A gathering of girlfriends is a time-honored tradition. T here are websites dedicated to girls night out, online sources where you can order specialized invitations and blogs to help you plan the perfect evening.

Even non-profit organizations are getting in on the fun with fundraising events that offer ladies an evening of pampering and shopping to support a good cause. If your girls night out is a girls night in, Ehow.com will show you how to cook up a fantastic meal including homemade pizzas and popcorn.

It’s a consensus. Girls just want to have fun.

This was the case when several friends and I set out for a night of dinner and dancing on Pittsburgh’s South Side.

The evening was the brainchild of one of my extremely hip and happening chick friends. She’s usually the host of our girls nights out at her house and puts together a great party. We all bring a dish of something divine to share, and we gather around her dining room table to chat and laugh the night away.

This time she wanted to try something different. Each of us loves to dance, so she picked a popular dance club, organized the details, and we all convened on the South Side. Our group usually ranges in age from 20s to 40s, and this particular night was no different, though we skewed a bit older than usual.

I approached the evening with a bit of trepidation as I haven’t frequented a dance club since the days when answering machines used cassette tapes to record messages. I was pretty sure that there would be a spotlight on us when we walked in with someone announcing that a group of senior citizens would provide the evening’s entertainment attempting to dance to popular music.

The first highlight of the evening happened before we even entered the club.

We got carded.

That’s right. This group of five, there’s-no-way-we-look-younger-than-the-age-of-21 women had to show some identification before we could enter.

Things were definitely looking up.

The next big thrill was that we were not the oldest patrons in attendance. Though the club was sparsely populated when we arrived just minutes after it opened, there was a group of moms on the dance floor with their young adult daughters, one of whom was celebrating her 21st birthday. These ladies were clearly enjoying their own girls night out, and we felt right at home. As if sensing the maturity in the air, the disc jockey even played a few older dance tunes to get the night started.

We took to the dance floor, spread out and had a good time.

The evening didn’t end there, though.

Within half an hour of opening, the club started to fill up with a more age-appropriate crowd. We were soon forced to close ranks and dance in a tight little circle to try to maintain some prime real estate on the dance floor, but as more and more people crowded in it became increasingly difficult (at least for me) to enjoy the night.

Moreover, the evening turned into an educational experience for me as I learned that Lycra, in the form of very, very (did I mention very?!) short dresses, is the fabric of choice for clubbing. I also learned that proper club dancing requires a certain amount of grinding against one’s dance partner.

My friends and I were not at all proper dancers that night.

Oh, I know I sound like the oldest fogey on the block. I accept my fate. I no longer enjoy the club scene. It’s just not my cup of tea, but that gives me an idea for another girls night out: a tea party -- Lycra optional! Why didn’t I think of that sooner?