Womens Friendships: Ten Ways to Celebrate

The Kappa Delta Sorority at the University of Southern Mississippi has declared the third Sunday of September as National Women's Friendship Day. But you don't have to live in the USA to celebrate your female friendships. Whether you choose The third Sunday in September, or on any other day that is special to you and your women friends, try some of these suggestions to celebrate your friendships!

Make a friendship poster. This can be a solo project for a special gift or a joint effort. Include on the poster photos of you and your friends having fun together, along with quotes, signatures and funny sayings written with bold red crayons or laundry markers.
Start a friendship quilt. If you and your friends love sewing, start a quilt project using scraps of dresses and fabric from special occasions. You can make a whole quilt, but a nicer way to steer the project is into making smaller wall hanging quilts that each friend can take home.
A morning coffee and book reading event. Choose a book that celebrates women's friendships, such as Haywood Smith's The Red Hat Club, and read it aloud to each other.
Have a girl's night out. Leave the men at home and take in a show or a movie and dinner together at a restaurant. My mother, my daughters and I do this on an annual basis. It's a great break and always reminds us how much fun it to be friends as well as relatives.
Have a girl's night in. Send the men out. Do makeovers, watch soap operas, or a movie like Steel Magnolias. Chocolates permitted, diets notwithstanding.
If you have lost touch with school friends, go on the 'net and see if you can locate them. In the USA, try classmates.com, in the UK try around.co.uk and in Australia give schoolfriends.com.au a visit.
Are you and your friends into sport or games like canasta and chess? Hold an annual tournament, a special game with no trophies, just a great time together as the only reward.
Try something new together. Have you ever sung karaoke, gone horse riding, taken a ride in a hot air balloon? Make a pact with yourselves that you will try one new thing together every year.
Swap lives. This isn't as crazy or as complicated as it sounds - just swap one aspect of each other's lives for a day or a night. For example, if you love gardening and she loves cooking, cook her a meal, and she can choose a plant for your garden and plant it. Or a writer and a painter can swap lives - the painter writes a poem, the writer creates a collage or altered book, on the theme of friendship.
Do something for the planet together. Sponsor a child, plant a tree, join a soup kitchen or a clean up day. Let your friendship spread its wings to include others.