Today is National Girlfriends Day, which falls on August 1 annually and is meant to acknowledge the role that our female friends play in our lives. The holiday was first created in 2006 by Sally Rodgers and Allie Savarino Kline and promoted through their social networking site, Sisterwoman.com. The purpose of the website was to create a space in which women could socialize and talk about a variety of topics–including hobbies, favorite shows, and parenting–while still balancing the responsibilities of their everyday lives. Kline explains that as women grow older and take on more responsibilities, “one of the first things really to go is the time they spend with their girlfriends” and that in its prime, the Sisterwoman site “[allowed] for a relationship to exist even when our life gets in the way.”
Although the domain Sisterwoman.com is no longer registered, we continue to celebrate National Girlfriends Day, so the spirit of friendship that Kline and Rodgers wanted to inspire is very much alive. The holiday primarily centers around the value of female friendships and the ways that women impact the lives of other women, but has also expanded to include the celebration of women as romantic partners. Today, women everywhere are being celebrated as incredible girlfriends, both platonic and romantic.
We asked people to share the nicest thing that a female friend or romantic girlfriend has ever done for them, and here are some of the heartwarming responses.
Girlfriends are there during the difficult times.
“Made dinner for my family when I was having a tough week.”
“Getting me food as I was recovering from surgery.”
“Offered to cook for me and have me sleep over to get me out of a funk.”
“When I was upset, [she] bought me my favorite foods, candies, a stuffed animal, and my favorite Disney movies with a mini tv to play them on.”
“Hugged me while I cried and said nothing.”
And they are always ready to celebrate the good times.
“For my thirteenth birthday, my friends threw a surprise sleepover. It was nice”
“My girlfriends threw me a surprise date for me and my boyfriend. They [organized a romantic dinner and] cooked us spaghetti.”
“[Surprised] me with food and a face mask girls night.”
“I guess a woman gave birth to me… If that counts.”
They always come up with the most thoughtful gifts.
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“Given me a cat.”
“I had a friend surprise me with cupcakes from New York before I left [for my semester abroad].” (This person lives in Florida. That’s commitment.)
“Definitely [my girlfriend] sending me some roses, a very soft teddy bear, and some nice chocolate.”
“Senior year [of high school,] I decided to give most of my friends gifts that I made with photos and stuff… I didn’t really expect anything like that in return, but for Secret Santa, [a friend] gave me a little book full of pictures and described how each picture represented a different side of me and it was so amazing that she caught on to what I was doing and gave [something] back to me.”
And they love us no matter what.
“My BFF has unconditionally accepted me for who I am with no judgment. We can go without seeing each other for months and once together can make one another laugh.”
If you want to celebrate National Girlfriends Day, show your BFFs how much you care about them! Organize a party, a shopping spree, or a movie night so that everyone can get together. Put together a little photo album of your shenanigans together so they have something to look at when they’re feeling lonely. Even just giving your friends a call and telling them how much you appreciate them will brighten up their day. I personally plan to spend my evening at chocolate and wine night with some of my oldest friends, catching up and enjoying our time together before I fly 1,300 miles away to school in a few weeks.
And if you’re in a romantic relationship with a woman, maybe take her out to dinner and tell her how important she is to you, because that’s always nice to hear. If she doesn’t know about National Girlfriends Day, then it’ll be a nice surprise, and it’s important to keep things interesting instead of binge-watching Netflix together on the couch six nights a week.
Happy National Girlfriends Day and don’t forget to use the hashtag #NationalGirlfriendsDay if you put up pictures on social media!
