Every divorce involves two people, both of whom can often feel quite isolated throughout their respective ordeals. But not just from each other, local author Christine Gallagher told the Sun.
“I’ve been divorced myself. It’s a very big deal, and the whole point of this,” she said while holding up a paperback copy of The Divorce Party Handbook, “is, with all the big things that happen in your life, you have a ritual. Birth, graduation, marriage. You have a ritual, something with people around you.
“But with divorce, you’re pretty isolated,” the Los Alamos resident continued. “The whole idea of a divorce party is that it marks a transition, and you have people around you, and it kind of helps you through it. Humans need a ritual to get them through a big change in life, and that was what I built this around. It wasn’t just, ‘Oh, let’s go to Vegas and get drunk.’ It has a real meaning.”
Commemorating a divorce isn’t the only kind of celebration hitched to Gallagher’s book this year, as 2026 marks the 10th anniversary of its release.
Prior to the book’s publication in January 2016, Gallagher was living and working in Los Angeles as a longtime professional event planner. Some of her past clients’ customized and themed requests for divorce parties made it into the book as examples for readers interested in throwing a similar festivity.
“The parties can be whatever you like. They can be lots of fun. For some people, they can be serious. It depends on what you want or what you need,” Gallagher said. “We had one woman who was devastated after finding out her husband—who had been taking ‘golf lessons’ every Friday—was having an affair.”
Divorce proceedings commenced after Gallagher’s client discovered her husband’s golf clubs were sealed as if brand new, the author explained.
“She was a wreck and everything,” Gallagher said. “We proposed having a golf-themed party, just to try to take this heavy thing and make light of it. So we did a whole golf thing. Everybody had to wear golf clothes, and we had this handsome golf instructor come in and show the ladies how to swing. And we had golf balls with her ex-husband’s face printed on them.
“It ended up being good,” she continued, “because it took all this weight and made it into a fun sort of event that worked for this particular person. It doesn’t always work, because some people don’t want to make light of tragedy. But in this particular case, it did.”
The Divorce Party Handbook is full of suggestions related to divorce party games, themed cocktail selections, and break-up song playlists. There’s also an etiquette section in Gallagher’s book that addresses situations where it’s appropriate for both ex-partners to hold a joint party, she explained.
“On occasion, two people breaking up can have a party together, in the event that they don’t want to split up their friends and it’s a friendly divorce,” Gallagher said. “Because one bad thing about divorce is that people often choose sides.”
She remembered a client couple of hers who held a cocktail party to announce their divorce in front of their friends, “to say, ‘Hey, we’re OK, you guys should be OK with us breaking up.’”
“They didn’t want people to ostracize their partner,” Gallagher said.
Almost a decade before The Divorce Party Handbook’s publication, Gallagher’s first nonfiction book, The Woman’s Book of Revenge: Tips on Getting Even When ‘Mr. Right’ Turns Out to Be All Wrong, hit stands in 1998.
Most of Gallagher’s time nowadays is occupied by the restaurant she co-owns, Plenty on Bell in Los Alamos. But she had enough spare moments over the past few years to create her first work of fiction, Ruby’s Revenge, released in 2025.
The novel follows a protagonist who, not unlike some of her past event planning clients, realizes her husband is having an affair.
All of Gallagher’s books are available through Amazon.
“I have another half-written [fiction] book I’m working on,” Gallagher teased, “when I can carve out the time to be left alone.”
Highlight
• The Lompoc Valley Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau recently appointed Melanie Lindley as its new executive director and Amanda Mansfield as its new communications director. “Their experience, energy, and commitment to our community mark an exciting new chapter for the chamber,” the organization said in a Feb. 17 statement. Lindley’s past experience includes roles with the U.S. Air Force and United Launch Alliance, while Mansfield has a background in corporate support and housing operations, according to the chamber.
Reach Senior Staff Writer Caleb Wiseblood at cwiseblood@santamariasun.com.