Entering into my mid-30’s I think about all of the friendships I’ve had over the years and as we get (cough cough) a little older, I think we start to choose our friends more wisely. Typically we have narrowed down the relationships to the ones who you “do life” with… you know, the friends that are around for the good, bad and the ugly, because that’s life.
It can be challenging to create these 10 year plus bonds, with crazy life schedules of work and travel and well all the other stuff that just seems to make time abysmal. So when do you actually create or even maintain these friendships?
Over a glass of wine, as most important conversations happen in my circle of friends, I popped this question, “Ladies how do we grow our friendships, how do we connect with other men and women, our age, in our community?”
A little fact about me, I celebrate life every day – because it’s a gift. Really think about that for a second. How would you live your life differently if you treated it like a gift? Part of celebrating life is celebrating others, the ones you care the most about. My friends and I started a small birthday dinner tradition a few years back, it was simple, we would take the birthday girl to dinner and celebrate her by paying for her meal and of course a little bubbly. We made it special and a celebration of friendship.
One night at our little favorite Italian restaurant in Bryan, Texas, we talked to the owners about the idea of creating a dinning experience that would encourage the building of new relationships and the strengthening of old ones. Keeping in mind that we wanted to expand our friendships and continue the birthday tradition of celebration, a supper club was born.
So how does supper club work? … And how do you create your own? If you are interested in starting your own supper club here are a few steps to help you get started!
Step 1: Establish the Core Group We established a core group of five ladies who are in charge of choosing the featured menu at the supper club, coordinating calendar dates that are best for everyone’s schedule and determining how the supper club event will flow the evening of.
Step 2: Responsibilities After you have created your managing group of the supper club, the five members are responsible for inviting 2 to 3 new guests for each supper club. This gives us approximately 15 to 20 guests at each supper club.
Step 3: Choose a Venue Each quarter we partner with Amico Nave Ristorante, a locally owned Italian restaurant, to bring our guests a themed dinner and a evening full of fellowship. The owners and staff at Amico create a custom menu and prepare seating for up to 20 people in their private dining area, where we can either crank up the music loud or just enjoy visiting with new and old friends.
Step 4: Creating the Menu and Price Point Our goal is to offer our friends a special dining experience, something that we wouldn’t normally do on a week night. The price point was set a little higher to accommodate a signature cocktail upon arrival, a five course pairing dinner and dessert.
This experience of creating a supper club has truly created so many new friendships and strengthened the old ones. Cheers to friendship and doing life together! xx Jennifer
