February 13th was just as important as Valentine’s Day this year due to NBC’s show Parks and Recreation. On the show, Amy Peohler’s character Leslie Knope creates the holiday “Galentine’s Day.” Celebrated the day before Valentine’s Day, it’s a new kind of holiday that gathers your girl friends and loved ones – but no boys allowed.
According to Nielsen Media Research, 4.98 million households saw the season 2 episode that aired back in 2010. Since then, women have been celebrating this holiday, making February something that people look forward to again. With the popularity of the show increasing, more people are recognizing the holiday. This year, Galentine’s Day was a trending topic on Twitter for the entire weekend. Some people feel that the older you get, the less and less you enjoy Valentine’s Day, especially when you’re single. Even if you’re in a relationship, it can tend to cause a bit of tension over plans and gifts. Galentine’s Day is a really special way to bring back what Valentine’s Day is all about – spending the day showing extra appreciation for the people you love. It’s not just a holiday for people who aren’t in relationships; it’s a holiday for all the women in your life. Like Leslie Knope says, “It’s like Lillith Fair, minus the angst, plus frittatas.”
On the show, Leslie takes her best girlfriends and mother out to brunch, complete with waffles and lots of pink, and showers them in gifts, such as a hand-crocheted bouquet of flower pens, a 5,000 word essay for each girl about why she is so awesome and a mosaic portrait of themselves made from the crushed bottles of their favorite diet soda. We all can’t have friends as great as Leslie, but for Galentine’s Day this year, a really popular activity was going to see “50 Shades of Grey.” A lot of girls on campus just hung out with their roommates, having a special dinner and watching movies. Combining Parks and Rec philosophies, “Treat yo self” was also highly initiated this Galentine’s Day. Treating ourselves is something we are all guilty of forgetting about, and spending quality time with loved ones is the perfect way to “treat yo self.”
What makes this day so special is that women finally have an (unofficial) holiday where they can just appreciate each other and get one another gifts as a simple thank you for all the times they’ve been there for each other. It’s a way of saying everyone is loved, and you don’t just have to anticipate flowers from a guy, but you know you can expect them from your friends and family. It’s all about “ladies celebrating ladies,” which is definitely not done enough. I think Galentine’s Day this year was a real success after seeing how many girls around the country celebrated it.
In ten years who are you going to remember; that boy you dated for one week or the friends who stuck with you through the good and bad? Friendships are forever, and as Leslie Knope says, “Hoes before bros. Uteruses before duderuses, ovaries before broveries.”
