Traditionally carried out by the bridesmaids and maid of honor, the bachelorette party and bridal shower bring female friends and family together to celebrate the bride, her final days as a single girl and her future as a happily married woman!

Bachelorette parties are (usually) tamer than the groom’s bachelor party shenanigans – but both share similar intentions of celebrating the person you are and the person you will become. When planning a bachelorette party, it’s important for the bridesmaids and maid of honor to plan an evening designed to entertain the bride, while accommodating the time commitments and financial limitations of those in attendance.  It’s helpful to solicit the bride’s opinion, but the bridesmaids and maid of honor should ultimately head up the entire evening so the bride can enjoy her moment!

The bachelorette party may also help inspire your bridesmaid gifts! A special keepsake reminiscent of your bachelorette party gives extra meaning to the tradition of giving bridesmaids gifts. If your bachelorette party took you wine tasting, then a bottle of fine wine is a nice bridesmaid gift that will surely be enjoyed.  A bridesmaid gift bag with scented lotions is a fun bridesmaid gift if you and your ladies spent a day at the spa, or monogrammed beach bags make handy bridesmaid gifts for a beach-themed bachelorette party.

Nothing is off limits as bachelorette parties have evolved over the past few years into overnight vacations and even co-ed bachelor/bachelorette parties where the bride and groom celebrate their “last days of freedom”, together!

A day of indulgence
● Enjoy a day of pampering and bonding with the girls at a spa
● An afternoon tea at an elegant hotel
● A poolside soiree’ spent sunning in lounge chairs and sipping frozen daiquiris

Weekend get-aways
● Las Vegas, New Orleans and New York City are fun-filled destinations with 24 hours of entertainment!
● A road trip to a nearby beach town for a day in the sun and an evening of seaside festivities
● A camping trip in the mountains brings you back-to-nature with hiking, horseback riding and river tubing
● Plan a weekend get-away where you don’t “get-away” at all – have a slumber party at someone’s house!

On the town!
● A nice dinner downtown followed by a piano bar, comedy club or dance club
● Hire a limousine to chauffeur the ladies to all of the local ‘hot spots’
● Team everyone up for a scavenger hunt around town
● Take a river cruise with an open bar, dinner and dancing

Bachelorette PartyDo’s & Don’ts
● Traditionally, everyone in attendance pays for themselves and contributes money towards the bride at the bachelorette party. Out-of-town bridesmaids who are unable to attend are not required to spend any money but it’s a very nice gesture to help pay for the bride’s expenses
● It’s only truly acceptable to invite women who are also invited to the wedding, however you can always make exceptions based on circumstance
● Avoid planning a bachelorette party for the night before the wedding, two weeks prior to the wedding is best!
● Make it fun!  Have everyone follow a theme by wearing all white, old bridesmaid dresses (complete with bridesmaid shoes!), or wear colorful Hawaiian leis