Do you want to throw a bride-to-be a fantastic bachelorette party? If that’s the case, you’ve come to the right place. Choosing what to do for her ‘final fling before the ring’ might be overwhelming, but we’re here to help you plan a bachelorette party from scratch!
During the wedding planning process, there are numerous occasions to celebrate a relationship and married life. Still, only one event centers on the bride and the bride alone, and this is the bachelorette party. The bachelorette party has grown from a simple dinner or lunch the day before the wedding to a filled-to-the-brim destination getaway, complete with matching swimwear, private boat tours, and fun hashtags.
The most successful bachelorette parties center on the bride’s favorite activities. Remember, this is a celebration of her final months, weeks, or days as a single woman. Party the night away at the trendiest club, or chill with her girlfriends on a glamping vacation. Just make sure you do it in her favorite way!
Read on to learn everything you need to know about throwing a bachelorette party, no matter where your perfect celebration falls on the spectrum.
What Is A Bachelorette Party?
Bachelorette parties are based on the centuries-old bachelor party, a banquet hosted by the groom for his friends just before his wedding. Although throwing a celebration to honor the bride-to-be has been a tradition for ages, the phrase “bachelorette party” did not become popular until the 1960s. Bachelorette parties were once thought to be all about displaying sexual freedom, drinking alcohol, and enjoying male strippers.
Today, however, the phrase is applied to a wide range of events centered on the bride-to-be’s journey into marriage. It has developed into a time for women to celebrate other women and a reason to spend meaningful time with the people they care about.
FAQs For Planning A Bachelorette Party
Bachelorette parties may be all about having a good time, but etiquette concerns still arise. The most popular questions are answered below.
1. Who hosts a bachelorette party?
Traditionally, a bachelorette party is planned and hosted by the bride’s maid of honor, the bridesmaids, or a small group of close friends, but there are no specific guidelines here! If the bride wants to plan and host everything herself, that’s perfectly fine, too. The most important thing to remember is that too many cooks in the kitchen can swiftly devolve into chaos. One or two individuals should be in charge of the planning, and the rest should try to maintain the status quo as much as possible.
2. When do bachelorette parties take place?
There are no hard and fast rules here, either. Different seasons are better for different activities. Some couples even delay their bachelorette parties until after they get married. But traditionally, a bachelorette party happens around two months before the big day, and it can also be within just a few weeks before the wedding.
3. Who gets an invite?
This is a decision to be made by the bride. Some women will only invite their bridal party, while others will invite a larger group of relatives, friends, and even friends of their partner’s inner group. People invited to the bachelorette party should also be invited to the wedding, and gender isn’t always a factor for who gets an invite.
4. Is it necessary to send out formal invitations?
While there may be tons of things on your bachelorette party to-do list, don’t forget about getting the ideal invites. Sure, you can email the party’s information to everyone in the bridal party circle, but there’s something about printed bachelorette party invitations that feels so much more personalized and festive. They not only provide guests a glimpse of the festivities to come, but they also serve as a lovely souvenir for the bride.
If you don’t have time to design due to all of the party and wedding invitations, TemplateMonkey has a collection of bachelorette party invitations that are ready-made and simple to edit. Editable templates make it easier to create invitations because you can edit the information at any time and download it in a variety of formats.
How to Plan a Bachelorette Party
1. Make it personal
First and foremost, this is a party for the bride-to-be, so make sure you know what she prefers! Ask specific questions to get a sense of the mood: wild weekend or laid-back evening? Do you want to go out for a fancy dinner or have a spa day? Pay attention to her preferences, even if they differ from what you expected or conflict with your standards. For example, you might enjoy bar-hopping in boisterous dance clubs, but she wants to take a painting-and-wine class instead. Make her special day about her!
Apply the same strategy to other aspects of the celebration, such as activities, food and drink, and gifts. Make sure it’s personalized to the bride-to-be’s preferences and who she is as a person. Then, try your best to construct a plan that corresponds to her idea of the day or weekend.
2. Pick a location
A bachelorette destination is chosen based on several reasons. The first few are self-evident: weather, ambiance, and activity choices. Do you prefer hot or cold temperatures? Is it important to you that it is alcohol-free? Do you want to go clubbing or unwind in a remote cabin? Do you want to go for a hike in the woods or dine at a luxurious restaurant? These questions will help you narrow down your choices.
3. Decide on the date
The bachelorette party host should collaborate with the bride to choose two to four dates that are most convenient for her. You may then utilize online polls to ask guests which dates they would be able to attend and which dates they are too busy for them. From there, you can choose the final date.
4. Don’t overschedule
Even while bachelorette parties nowadays appear to be jam-packed with activities and a planned itinerary, you don’t need to organize a ton of activities. After all, simply being together and hanging out is enough of a priority!
However, it would help if you allowed extra time for all of the minor details, such as conversing over snacks, getting ready, going to and from locations, rushing to the shop for more bottled water, and simply resting. And believe us when we say that someone will always be late, so give yourself at least thirty minutes before you have to be somewhere. Keep an open mind when you plan a bachelorette party and know that things may probably take longer than you anticipated. The point is to have a fun day, not to have the most organized day!
5. Always have a backup plan
On the same point, even the best-laid plans will not always work out, so be prepared with some backup plans. Someone’s flight gets delayed, someone cancels a reservation at the last minute, the bride decides she doesn’t want to do whatever you had planned anymore, or it starts raining when you were planning to spend the day outside patio-hopping. Maintain your composure, shift gears, and go with the flow as much as possible. If you’re the cool one, you’ll lead the way for the rest of the group and keep the party going well.
6. Work with a budget
If you’re not cautious about how much you’re spending on the party, your costs never end. Instead, work on a budget with the bride, check with everyone on the guest list to make sure it’s affordable, and then stick to it. To meet all price points, you could even encourage people to offer innovative ideas for a few free or low-cost activities. And don’t take it as an insult if someone refuses to come along due to expense.
Remember to think about who will pay for the bride’s half and confirm how everyone will pay their share ahead. Will the host pay for everything and then be reimbursed later? Is it necessary for guests to bring cash? Will the restaurant give you a discount for a big group? It’s best to sort every detail before the drinks start to flow!
7. Make sure you decide on social media use before the party
These days, any group gathering has its own hashtag, which is extremely fun but may or may not be suitable for a bachelorette party. Discuss social media rules with the bride: is she okay with people taking pictures of her throughout dinner? Do you think she wants to be in a lot of selfies? Was she expecting a post-party viewing of everyone’s favorite videos and pictures? What happens on the internet remains on the internet. So be careful with what you put out there to protect your career and reputation.
8. Don’t invite everyone on the guest list
Don’t invite anyone who isn’t invited to the wedding unless the bride specifically requests it. With that being said, don’t feel obligated to invite everyone who is coming to the wedding. Bachelorette parties are for those close and dear to the person getting married. Thus it could be a small gathering or a large one. And if someone you don’t like or get along with is invited, realize that you’ll have to put up with it rather than causing a scene.
9. Don’t be afraid to ask for help
There’s no reason why you can’t divide and conquer when you’ve got a plan, a guest list, and a budget. Planning a fantastic party, especially for someone you care about, takes a lot of time and effort. Instead of attempting to micromanage everything on your own, let individuals handle what they’re good at. If you have a friend who’s a big fan of food, ask them to stay on top of brunch reservations; if you have a creative buddy, ask her to come up with amusing prizes and games. You can even enlist the support of family members who were invited but could not join for various reasons to see if they would want to contribute to a round of appetizers one night or send a nice card to be unwrapped later.
10. Don’t drink and drive
You can easily develop protocols to guarantee everyone’s safety in a world with ride-sharing services like Uber and convenient taxi services. But seriously, we’ve all gone to parties when someone argues that it’s “okay” to drive home after a few drinks at 3 a.m., and it’s not acceptable. It is not a good idea to drink and drive. Don’t do it, and don’t let anyone do it, either.
11. Let go of your misconceptions
Bachelorette parties have a long tradition of being associated with the phrase “final night as a single woman!” or a stereotypical image of girls dressed in identical black gowns with playful sashes. But, in reality, it’s just a chance for people to enjoy someone who is getting married. Therefore, there aren’t any rules. You can organize a one-night escapade, a weekend trip, an afternoon comedy show, a girls’ night out with popcorn and 90s movies, or a completely sober occasion. Allow the bride to do what she wants and to be imaginative.
12. Don’t forget about the fiancé
Involving the fiancé in some way is one of the best (and most popular) aspects of a bachelorette party. Whatever goes, from a sweet video message played at the start of the night to full-fledged Q&A sessions in which the bride is forced to take a shot for each incorrect answer she guesses. Make the bride’s partner feel included in the celebrations and remind the bride why she is tying the knot in the first place.
Conclusion
If you’re want to plan a bachelorette party for a wonderful woman in your life, we encourage you to talk to her about several event possibilities and listen to her preferences. She may prefer a quiet or more simple bachelorette party in the middle of her wedding planning madness, even if she prefers enormous parties or traveling. Either way, it’s going to be a party to celebrate her journey into marriage. Just plan and enjoy the moment with your gal friends!