Happy Mean Girls Day!
You may be wondering, why do people celebrate Oct. 3? Well, in a popular scene from the 2004 cult comedy “Mean Girls,” Lindsay Lohan’s character, Cady Heron, recalls the day when her school crush, Aaron Samuels (Jonathan Bennett), turned around and asked her what day it was. She responded with a lovestruck, “It’s October 3rd.”
To celebrate the day, you could go ask your own Aaron Samuels what day it is ... or even better, you could put on your favorite pink outfit, turn on “Mean Girls“ and make some fun “Mean Girls”-inspired recipes, which we’ve collected and shared below.
Throughout the film, we watch as Cady and her friends, Janis Ian (Lizzy Caplan) and Damian Leigh (Daniel Franzese), try to take down mean girl Regina George (Rachel McAdams) through multiple methods, one of which is to infiltrate and then split up the Plastics (the group of popular girls of which Regina is the head). One way they try to accomplish this is by sending candy canes, purportedly from Regina, to each girl in the group except for Gretchen Wieners (Lacey Chabert).
To reflect on the scene, try the “You Go Glen Cocoa” — the perfect hot cocoa to drink on a cold October day. Maybe the dash of peppermint will make up for all the candy canes Gretchen Wieners didn’t get!
In the gradual demise of the Plastics, Gretchen Wieners makes a very memorable speech in which she likens Regina to Caesar and herself to Brutus.
“Why should Caesar just get to stomp around like a giant while the rest of us try not to get smushed under his big feet?,” she says. “Brutus is just as cute as Caesar, right? Brutus is just as smart as Caesar, people totally like Brutus just as much as they like Caesar, and when did it become OK for one person to be the boss of everybody because that’s not what Rome is about! We should totally just stab Caesar!”
If you’ve ever gotten bored of your everyday Caesar Salad, here’s a recipe with an extra kick to remind you that we should totally just stab Caesar!
When Cady first arrives at North Shore High, Janis and Damian give her the lay of the land, telling her about the Plastics and commenting on each girl. In this scene, Damian tells Cady that Gretchen’s hair is so big because it’s full of secrets and that she’s totally rich because her dad invented Toaster Strudels.
If you’ve ever wanted to make your own toaster strudels so you too could feel like the heiress to the toaster strudel fortune, this is the perfect recipe for you.
A Cake Filled with Rainbows and Smiles
Prior to the events of the film, the Plastics had filled what they called their “Burn Book” with mean things about every girl in the school. When Regina finds out that Cady was trying to sabotage her all along, she wrote one last thing about herself so she could turn in the book and blame it all on Cady.
Before turning in the book, though, Regina makes copies of all the pages and spreads them around the school, causing riots between all the girls. Due to the chaos, they are forced to meet in the gym for peace-making exercises in which a girl gets up on stage and wishes she could make a cake filled with rainbows and smiles.
Damian, disguised under a hoodie and sunglasses eventually shouts from the back of the room, “She doesn’t even go here!” When Ms. Norbury (Tina Fey) asks if she goes to the school, she just claims that she has a lot of feelings.
Maybe you don’t go here, maybe you just have a lot of feelings, but we’ve all wanted to bake a cake filled with rainbows and smiles and make everyone happy at some point or another.
When Aaron Samuels eventually breaks up with Regina, she goes crying to her friends, Gretchen, Karen (Amanda Seyfried) and Cady. Karen then asks if she wants to do something fun, like go to Taco Bell.
“I can’t go to Taco Bell, I’m on an all-carb diet,” Regina responds.
Even if you’re on an all-carb diet, we can all enjoy Taco Bell, especially if it’s from the comfort of our homes.
Yes, the character Gretchen Wieners is Jewish. No, these are not kosher.
During the movie, Regina claims she wants to lose 3 pounds by going on an all-carb diet. She enlists Cady’s help in determining what is and isn’t a carb, giving Cady the perfect opportunity for sabotage. At one point, while eating lunch, Regina turns to Cady and vapidly asks, “Is butter a carb?”
Is butter a carb? Find out with these butter pecan cookies.
As part of her attempts to sabotage Regina’s diet, Cady gives her Kalteen bars, something that her mom would give to the kids in Africa to help them gain weight. When giving them to Regina, though, Cady claims that her mom uses them to lose weight and that they burn carbs like crazy. Later on in the movie, Regina’s other boyfriend, Shane Oman (Diego Klattenhoff), sees her eating one and comments on how he hates them because they’re what his coach uses to help his students move up a weight class.
Maybe these won’t actually burn up all your carbs, but they sure are delicious!
When first telling Cady about the Plastics, Damian and Janis finally get to Karen. Janis comments that she’s one of the dumbest girls you’ll ever meet and that she sat next to Damian in English class the year prior.
“She asked me how to spell ‘orange,’” Damian says.
Have you ever been asked how to spell ‘orange’?
When first becoming friends with the Plastics, Cady goes to Regina’s house for the first time. Regina’s mom (Amy Poehler) walks in the room carrying a tray full of drinks. Cady proceeds to ask if they are alcoholic and Mrs. George responds defensively. “Honey, no! What kind of mother do you think I am?” she says.
The non-alcoholic Pink Drink (a strawberry acai drink with coconut milk and strawberries) was popularized by Starbucks, but what better way to celebrate Oct. 3 than to make your own? Note: The recipe calls for tea, though it is not required. Herbal tea can also work.
“Mean Girls” is available to rent or buy on YouTube, Google Play, Amazon Prime Video, Vudu and iTunes.