the kids. The men end up at our house b/c we have a baby who goes to bed early. It's a win-win for all involved.

[Anonymous]

We do a monthly Girls' Night Out. We have been doing it for 7 years or so and we rarely miss a month. There are 4 of us - 3 who are married with kid(s) and 1 who is engaged with no kids. We rotate choosing the restaurant and have never repeated in 7 years - crazy. I look forward to it every month! I do think it is easier to meet because we started doing it before kids. If we tried to start something now, I think it would be much harder to keep it up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow - you're a true friend.

Did you really need to say that?

[Anonymous]

I am horrible at keeping in touch. Mainly because my real local friends are more acquantences and I'm finding that, while I have always been on the shy side- being so busy and tired - makes me have very little energy to reach out. My closer friends live an hour drive's away and planning takes months. I wish I were better.

I love the idea of a re-occuring event.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow - you're a true friend.

Did you really need to say that?

I'm the target of that previous comment, but I"m not taking it personally.

Frankly, it is a logistical nightmare to get together on a regular basis, and friends without kids are less understanding or patient about it. My old friends live all over the DC/MD/VA area, and it's hard to match schedules and make time and drive far away.

For the lady who has girls' night out, and husbands get together at the same time, that's great, but most of the husbands in my friend circles don't naturally click and hate to feel forced together.

[Anonymous]

I try to see my mom friends maybe once a month - typically we'll get together for dinner or lunch at a local restaurant, or take the kids to the park or the children's section of barnes & noble. I try to plan one mom-n-baby social thing every week. I prefer to try to get together with a few friends at once - more efficient to see several people in one shot.

I'm a single mom and my daughter's father has her one night per weekend, which is when I hang out with my single friends. i let them know what nights I have "off" and i go to a party or happy hour or plan a bar night with a bunch of people.

for those of you who are married, perhaps you could give each other a night out every 2 or 3 weeks? doesn't have to be a bar, could be a cultural activity or movie night with the girls.

[Anonymous]

We will occasionally have one or two couples over with their kids and do cocktails (for us) and pizza or burgers(for all) while the kids play. We do this more often in the spring/summer when we can be in our backyard. We also will sometimes both get babysitters and go out to dinner without the kids. Every once in a while I'll go to a movie with a couple of my girlfriends on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon.

[Anonymous]

I like Facebook for quick chats.

[Anonymous]

I have a group of 4 girls -- everyone works. 3 of us have kids. We schedule girls dinners on a weeknight and do it on the later side -- 8 or 8:30 -- on a night when all of the husbands can come home from work on time and stay home with the kids. We schedule them the same way we'd schedule an important appt and rarely cancel.

[Anonymous]

Facebook is the only way, otherwise I tend to totally lost touch

[Anonymous]

We have a game night every other month or so. Dominoes, hearts, whatever. One person hosts, others bring appetizers, etc. Good fun and we catch up. I love this time with my girlfriends and guard it closely. Fortunately, my husband knows how valuable it is to me and makes sure he is home early on those nights.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow - you're a true friend.

Did you really need to say that?

I'm the target of that previous comment, but I"m not taking it personally.

Frankly, it is a logistical nightmare to get together on a regular basis, and friends without kids are less understanding or patient about it. My old friends live all over the DC/MD/VA area, and it's hard to match schedules and make time and drive far away.

For the lady who has girls' night out, and husbands get together at the same time, that's great, but most of the husbands in my friend circles don't naturally click and hate to feel forced together.

That's me exactly - it's a huge pain in the ass to get together in the metro DC area sometimes.

One of my best friends lives in N VA and I am in MD - I feel like she might as well live in England - it is a logistical nightmare trying to get together I know I'm being dramatic but on days I don't work the last thing I want to do is fight traffic and because we live so far from each other, and don't see each other that often, I feel like every time we do get together it has to be an event - and it would be so much easier if it were just like, come over for coffee and pumpkin bread I made, rather than, let's do a big brunch or dinner and involve husbands, etc.

I'm the same way, I'm sort of a homebody so I don't really see friends that often - I just hang with my DH, baby, and my parents live fairly close by so I see my mom especially pretty often. Otherwise, it's phone calls and e-mails.

I like the book club idea - having an excuse to get together with folks that doesn't put pressure on someone having to build a get-together around a huge meal or something.

[Anonymous]

I do a monthly workday lunch with one group of friends and a monthly dinner with another, a bi-weekly run with another friend and a weekend "girls afternoon out" every other month with another - luckily, we live and work fairly close to each other, but I think having a regular "thing" is also key.