Pre-Wedding Parties

Planning A Bachelorette Party

With wedding bells ringing for your best friend, there is no better gift than organizing a bachelorette party for her. On the flip side however, the pressure is on to create an experience that she’ll never forget. Where to you start with the planning and the preparations?

A Little Planning Ahead

Just like planning for any other event, you won’t have much to worry about if you make the necessary preparations in an orderly and organized manner. The first thing you need to do is to round up ideas from the Internet or get some other friends to share their experiences with you on organizing a bachelorette party. As they have probably gone through the entire process, they would know best what to avoid, where to go and what they would be doing better if they were to organize another bachelorette party. The Internet contains a flurry of information which you can use for great ideas from expert bachelorette party planners and also items you can purchase to facilitate the party.

Fixing the Date

Next, check out the possible dates with the bride on which to hold the party. It’s always better to hold it about one month to a fortnight before the actual date of the wedding. This way, the bride will have some buffer time to recover in the event the party gets too wild and she hurts herself (sprained ankle, etc.). The party would also need to fit in amidst the last minute preparations that the bride is making for herself.

Whom to Invite?

It’s best that you give yourself at least a month before the party date to plan for the special night. Ask the bride for a list of girl friends who she would like to join in the celebrations. This is where the involvement of the bride ends. You’d probably be glad to know that you don’t have to do everything yourself. Obtain the help from several of the other girls attending the party and meet up to discuss on some ideas for the bachelorette party.

Party Venue

Would this be a stay-at-home party, or a weekend away at some interesting destination? What is the group’s general idea of fun for a bachelorette party? Would they prefer to go shopping and enjoy a bout of body pampering instead? How much is the budget each person is willing to spend for the party? How would the party fit the personality of the bride?

Creative Ideas

While bachelorette party ideas are aplenty and pretty much dependent on your creativity to conjure outstanding plans, there are also many standard options for most parties. These would include a day at the spa, power shopping weekends in New York, organize a slumber party, spend an adventure weekend away, have a beach party or a picnic, go for a pub crawl and finally, try your luck out at Vegas. Maybe you could even have a little bit of everything!

Invitations

Once the specific activity and venue has been decided, then it is time to structure and plan out the details. With the list of guest list at hand, you can either mail out formal invitations over the mail or send out emails. There is plenty of nice invitation cards sold at party shops, so you’ll probably get one that is suited to your team. Be sure to set a final date for RSVPs to be received so that you’ll know way before hand the number of people that you are planning this for. Also, if making an invitation through the phone is possible, then you can even call them instead.

Hotel/Transportation Reservations

The next item on your list would be the make the necessary hotel or transportation reservations for your party venue. If booze is involved, remember to make transportation arrangements to get everyone driven back to their hotels. Additionally, if physical activity involved, such as rock climbing and parasailing, ensure that any special requirements are catered for and that alternatives are available to ensure everyone has a good time.

Decorating the Venue

One way to make the bachelorette party really special is to include customized decorations at the venue of your party. This would really help to get the party atmosphere going, and gives the bride that extra personalized surprise. Of course, if the party is going to be held at some one’s home, you’d have a whole list of other options to work with such as decorating the venue according to a specific theme. Specify a dress code for everyone coming to the party, and remember to include board games to spice up the fun. Arrange for a video recording and pictures taken for the entire party so that the bride can remember the fun she had had on her bachelorette party!

The Costs

Finally, it’s best to tabulate the total costs involved and collect payment from everyone prior to the event. For greater clarity, include detailed costs on each item for the party so that there will be no misunderstandings from the guests. Provide the guests with details such as the clothes to bring, what to wear and destination so that they too can plan their schedules earlier. Ultimately, if your to-do lists seems too long for you to handle, get help from the other girls and delegate one task for each person. This way, you’ll get everything organized quicker and with less effort on your part.