to not want to 'go shopping with the girls'

[duelingFANGo]

Does anyone else here feel a rising dread when it's suggested that you spend time with the wives/partners in your group of friends?

Am off out to a thing this weekend which will involve eating, drinking and being merry in the open air. When I said I wouldn't be wanting to get rat-arsed because I am TTC my DH suggested that I would be ok because I could go 'shopping with the girls'.

Arrgghhhh... I can't think of anything worse than ambling round shops looking at things I don't want or can't afford. I'd rather be having good conversation about things that are more interesting...

me and 'the girls' shop in bike shops and ellis brigham for skis and bikes

DP knows better than to let us roam in there.

if i had time to kill in a town i'd have a pub lunch and read the paper by the fire...

'Retail therapy'....
'Girls Night Out'....

I love hanging out with women, but just can't get on with the handbag and shoe-obsessed girlie brigade. Unless they like boot fairs and jumble sales of course

Ugh. I think I stopped 'shopping with the girls' when I was about 16. Total waste of time.

i have one or two friends that id shop with (one at a time) but we dont make a habit of it!i hardly ever go shopping so if i do i prefer to do it alone at my own pace.i do love shopping with my sisters though(although its usually them shopping,my browsing).

just dont go,simple.

I HATE all this "the men do this, the ladies do that" type socialising. This was expected the night before one lot of friends' wedding. IT actually said in the covering letter! "M wants to take the lads out to the pub and so I imagine us girls will have a great time at home with some choccies and wine" or something equally bleeeurrggghhhh...

YABU. My 'shopping with the girls' = lazy coffee/cakes uninterrupted by small children, a small browse around a few stores, a long lazy lunch without the smalls, back to the hotel for a long lazy snooze.....

I prefer the company of men than women overall (talking cars and footie ) so I would hate to go on a girlie shopping trip too.

My late Grandad suffered from a comparable problem. As he said, "The problem with getting old, darling, is that when you go to dinner parties they all want to sit you next to old people and talk about the war!".

I always made sure that I sat next to my wonderful Grandad at family meals - we were both far happier that way!

I don't know why people can't just socialise in mixed groups. Is this the 1950s?

You're right UQD, but the shopping en masse is just horrific.

To be fair, I had complained that as I would not be drinking I felt like I would be bored and a bit of a stick in the mud so the shopping thing was a suggestion for something else to do if I got bored. Perhaps I just wanted to say I wasn't going to go but instead I was just being moany.

Turns out I had a good day and the shopping bit was more fun than I thought it would be.

I don't really do girly stuff anyway. Shopping is what the internet was invented for.

Also, in my group of friends, at least 50% of the time it's the bloke who's the old mate, so when we get together the gender divisions just don't happen in that way.

It's a bit more hearty/rugger bugger/girls off shopping whilst the boys bellow at each other if we get together with dh's old friends, but I just buy a bag or a pair of earrings & gently encourage the earliest possible move to a nice pub...

Oh I feel your pain OP, I loathe shopping with a vengeance. Actually DH is far better at it than I am!

I'm not really a girly sort of person either. However I do love my annual girls' weekends. I do this once a year with the mums from my mum-and-baby group from 8 years ago (note: did not meet them through DH!) and they are much treasured.

We don't do shopping weekends (half of us hate it anyway) but instead leave our families at home and go hiking (or tramping as they say here) for a 3-day weekend. Lots of good company, a few wines, lots of blisters and aching legs, lots of reading and lounging by a fire if the weather's crap, and if we're really lucky, good weather and stunning views. In fact a lot of the year is spent working out where to go next time (and saving up for it). And no, we're not all fitness fanatics either.

For me it's been an amazing way to see more of a country I don't know that well, and has given me ideas of things we can do when the DCs are older. Hmm...just need to convince DH about this...

I love shopping but always on my own , i hate having to go into shops you don't like and having to tell people they look nice in things when the actually look horrid.

Oh can I go instead..shopping and girlie kid free lunches...bliss

I love shopping, but only ever on my own. (I don't mind going with someone if they are looking for something in particular and want advice, but I can't bear just browsing with them).
It makes me smile when women say they want a DD because they can go shopping with them! I wouldn't want to shop with my mother-luckily she doesn't want to shop with me.
I am meeting a friend tomorrow for shopping, but in our case we will go shopping separately and then meet for a lovely, long chatty lunch.
I would suggest that you do your own thing-find out what they are doing for lunch and meet up then-or suggest something different that you would like to do.

CAn't shop with friends - a huge waste of time. I like to go into a shop look for what I need & leave asap.

I like a bit of both. Am quite nerdy so enjoy lots of geek talk (and not many women like that - but there are some!). Also a gym junky (usually) and like to chat about nutrition and training. But also enjoy talking about babies and clothes etc.

Clothes shopping I prefer to do alone, but I rather enjoy the version of "shopping" with the girls that involves house/baby/kids stuff and lots and lots of refreshment stops.

Was quite annoyed the other day when the husband of a friend turned up at the coffee shop we were at. I usually love a good argument with him about politics/banking/latest Stargate, but we were having an excellent chat about pregnancy and whether little boy clothes are as quite as the stuff for little girls. Yes it was mindless drivel but it was nice.

No need to choose between "intellectual" and "drivel" everyone does a bit of both sometimes (regardless of their sex).

I HATE shopping with anyone, except, on occasion DH as he has very good taste and I appreciate his opinion, he likes shopping and doesn't get bored and there is an equal amount of dithering (he's French). I loathe shopping with friends or other women.

Oh God, DH and I learned years ago to never set foot in a shopping centre together. This is necessary in order for us to stay married.

ooh no shopping must be a solo activity. If I'm with anyone else I've learned never to buy anything because my judgement goes haywire.

I'll do dinner out "with the girls" and girlie nights in - but not shopping.

It's also a minefield shopping with another woman because you're never quite sure how honest you ought to be about the "does my bum look big in this" type questions. I always end up going "Mmm, well, I don't really like that kind of thing myself so I can't really say..." - I'm hopeless. I can't bear wafting around shops going "oh yes that's lovely." I don't care - if you like it, buy it. I don't want your opinion, why do you want mine?

Do people ever really talk about lipstick? I thought that was a cliche! How does it go?
"I bought a new lipstick the other day"
"Right"
"It was red"
"uh huh"
"Makes my lips redder"
"Yes, I can imagine"

Please, someone enlighten me!

I love vaguely and absently wafting around Liberty by myself in a bubble of calm serenity.

Or shopping with an audience: my mother, or dh and ds.

But not with 'the girls'. For some reason it makes me shudder slightly the thought of wandering round as a group trying on clothes. Not my cup of tea at all.

I get on very well with other women, but mostly centred around child-related subjects. I love talking about family stuff or a particular interest in common - art, literature, even fashion etc.