This post is a bit of a follow-up to my recent post, How I Planned a Bridal Shower…From 3000 Miles Away, so I’ll spare you the details of how I landed my MOH gig and get straight to how I went about planning a bachelorette trip. Here’s my how-to, with hope these tips might be helpful to someone out there…
(Wait, who am I kidding? I don’t gaf who gets anything from this.)
4 Months Out
Put Together a Guest List
Easy. The bride will give this to you. Make her give you their e-mail addresses and phone numbers too.
Pick a Date
Start with the bride’s availability, of course. From there you can take a poll with the remainder of the group to find the most agreeable dates. I used doodle.com to conduct this poll. I’m sure there are similar/better tools out there, but I used Doodle one time in college and never forgot it, I guess.
set a budget
Who wants to talk about money amongst friends?! That’ll be a big NO THANKS with a side of EW GROSS. However, if you are lucky like me you’ll have a group that’s mostly on the same level, spending-wise. If not, then try to keep the budget somewhere in the middle. If there are one or two people who can’t make it due to cost, DO NOT let that be a trip-nix-er.
Choose a Destination
My sister is a bit posh (in the best way), so she’s got close friends all over the globe….from London to Boston to Los Angeles. Ok fine, she’s normal and has friends in the U.S. and in Europe. But still, this is something to be considered when choosing a city. You want to be fair a choose a destination that’s relatively equidistant/convenient for all attendees and one that hosts an abundance of fun activities, focusing on the bride’s vibes, first and foremost.
From here, things got a bit nerdy…
The bride provided me with a list of cities she was willing to go to. Next, I figured out the travel time (including layovers) for each gal from her respective location to each of the proposed destinations. Then, I calculated the average travel time for each destination and determined that the four lowest average travel times were the most convenient options. (And then I included the 5th and 6th options because they were closest to me. *insert evil laugh here*)
Our options ended up being:
- Orlando, FL
- Fort Lauderdale, FL
- Austin, TX
- Denver, CO
- San Francisco, CA
- San Diego, CA
…And here’s a snapshot of how my brain works:
As you will notice in the graphic above, my next step was creating a spreadsheet tab to organize ideas for each destination. These were the aspects/categories I considered for each city (and included links):
- Typical Weather During Month of Trip
- Overall Climate Type
- Popular Neighborhoods
- Beaches
- Live Music
- Vineyards/Wineries
- Bars/Clubs
- Places to Eat
- Other Atttractions
Now, you can use any sort of medium that suits you to organize your thoughts. I just happen to be in love with Microsoft Excel.
After completing a sheet like the below for each city. I sent it to the bride and let her ultimately decide where we were going….which may or may not have been based on my extensive research.
Anywho. She picked Denver.
3 Months Out
Send out reminder & Book Flights
I don’t have anything else to say about this step.
Book Lodging
I’m going to go ahead and use this as my window to endorse AirBnB.
Create Rough Itinerary
I used pen and paper for this step. I tried to keep the activities that were in the same neighborhood lumped together. Here’s another glimpse at my brain:
Just wait until you see the final itinerary…hang tight!
[and….you’re scrolling down]
Start Booking Reservations
Once you’ve decided which activities you are definitely going to do, book reservations ASAP for those that require them. This includes restaurants. Most likely, you’ll be in a large group and the last thing you want to become is a herd of hangry hippos wandering aimlessly for their next feed — Or, depending on your troupe, their next kale salad with lemon on the side. [EYE ROLL GOES HERE]
1-2 Months Out
Plan & Make Games
Let the fun begin!
There are so many bride- and penis-themed shenanigans out there. My recommendation here is to have a few games (and dildos) up your sleeve, but expect that you won’t necessarily get to all of them. Attention span does not expand as you approach 30.
Here are some ideas I came across:
- Kiss the Miss Goodbye
- Weenie in a Bottle
- What’s in the Sock – This is the game where I decided to be a bit raunchier than the online example. The items I put in the socks were:
- Lube
- Condoms
- Candle
- Bath Bomb
- Handcuffs
- Candy Panties
- Whip
- Blindfold
- Vibrator
- “Drink If“
- Before/After Mugshots
Buy Decorations & Supplies
Try to get the others to pitch in. Or be nice like me and take it on.
Keep in mind, this stuff was just extra and didn’t make or break the trip.
- Dick Crowns (Etsy)
- Bride & Bride Tribe Sashes (Etsy)
- “I Do Crew” Cups (Etsy)
- LED Rings (Etsy)
- Party Pecker Straws (Amazon)
- Wire “Bride” Tiara – I got this on Etsy, but it’s no longer available.
- Floral Bride Crown – Don’t remember where I got this
- Drinking Buddies (Amazon)
Put Together Goodie Bags
You should know that this is not required. The trip is a goodie in itself!
However…I was really proud of the goodie bags I put together. And you bet your ass, I will tell you why. I chose to make “Oh Shit Kits” or “Hangover Kits” as they are also known. Big deal, lots of people make them. But, anyone who knows my sister knows her deep appreciation for puns and wordplay (as do I), so I tried to incorporate as many as I could…
Oh Shit Kit Contents:
“This Wedding is Going to be the Balm” Lip Balm
“To Have and to Hold” Hair Ties
“A Matcha Made in Heaven” Matcha Green Tea
“Mint to Be” Breathmints
“Special K’s Bachelorette” Granola Bars
(for those of you with K-named bride-to-be’s)
“Here Tums the Bride” Antacids
Cool, Calm and Chamomile Tea from Amazon
On account of me being a pothead…and us being in Denver…some of the gals thought these tea bags were bags of weed at first glance. — Depending on your crowd, also not a bad goodie bag idea.
Advil
Pedialyte Packets
Band-Aids
Finalize Meal Plan
Make sure you have at least a rough idea of where each of the group’s meals will take place. If you’re cooking any meals at “home,” plan ahead to have all ingredients (and cookware) needed. If you are eating out, double-check that reservations are confirmed.
1-2 Weeks Out
SEND OUT REMINDER
Get the gals pumped up! As much as this trip is a send-off into married life for the bride-to-be, it also serves as a little vacation for bride tribe.
CREATE HASHTAG
Obviously, this is not necessary, but in today’s social-media-obsessed world, wtf not, right? When sending out the reminder, cast the brainstorming line and see what reels in. Our hashtag was #PacKyraBags, which was a mixture of my sister’s name and her now-husband’s nickname….clever, if you ask me.
Confirm Travel & Lodging
Need I say more?
Send out Packing LisT & Itinerary
Ok, so here it comes…The final itinerary! I’ll spare you my explanation for this step and simply demonstrate the final fruit of my labor:
The Pointless Pen. 