Happy Galentine's Day to each of you! I hope your week leading up to Valentine's Day has been filled with sweet surprises and lots of love from gal pals. Every year that I have lived in Dallas, I have hosted a Galentine's cookie decorating party (see last year's party) to provide a fun time for my girlfriends to connect and enjoy time together while doing something crafty that we don't get to do too often- decorate cookies! Over the last 5 years, I have learned a few tips and tricks, from the perfect royal icing recipe to how many chairs I can squeeze around my dining room table. This year, I asked a few girlfriends to help me prepare the Galentine's setup beforehand so I wouldn't be stressed about making things picture-perfect during the party! 

Obviously, we had a great time! Setting up beforehand is a great way to guarantee you have all the party supplies necessary for your event. I brought tons of pink confetti (which was not fun to sweep up!), heart balloons, and cookies for us to play with! 

These heart-shaped sugar cookies from Tart Bakery were a huge hit! Not to mention, they are much prettier than anything I could ever decorate! We used these as inspiration while decorating our own cookies and had so much fun trying to recreate these unique designs.

I love incorporating flowers into all my events and this event was extra special because I knew that I wanted to weave flowers into the balloon installation as well as display them on the buffet table. Alicia from Charming Events Floral came to my rescue! I recently worked with Alicia on my Dallas Blogger Brunch florals and will be ordering some arrangements for my upcoming March Masquerade Ball, so I felt comfortable asking her if she had any "droopy" flowers that she would be getting rid of. She gave me some gorgeous vibrant colored stock and carnations to work with and the balloons turned out to be my one of my favorite parts of the whole setup. 

The cookies from Tart Bakery were beautiful and I discovered a secret- you can special order unfrosted sugar cookies! I never have the time to actually bake the cookies and frosting them is the fun part so why not just order the cookies ahead of time and save time? I'm always looking for ways to save time and make events easier to plan, so I will definitely be using this trick again next year! 

This "You're so sweet and lovely" print was made by Chiara Marie and it is so beautiful! Watercolor + gold foil is always a winning combination.

There were too many photos to choose from, so I'm including a lot of them just for you to see a few details of the event setup to inspire you to host your own Galentine's party!

I always have flowers at my events, but for this party, I didn't want to feature a traditional floral arrangement. The balloon installation included some flowers and I liked the uniqueness of that element so I was looking for another place to incorporate flowers in a casual way. The drawer of my buffet table was perfect! Who says flowers have to be in a vase?!

These heart balloons are one of my favorite parts of this shoot- they are so fun! We blew all of the balloons up by mouth; no helium tank was needed! A balloon pump would have been nice, but when you have friends helping, it goes quickly. I'll be posting a more detailed look at the balloon installation later this week. 

Of course, you can't have any kind of party around Valentine's Day without candy message hearts. They are the cutest!

I wanted to write another post for you with detailed directions about how to make this strawberry + champagne cocktail, but that's it: strawberry purée and champagne. You're welcome for the easiest cocktail recipe ever. You can also use sparkling cider for the same bubbly effect without the alcohol for a younger crowd or for friends who don't drink. I always like to have a "mocktail" option for guests to drink.

I used heart straws in half of the glasses and strawberries in half to show you a couple of options for drink garnishes. I personally love the playfulness of the heart straws. I bought mine at a local craft store, but I included a link above to purchase them online. 

Thank you for celebrating Galentine's with me on the blog today! Special thank you to my gal pals for helping me create this fun party setup, to Savor Patisserie, and to Tart Bakery for the adorable and delicious cookies!