Goal #3 of my 2011 goals was to establish a monthly event at which I could hang out with my girls - increase that female bonding time now that we are mostly coupled up and create some really fun memories. I think it's very easy to fall into that relationship trap: you save all the "fun" stuff to do with your partner-in-crime. While it's important to share great times with your boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife/long-term-life-partner, it's also important to cultivate those relationships amongst women that can guide us into our future lives.
So last Friday we had our first monthly Wine Club! For those of you wanting to try something similar amongst your own group of friends, here's how we did it.
- Select a venue - I was happy to host as it was my idea. At the club others volunteered to host a club night at their house so we will be rotating duties (at least amongst those who want to - four other girls have popped up their hands)
- Select a date that will work frequently - we have gone with the first Friday of the month as (on the whole) people are less likely to be booked up with important events on a Friday.
- Select your guests - I just put out a Facebook invite to gauge interest.
- Select a wine type - we made it quite easy for our first meeting and the directive was to bring any Australian sparkling wine. Next month, everyone must bring a Pinot Gris.
- Set a price cap - ours is $25. This makes it an affordable event for everyone.
- Make some nibblies - if your group is anything like ours, we don't believe in spitting after tasting! You will need some food to soak up the alcohol. I went for quick and easy - dark chocolate covered liquorice, microwave popcorn with a bit of manuka-smoked garlic salt on the top and salmon and cream cheese on bagel toast pieces. Took me about half an hour to prepare
- Make sure you have tasting cups - plastic sample cups or shot glasses (I got 40 for less than eight dollars at the supermarket and could probably have got them for cheaper if I'd taken the time to look)
- Taste each wine - the person who purchased that bottle of wine introduces it, says where they purchased it and how much it cost
- Vote for the best wine and award the trophy - in our case, it is a little stuffed animal that will live with the winner for a month
- Finish off the bottles! Ha ha ha not a requirement; I did feel like a total lush when it came time to take the bottles out to the recycling bin
- Sit around and chat about life and love :D Set an official date/location for the next event and bid everyone adieu!
It was SO much fun and I'm really looking forward to our next event in March! Exciting!
That sounds like a lot of fun, I might have to add this to my Feb to do list!
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