My cousin and I attend Downtown Westfield’s Girls Night Out twice a year. Once in the Spring and again in the Fall. We’ve been registering for this event for about two years and it’s always been a good time out to enjoy discounted meals, drinks and store promotions. We both agree that the event was disappointing this time around. But we made due and still had a nice evening out.
One of the better things about Girls Night Out was the more organized set up of checking in. Pretty tissue paper flowers lined the wall and welcomed guests as they found the table marked with their last name’s initials. In prior years, we received some awesome guest gifts. While I don’t want to complain about a freebie, receiving an umbrella and tote was far less exciting than the knotted earrings we received in the Fall from South Moon Under.
We headed to our Girls Night Out spot, Jeffrey’s of Westfield, for dinner. Their GNO menu usually consists of a specially priced drink menu and 1/2 price appetizers. The drinks were still their usual rates, but weren’t offering 1/2 price appetizers this time. We liked to share a variety of appetizers, but had a hard time deciding on our meal. While we were limited on the selection due to my cousin’s pregnancy restrictions, the appetizers weren’t very exciting choices anyway. After much deciding, we chose to split an order of chicken fingers and a bacon cheddar burger with a side of sweet potato fries.
While Jeffrey’s food is usually a delicious sampling, we were very disappointed with this visit. The best thing I had was my Black Cherry Cosmo. Our chicken fingers were bland and dry and thankfully came with a side of honey mustard. The burger was initially brought to us undercooked when it was specified to be medium-well. My cousin had to send back her half to be cooked more. The bacon that topped the burger was overcooked to the point of blackness. I could hardly cut through it with a knife while splitting the burger in half. The sweet potatoes fries were okay, but I would have preferred them to be cooked more as well.
We have never had a bad meal there until now. Maybe it was a rough night or different chef, but I think we’ll be exploring other options.
After our meal, it was time to shop. The Alex and Ani store was holding a grand opening. We had both hoped to purchase new bracelets, but couldn’t get near the store. There was a line wrapped around the building to get in. We’re downtown enough that we decided to just go to the store another time.
We stopped in Papyrus for a card and to have a look around. They were offering 20% off gift items. Just as we were about to leave the store, we saw a candle display. We were told they were part of the 20% off promotion. I bought a Pomegranate & Pineapple scented candle that smells amazing and fresh for the upcoming Summer season.
We then headed to Le Bain Boutique, a natural and organic bath and body boutique I discovered through an Instagram follow from them (thank you for that!). The store was offering a shopping discount plus free gift with purchase. They also had beverages and bites and a photo booth set up (love the “hot mess” sign!). The store itself is quite gorgeous with a beautiful stone sink set in the middle of the store so customers can try before they buy. Always a hand cream junkie, I bought myself a 100% natural honey and almond lotion and a fresh cut bar of grapefruit soap. My purchase came with free bath bombs and a couple Lollia “Breathe” samples. Le Bain is definitely a store I will visit again and again if not just to stop and smell….basically everything in the store!
We visited our friends in Savory Spice Shop where John’s Meat Market and Charlie Thyme demoed pulled pork and infused cocktails, respectively. We stopped to say hello at the drink station and I got to sample a delicious frozen peach bellini. Our visit to Savory was also one of necessity as I was fresh out of their Italian Dressing Blend and wanted to see if they had a Ranch blend. I was offered the Foothills Salad Seasoning, the closest thing to it. My purchase came with a sample of Sequoia Canyon Parmesan Pepper Mix. It’s a seasoning that sounds like it will come in quite handy while preparing meats on the grill!
We ended our evening with a free scoop of ice cream at Coldstone since the other shops we were hoping to visit were closed for the evening. Another disappointment considering these shops had also offered promotions for the event.
Our evening ended much earlier than we had expected, but we brought home a few goodies. While I think it’s great that the crowds bring a boost in small business and the local market, we’ve both wondered if we’ll continue to register for this event in the future. As I’ve said, we both frequent the downtown area a lot throughout the year. We may just stick to visits during the week, during regular hours with far less crowds and frustration.
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