FULL DISCLOSURE: I have never planned a bachelorette party.
However, I am a soon-to-be-bride who recently had the most amazing bachelorette party planned for her, and luckily for you, I took some notes (and photos, lots of photos!) to help you throw a bachelorette party to end all bachelorette parties!
Don’t push your bride outside of her comfort zone.
This is my rule numero uno for a reason: if you plan something that your bride isn’t comfortable participating in, she won’t enjoy herself, her friends won’t enjoy themselves, and you will have gone through a whole lot of trouble for nothing! It’s so important that the first step in planning the big day before the big day is discussing your ideas with the bride and hearing what she wants out of a bachelorette party.
Your idea of a great weekend might be hitting up all of the best clubs in a certain city. But that’s not exactly what I would call a fun time. Luckily for me, my maid of honor (who also happens to be my sister!) knows me like no one else and thought nothing of getting all of my friends together at Walt Disney World!
Make a budget… and stick to it!
Bachelorette get-togethers are expensive. It’s just the nature of the beast. So when you and your bride decide on a guest list for her little soiree, be sure you immediately begin to talk budget with your bride’s friends. Nothing ruins a vacation more than people getting angry about travel costs, having to miss out on activities they can’t afford, or being blindsided by the expectation that they would pay for something. Money talk sucks; it’s uncomfortable, and it probably always will be. So do yourself a favor and get it out of the way pre-party!
Keep your bride in the loop, but don’t reveal all your secrets!
Since I’m big into budget travel planning (check out how I planned our honeymoon!), my sister let me handle all of that with Disney. That meant I knew where we were staying, when my girls would be coming in/leaving on flights, and what we would be eating (and drinking!) throughout the day. Basically, I thought I knew everything about the trip…
And that was completely false! When my sister picked me up at the airport, I was presented with a goodie bag, a t-shirt, a scavenger hunt for the next day, a souvenir book, MY BRIDE MICKEY EARS, so many things that I hadn’t expected or even known to hope for! It was such a great feeling. So make sure that you keep some cards hidden up your sleeve for your bride as well. It’ll make the experience even more exciting!
Focus early on bringing the group together.
I was fortunate with my bachelorette party attendees: almost all of them were sorority sisters from college who had all just graduated. However, that did leave out my sorority little sister who graduates this year and my actual, biological little sister. 🙂
In an effort to have one cohesive group at the party, my sister started a group text with all of the girls a few weeks beforehand where she relayed all of the important information about the weekend and got to know everyone a little better.
She also made these awesome shirts for our group to wear in the park because it’s a law of nature that matching shirts bring people closer together.
Be flexible and enjoy the day!
My maid of honor could not have been more wonderful throughout the weekend. She had done all of this planning beforehand, but when things started to change she was 
completely willing to do whatever I wanted to. We added some items to my scavenger hunt (including my selfie with Belle)? No big deal! We changed, changed, and then completely skipped one of our FastPass+ reservations? Didn’t bat an eye! The group got separated when our checks at dinner took a while to arrive? We all met up after the fireworks, and everything was fine! She was seriously cool as a cucumber the entire day, and it kept me from stressing because she wasn’t stressing.
If you’ve done everything that you can to make this day special for your bride (which I’m sure you have!), she’ll appreciate and enjoy every minute! And so should you!
And last, but definitely not least…
Safety first.
9 times out of 10, a bachelorette party is going to include some form of alcohol at some point in the day. (If yours doesn’t, who cares? It’s your bride’s big day, and she can do what she wants!) With that little fun fact comes the necessity of being safe, both in your drinking during the day and your getting home from said drinking later in the day.
Even though it was more expensive than spending a second night in my friend’s apartment, we decided to stay on property at a Walt Disney World resort on Saturday night. We all took the complimentary bus transportation to and from Epcot, which meant we could drink throughout the day and not have to worry about anyone driving unsafely. Take cabs, ride public transportation, stay within walking distance of your hotel, do whatever it takes to keep what should be a wonderful celebration from turning into a tragedy. Cheers!
I hope these tips will be helpful for all of the new MOHs out there! Have a question about something that I didn’t cover? Please leave me a comment below!
P.S. You’ll probably want to check out the full bachelorette scavenger hunt I did and our routine for “Drinking Around the World” at Epcot!
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