Girl's Night Out...Or In

Whether I'm six or 26, slumber parties never get old.

When I was six years old a girl's slumber party was a night of playing Barbies, eating popcorn, Domino's pizza and lots of store bought cookies or candy, and watching our favorite Disney princess movies. At this point boys has coodies and we sat as far away from them as we could at school, but secretly talked during these slumber party nights about the cute ones. We stressed about a basic addition/subtraction math quiz and whether we would have white or chocolate milk with our lunch. As young girls we lived for the fun nights at our best friend's house to celebrate a birthday by fighting back droopy eyes to stay up all night and just have fun being girls. Maybe we painted fingernails; maybe we got into mom's make-up (shh! don't tell)' maybe we re-read those secret letters passed around in class. Whatever the night held, as young six year old girls we made memories that bring an innocent smile to our face now when we think back on such sweet times.

Times changes some things, but many things stay the same through the years. At 26 years old, I'm still enjoying girl's nights out (and every now and then those nights we opt to stay in), slumber parties included. Some nights this could mean getting dolled up by throwing on a fun dress, wearing a new outfit we found during an afternoon of shopping with the girls, or pulling out the flattering jeans and boots for teh night's adventure. Whatever the attire, we have dressed the part for a night out on the town and good conversations filled with laughter are a certainty for the evening. Maybe we're all pulled up around the patio table at our favorite restaurant for dinner sharing a bottle of wine; maybe we have continued the celebration of a friend's wedding even after the reception at another favorite hot spot in town; maybe we are tailgating in the parking lot otu of the back of one of the vehicle's before a concert. These nights out create memories that we can only laugh about the next morning as we recount the events on the phone the next day with each other. We know we will still smile with that same joy five, 10, even 20 years from now when we think back on these moments.

However, the nights out on the town, regardless of the city in which we make these memories, are still paralleled by irreplaceable memories created on the slumber party nights held by a group of girls in their mid/late 20s. It holds true that girlfriends never grow too old to have friends sleep over and enjoy a girl's night in. Domino's pizza has been upgraded to homemade pizza; popcorn is now an assortment of chip and dip trays; ans store bought cookies have advanced to more sophisticated sweet treats that we read the recipe for in our favorite cooking magazine. Yes, we still watch heart-throbbing movies that cause tears to stream down our faces; yes, we still admire the color of each others fingernail polish; yes, we even still talk about boys. And at the end of the night, instead of being piled in the living room floor on our colorful sleeping bags, we pile in the beds to chat just a bit more before falling asleep mid-sentence.

These girl's nights - at six through 26 - leave me amazed at the beautiful friendships in life. And to think, these fun nights will still contine (we hope) even as the phases of life continue to change and we grow older. What else is there to say? Other than, "Girls just wanna have FUN!"