We may not be childhood friends, but my party styling girl gang is the real deal! Amanda of Rusty Chic Decor, Lauren of Oh How Charming and I all have Pennsylvania roots. Amanda and Lauren are from the Philadelphia area and I’m from Pittsburgh. With our combined love of party styling, DIY’s and Instagram, we clicked fast and talk daily for over 4 years now. Unfortunately, we currently live in opposite corners of the USA; Amanda in PA, Lauren in FL and I’m in CA. But after talking about getting together for 4 years, we finally made it happen in Naples, FL! We had the best girl time and of course treated ourselves to a tropical dinner party!
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Photography by myself, Amanda Fenn and Lauren Myers.
Tablescape
Our tropical dinner table started with Amanda’s lime and lemon Anthropologie plates and oversized woven fans as placemats. From there we knew we wanted to add hot pink as a tried and true tropical color and girls-night-in staple. Amanda had the idea of embroidering our names on napkins, as that is one of her many fabulous skills! She hand dyed the napkins a custom hot pink color! Finishing out our place setting were Lauren’s amber goblets and my acrylic palm stir sticks.
For the table runner and centerpiece, we wanted lots of tropical colored flowers and palm tree greenery. Lauren is known for her gorgeous dried florals, so we were able to incorporate those in the runner as well! Amanda and Lauren even cut huge palm leaves from Lauren’s trees! Ha! Finally, we added fresh cut citrus to continue with the bright aesthetic.
Decor
Lauren is the balloon garland extraordinaire! Her arched backdrops were perfect for the space we had around her pool. She also had bought a beautiful painting that gave us tropical vibes from a local boutique that we hung in one arch. Amanda hand painted “girls weekend” on a balloon as well!
To decorate our bar, I created a resin bar sign with citrus and florals. I added a wood palm piece and sparkly pink “bar” letters. Amanda made a tassel garland in our color palette to add to the rattan bar stand. She also made tassels to hang in the outdoor umbrella and they were beaded to say “bestie – girls – weekend”.
Food & Drink
For our dinner, we made appetizers and ordered the main course to be delivered. The apps were easy and pretty! The first was toasted baguettes with honey goat cheese, topped with a peach slice, drizzled with balsamic glaze and adorned with an edible flower! The second was a skewer of salami, mozzarella balls and tomatoes atop a citrus wedge. We also had a tray of macarons for dessert!
Our cocktail was my favorite! We used frozen pink dragonfruit as ice, and added an orange, peach, pineapple juice to it with a splash of rum! So yummy and so tropical! Leave out the rum to make it a mocktail! Our glasses were dressed up for girls night just like we were! Using slices of orange rinds, we twisted a piece together cutting small slits to intersect and secure. Then added a dried, pressed floral through the garnish!
Activity
Our girls night in activity was candle painting! This is a really easy and affordable activity to do as a group. Grab acrylic paint, paint palettes and candlesticks and even dried florals for a fun project! We painted small flowers and citrus onto candlesticks. You can use the paint to adhere dried flowers as well. Use candle holders to allow the paint to dry.
Favors
Lauren surprised us with matching t-shirts that she designed herself! The front had an IG Besties logo and EST 2019 (the year we met). The back of the shirt had palm trees and “girls trip”. Just the cutest! You can find similar t-shirts of hers on Etsy.
This was truly such a special weekend. Our girls day was just what we had hoped for, and the other days we spent exploring Naples, FL. We also got to go shopping together at some of our favorite stores and boutiques. I hope you enjoyed our tropical girls party ideas! Have you ever been able to do a girls weekend? If so, what did your gal pals do?!
Amanda says
Such a special weekend!! So glad we finally got to meet in person !
Lori says
It was so much fun! Why can’t we all live closer!