‘All the girly things’: Women celebrate platonic love on Galentine’s Day
Photos: Courtesy of Kayla Carbert
Kayla Carbert left no pink, red or white detail unpurchased for her first Galentine’s Day celebration, held last weekend. Carbert, a recent Robert Morris University graduate, said prioritizing time with gal pals is important, and the made-up holiday is a perfect time to go all out with a girl’s night out, or in.
Courtesy of Kayla Carbert
Three best friends dressed to the Galentine’s Day nines for a celebration of platonic love last weekend at Kayla Carbert’s Clarion home. Pictured, from left, are Savannah Teman of Oakland; Kayla Carbert of Clarion, and Maria Teman, of Canonsburg.
Courtesy of Kayla Carbert
On the menu at Kayla Carbert’s Galentine’s Day celebration: pink bubbly, candy charcuterie, heart-shaped meats, cheeses and fruits and DIY cupcakes with pink icing, of course. Carbert and her friends Savannah and Maria Teman, of Canonsburg, agree female friendships are the glue that holds them together when life gets tough.
As gents scramble to make romantic dinner reservations for Feb. 14, women get dolled up for an equally special holiday: Galentine’s Day, celebrated annually on or around Feb. 13.
“There’s something really special about being able to kind of express the femininity that can come with Valentine’s Day,” said Kayla Carbert, a Clarion native and soon-to-be Washington County resident who is locally famous for her Pittsburgh coffee blog @pghcoffeegal on Instagram.
“I personally feel like we have different friends for different phases of our lives. It’s really important to keep up with your friends and make sure that they know that you love them and support them. I really value those platonic relationships just as much as you would a romantic relationship.”
Last weekend, Carbert showed her two best gal pals some love at a Galentine’s Day soiree. The women dressed to the Galentine’s nines in traditional pinks, reds and whites and enjoyed an afternoon of chatting over pink bubbly, baking Funfetti cupcakes and grazing on candy charcuterie, heart-shaped fruits, meats and cheeses, and heart-shaped chicken nuggets.
Carbert’s guests, sisters Savannah and Maria Teman, were very into the girly things, too.
“The whole experience was really enjoyable,” said Maria Teman, adding she’s always loved Valentine’s Day. “It’s so fun to get all dressed up and get glammed up and go out with your girlfriends and just have a fun time. It’s empowering. It’s good to have girl friends.”
Unlike the man for whom Valentine’s Day is named, there is no St. Galentine; the holiday has its roots in a 2010 episode of “Parks and Recreation,” during which the effervescent main character Leslie Knope hosts an over-the-top brunch for her gal pals.
“What’s Galentine’s Day?” Knope, played by Amy Poehler, said in the episode. “It’s only the best day of the year. Every February 13, my lady friends and I leave our husbands and our boyfriends at home and we just come and kick it breakfast-style. Ladies celebrating ladies.”
Ladies have always celebrated ladies, but since that first “Galentine’s Day” episode aired more than a decade ago, the made-up holiday has become a real-life tradition observed nationally and, of course, locally.
Last year, Pam Marisa hosted a Galentine’s Day tea at Kathryn’s Victorian Venue in Waynesburg. It was her first G-Day celebration.
“Both my daughters live in Philadelphia. They always talk about doing Galentine’s Day stuff with their girlfriends. I thought, how fun would that be for here,” said Marisa, who threw a Galentine’s/Valentine’s Day pop-up event Friday evening at The Denny House, complete with drinks, food and live music.
“Sometimes, as you get older, your life does change and so does your friendship. To have that best friend through your life, I think, is a rarity. It was a fun way for girls to celebrate their girl friendship.”
Over the weekend, women celebrated gal pals at South Hills Village’s Galentine’s Day shopping event, at Canonsburg’s DIY Galentine’s Day, which included stops at The Bar Association, So So Trendy and The Nook, and at V&V Scratch Kitchen’s Sunday brunch.
Women also gathered together with their besties for evenings out in Pittsburgh, for a day at Vintage Grace Boutique in Washington, and for some much-needed girl time in their homes, where laughter at decades-old inside jokes filled the air and stories both old and new were told.
“One of the best parts about having friends is being able to make each other laugh,” said Carbert. “Inside jokes, things like that — it’s definitely special.”
Dede King, of Centerville, values belly laughs, serious chats and quality time with gal pals. Each month, King gathers a group of women for a night out, or in, and the February get-together has for years been Galentine’s Day themed.
“The idea of having a Galentine’s Day is to escape back to a world that you once lived, and you kind of want to refer back to every now and then,” said King. “It’s almost like a really good book. It’s an escape to be with your girls.”
King, a mother of eight, said female relationships look different as you grow older, which makes prioritizing the women in your life all the more special.
“Time itself changes. You notice when you’re having conversations, at one time you’d be talking about a show that you want to go see. Once you have children, you’re going to go see Rapunzel instead of a comedy show,” King laughed. “The conversation definitely changes when you get married, have children. You just need that time, just to step away for a few minutes.”
Carbert said girl friends are the glue that holds individuals together when life gets tough.
“Friends play a vital role in, I guess, keeping me grounded, especially when life can be a little bit overwhelming. You need people who can make you laugh and bring you back down to earth and help you feel like everything in the world is normal.”
One of her best friends, Teman, also values female friendship, all the more now that she, still a college student, has felt a shift in relationships post-high school.
“I’ve noticed my group getting smaller, and it’s more because you develop emotional maturity and you seek out people who can match that and want to grow. We’re all career-focused, and being able to find people who have that same thing in common is really important,” she said. “There’s a lot of things about womanhood that just being able to share that with other women is really important. Galentine’s is really special: You get to celebrate each other and the people that are important to you.”