by Alexandra Heep

Created on: May 15, 2009

Do you want to have a girl's night but are a little low on ideas - or cash? These ideas also work if you want to do something when the weather is not too great to go outside to do things. The preparations are minimal; this is an informal get together with the purpose to simply hang out with two of your girl friends (or more) for the perfect girl's night in.

I. The Luck-of-the-draw Party

The idea is to have each individual give suggestions, then they get put into a hat and you draw. The preparation is minimal, this is not about having to worry about a lot of time to set up or lots of cleanup. In addition, it's about keeping costs low as well.

Here are the preparations needed: Pick a color (such as black) and all dress in sexy attire of that color. Each person is to bring a recipe for a simple appetizer and simple dessert. This could be a recipe card from a box, or something printed off the Internet.

If you all enjoy alcohol, you can specify that the dessert recipe contain alcohol. That way you still get to incorporate it, but there won't be any drinking and driving. In addition, everyone has to bring two chick flicks. Not only will they provide entertainment, but they will also serve to clear out the party location of any male and/or undesirable members of the household.

That's it! Set your time and date. Now, when everyone arrives, each person's name (including the hostess) gets put into a hat. Then draw whose appetizer gets prepared, and whose dessert, and whose movies get watched (you can change up this order). You can modify this to more than three people of course; just make sure to add extra ideas. What if you don't have any of the ingredients for the food? Then you have to substitute - and that can be fun as well!

II. Dress Up Party With a Twist

Remember how much fun you had as a child playing dress up? Why not invite a few of your girl friends to a girly adult dress up party? Each person should come up with three different outfits. You can use the TV show "How Do I Look" for an example of the themes, as contestants get three looks. Some ideas are "Movie Star", "Night Vixen", "Beach Babe", or the popular "Wild Card".

If you think you have nothing suitable, just dig in the back of your closet. How about that fake fur coat your ex-husband bought you but you live in Florida? What about those super high heels you have that you never wear? What about that scarf from the seventies that you just could never part with? Get creative and sexy; remember these aren't outfits you are actually going to go out to an event in, everyone will just simply bring them along to wear at the party among the girls.

Everyone also should bring digital cameras. Ideally, this takes place at the most computer savvy person's house. No worries, you don't need to be Bill Gates, only upload pictures and use a basic photo-editing program and perform easy functions, such as cropping.

This is the fun part, everyone gets a turn to do her makeup and hair and pose in each outfit, while the others each take pictures. Once everyone had a chance, it's time to upload the pictures and do simple editing, such as cropping and resizing. Each person gets her own folder created and e-mailed and now has her own portfolio - just like a model! Many people now have websites or are on social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook, and the pictures could even be used on there.

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