Get the Girls Together for a Girl's Night In!

I invited my mom and the girls over for dinner last night for a little girl talk, a little party planning and a little catch-up time. Even though my family is really close and we all live in the same neighborhood, it can be difficult to get us all under the same roof at the same time!

Chris had to have dinner with a coworker who was in town from Trinidad, so Angeline and I had the house to ourselves. With my daughter's 15 birthday coming up and my dad's 55 birthday right around the corner, it was the perfect opportunity to together and plan!

I started preparing for our little girl's night in by shopping at Sam's Club for the new Asian inspired entrees by Lean Cuisine. You can read all about my shopping trip in this Google+ album.

I specifically went shopping for the variety 6 pack of Lean Cuisine, which was only $11.25!

Lean Cuisine #FrozenFavorites

I also stopped by the wine department and grabbed some Daily's Strawberry Dauquiri pre-mixed drinks, which were also pretty inexpensive at only $4.91 for 6! I tell ya, you really can have a fun night in with the ladies, even if you are on a tight budget!

Now, I ordinarily go big on the party decorations, but seeing as how this was just a little girl's night in, I went for the understated look.

I picked up these cool paper lanterns at our local crafts shop that I wanted to string up in the dining room. I thought that it would make for a fun atmosphere! You can even add tiny little battery-operated lights so that they light up a bit. Since I was going to use them in the kitchen, they didn't need the additional light.

I eventually decided to include both the Daily's and a bottle of wine - so that everyone would be happy with their drink selections!

Now, don't laugh...but I strung them up with purple crepe streamers because purple is my mom's favorite color. I wanted something with a pop of color since the lanterns were white and black - not very festive!

I think they turned out really cute, and my mom noticed the purple crepe paper as soon as she walked in!

I wanted to keep the table simple so I bought a very simple, but elegant, round place mat that coordinated with my table and the colors in my kitchen (so that I could continue to use it after the party!) and placed 3 cute little candles on it. I love having fresh flowers on the table for fancy dinners but it can be hard to see each other and talk over a center piece! This made it very easy to have a conversation but the table still looked pretty! The best part was that the candles were "frosted cupcake" scent, so it smelled really good in the dining room, and they were purple so they matched the crepe paper streamers!

It came out really simple and elegant, which I thought was perfect for an informal girl's night in!

Originally, I planned for us to try and make origami before dinner. I thought it would be a fun little way to begin the evening - but there were some things happening yesterday that put a bit of a damper on the evening and we fell behind schedule and a few of the girls I invited weren't able to make it.

We still had a nice time catching up and having dinner together!

Now, you're only supposed to cut a slit into the film on top of the meal before cooking, but I wanted to show you how yummy this looks - even before cooking!

You could smell the Lean Cuisines already while they were cooking, everyone was getting impatient (except for mom, she was distracted on the phone with my aunt, poor thing!). Sis and I cracked open a bottle of wine and decided to save the strawberry daiquiris for another night.

Katarina tried the Sesame Chicken entree from Lean Cuisine and she loved it! She asked me to take home the extra one that came in the package - there are two each of the three flavors.

In each 6 pack of the Lean Cuisine meals, there are two Sesame Chicken, two Ginger Garlic Chicken Stir Fry and two Chicken Teriyaki Stir Fries - and everyone loved each flavor! I had the Chicken Teriyaki Stir Fry and it was really flavorful and filling. I loved that it was only 220 calories!

Seriously? 220 calories for a meal full of chicken and veggies? That's less than an order of french fries at a fast food restaurant! I can see these being great lunches for someone who's on a diet, or a great, guilt-free dinner option when you're too busy or too tired to cook on a weeknight!

I loved the Lean Cuisine entree so much that I actually had a Sesame Chicken meal for lunch today! Yum! At just 330 calories, it was the perfect lunch - and there's no wonder why Katarina loved it so much!

After dinner, we had a small cup of coffee - iced coffee - in place of dessert. It was a nice, refreshing way to end our meal!

You can find out more about Lean Cuisine meals, including these delicious Asian inspired varieties available at Sam's Club, by checking out the Lean Cuisine website!

Why you're at it, why don't you follow Lean Cuisine on Facebook, and follow them on Twitter? I am!

I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and (Nestle) Lean Cuisine #CBias #SocialFabric All opinions are my own!