My fellow articles club friends and I are very thrilled to share our very own The Articles Club Guide with the world!

Welcome to the group you never knew you needed, but soon won’t believe you can live without! We kid—but only just. If your articles club turns out to be anything like ours, it will be a community of women who gather regularly to discuss the meaningful and thought-provoking stuff of life, and develop deep bonds in the process. Over the last 8+ years, it’s become the delight of our life! We want as many friends as possible to experience the goodness we have, so we made a guide! If you’ve ever wanted to start an articles club but weren’t sure where to start, this is for you. Your digital download guide includes 26 pages of friendly and fun info – everything you need to start your own club!

Over the last many years, we have all received a plethora of questions from friends, family members, coworkers, acquaintances, and strangers alike about what an articles club is and how can I start or join one of my own. We figured it was due time to make an official Articles Club Guide to share with anyone interested in spearheading one of his or her own!

Several of us from our group of twelve members sat down to detail it all for you and put every ounce of information into this incredibly thorough and comprehensive guide: answering what is an articles club, the logistics, how to assemble your own group, helpful roles, how to choose articles, how to organize the meal, how to prepare for your first gathering, all of the topics we’ve ever discussed, all of the articles we’ve ever read, meal theme ideas, a sample email, and some final thoughts. The Articles Club Guide is 26 pages long and chock-full of wisdom, actionable ideas, and all the nitty-gritty details you could ever want… and hopefully plenty of inspiration, encouragement, and know-how to make your own Articles Club happen. It’s available for sale now via digital download, and we hope you all love this guide – we wrote it just for you!

For a peek into articles club over the years, here’s when we announced & launched our Triangle-area articles club in 2015, celebrating 5 years of articles club, and celebrating 6 years of articles club. We took our first beach weekend getaway (dubbed Camp Clurb!) in January 2023, and October 2023 marked 8 years of articles club! We’re gearing up for our 100th articles club next month, and we excitedly have Camp Clurb 2.0 on our calendars soon.

It’s hard to put into words just how special articles club has become and how much these friends mean to me. It really is one of my very favorite evenings of every month and is such a highlight of life in Raleigh. Almost every one of these ladies became a dear friend simply through articles club, as I didn’t know most of them before it. I treasure these friendships and our time together every month, and articles club is so highly anticipated. From the gathering of friends to the delicious meals we share to gathering around the table together to laughing and talking for hours, every get together is magical. I am incredibly grateful for each lady’s friendship, laughter, insight, wisdom, thoughts, experiences, and love. I learn so much from them and am a better and more loving, open-minded, thoughtful person because of it. Most of us have been around since the very beginning over eight years ago, and a lot of life has been lived together over the years: from first babies to second babies to third babies, to dating/engagements/weddings/marriages, to love and loss and heartbreak, to new jobs and some moves (we miss those friends so much!), to many high highs and some very low lows amongst the group and everything in between. It is a joy to walk through life with one another, and I can’t adequately express just how much these friends mean to me! Our group text is also the biggest source of joy, side-splitting laughter, sweet exchanges, prayer requests, how-can-I-actually-help requests, and fun life updates. I don’t know how we went so long without this beloved group chat! These once-strangers have become the dearest of friends, for sure.

And, of course, these friendships developed and grew over time! We hope that this guide and sharing more about our articles club is helpful, motivating, and inspiring – and to see how far we’ve come over the years. It didn’t happen overnight, but with a lot of heart, vulnerability, openness, and work, we’ve created something over the years that we believe is very special. And we hope you can do something similar, too, with your own articles club! My biggest advice? Just do it! And don’t wait for everything to be perfect. Start now, use this guide to help, extend the invitation, open up your home, share openly, and have fun doing it!

Here’s to embracing a fun new venture all of those years ago, great articles that foster conversation, learning & growth, delicious meals & gathering around the table, magical evenings together, laughter & deepening friendships, and to strangers turned friends that remind you of the very best parts of life! And cheers to 8+ years, ladies!! So much love to each of you.