I have a theory that more than half of the fun of going out is getting ready for the plans. Hear me out: there’s a certain kind of chaos that happens when a group of girls has somewhere to be.
The playlist is spitting banger after banger. The makeup is spread across the bathroom counter. Clothes are covering the bed and floor. Someone is still deciding what to wear even though she allegedly picked her outfit three days ago. Someone else is doing her hair while also completely dogging on who you claim to be the love of your life. Not a single soul is ready, but it’s fine because “we don’t want to be the first ones there anyway”.
I consider getting ready without at least one friend a bad omen. There is just something about having everyone in the same room, music playing, makeup sprawled, clothes everywhere but on the hanger, and at least one person saying “wait, does this look stupid or am I eating?” every five minutes. I mean, can you even call getting ready practical if you aren’t sharing music, opinions, jokes, tea, and little pieces of yourself?
Your friends might be telling you about the person she’s talking to while you’re helping her choose between outfits. Someone else is trying a new makeup look for the night. You can’t forget your type A friend who is somehow always ready, calling the Uber and doomscrolling TikTok. Every part of this dynamic is memorable, crucial even to the night.
Getting ready is also the perfect excuse for pictures. It’s time to pull out that digital cam before anyone has had the chance to sweat, spill, or decide they hate their hair; everyone looks exactly how they’ve been envisioning. There are mirror selfies, group photos, videos, face cards, and outfit checks. Those pictures become memories and a whole new thing to talk about in the car, because of course you have to ask the counsel how to make the perfect Instagram post.
I think the secret art isn’t really about the makeup, the clothes, or even where you’re going. It’s the little moments you share with your friends before. The vulnerable moments. It’s your friend helping you fix your necklace. It’s sharing tops because that blue was totally her color. It’s laughing so hard that you mess up your eyeliner. It’s playing that one song that everyone knows bar for bar. It’s looking around the room and realizing that these are the girls you love and people you get to experience life with.
The actual event may be amazing. It could honestly be the best night ever, but years from now what you might remember instead of that dinner or those drinks is sitting on your friend’s floor at 8:45 pm, surrounded by makeup and clothes, gossiping about names you can only remember because at the time it truly was that deep and screaming lyrics to the song you haven’t heard in ages. Maybe that’s the real event.
Because sometimes, and this is only my theory, the art of getting ready with your friends is better than the actual event, because it’s who you’re getting ready with.