I’ve gotten several emails in the past few weeks asking for new + non-chessy ideas for a bachelorette party. I’m so onboard with this! You don’t have to go bar hopping with the penis straws (unless that is what you want to do – then I say go for it!) but I know that’s not me. I’ve gathered a bunch of fun ideas to make her bachelorette party one she will totally love – or ideas to share with your besties. :)
For the creative Bride:
Take a flower arranging class or make terrariums together! Who doesn’t love learning more about pretty flowers? Check your area to see if they offer a class like this for your girls – or if you are on a budget, go the your local flower market and buy a bunch of flowers and see what you all come up with! I also love terrariums and think they would be super fun to make together. Here is a DIY if you want to go for it yourselves or check for classes in your area. And San Diego readers should be sure to check out the Plant Lab in North Park where they offer a cool eco orb workshop. If you live near Philly, I hear the Terrain store is amazing and would make a perfect day with their cafe and they also offer a terrarium workshop that is only $15 a person! (top photo from rolling greens nursery in LA which offers classes and bottom by Scott Clark via here)
A jewelry making class would be so fun also. You could even make something to wear for the wedding or rehearsal dinner. :) I would look at your local bead shops for classes. Here in Santa Monica Ritual Adornments (they also have a store in Santa Fe) offers great classes – and is probably the coolest bead shop I’ve been too! I took a class here a few years ago with some friends and it was super fun.
For the Foodie:
Food Truck + Restaurant Hop! I think one of the most fun days (for me at least!) would be to restaurant hop between some of the best restaurants in town while also hunting down some yummy food trucks! It’s an adventure and chance to try delicious food. Above left are ice cream sammies from Cool Haus Ice Cream Truck (LA and Austin)  – they have the best + most unusual flavors of ice cream such as balsamic fig + mascarpone and brown butter with candied bacon – YUM! On the right is the Ludo Truck – delicious fried chicken balls. So many ideas for this one!
Take a cooking or sushi class. How fun would it be to learn some cooking secrets or sushi tricks with your girls? Then of course you get to eat everything! :) Photo above from Hip Cooks which have locations in LA, Seattle, and Portland.
For some relaxation with the girls:
Girls Weekend Getaway. What’s more fun then a trip with your girls. For us here in southern Cali, Palm Springs is a perfect getaway. Lots of great hotels + resorts to pick from or you could rent a house with your own pool – so perfect for a weekend of sun + relaxation! I also love the idea of renting a cabin by a lake or beach or just a great resort somewhere warm – depending what is close to you. :) (photo by Joielala)
Spa Day. Don’t really need to say much here! Who wouldn’t love a spa day with their closest friends??! Always a winner for me. :) The photo above is from the Ciel Spa at the SLS Hotel here in LA, which is a gorgeously designed spa and one of my faves.
Wine tasting. Another can’t go wrong choice! Lots of wineries all over the country (and world!), so this is a great choice for lots of you I’m sure. :) Be sure to hire a driver so you all can enjoy yourselves, pick up a picnic lunch and catch up on all your gossip! (vineyard photo from here and V. Sattui Winery)
For some adventure:
Hot Air Balloon Ride. Kind of like a trip of a lifetime! How amazing would this be with your besties? Just love this idea…photos from Floataway Studios where Mary and some of her girls (including Lydia) did just this!
Have a campout! Love this idea also. You could have fun and rent a vintage camper or set up some tents in a National Park near you. Go hiking, cook a yummy dinner, make some smores and stay up all night talking! (vintage camper from here and bottom photo by erin hearts court)
What do you guys think? What did you do for your bachelorette party or what are you planning to do? And if you haven’t had yours yet, maybe you need to forward this to your bridesmaids. :)
I love the idea of taking a class together! Wouldn’t it be fun for me and my few ladies to do a crochet or knitting class together?!
hey that’s me on the hot air balloon ride!! ahaha. it was so much fun! should also mention there’s wineries all around that area too so they can stick around for wine tours too!
I wish we had the money for a restaurant hop or spa day! Even so, I’m pretty excited for the cheap party I requested: make your own pizza party with a variety of cocktails served and a chick flick. :)
I love all of these ideas! I wish we still had time to plan something like this!
For my bachelorette party we are renting a hotel room at a really nice hotel ( I will be having my boudoir pictures there earlier) and having a big slumber party and games since one of my girls is pregnant and can’t really go out on the town!
I love the food truck idea! So I’m currently obsessed with them, I just found out about Off the Grid SF for you Bay Area peeps. On Friday nights from 5 to 10 pm about 30 get together at Fort Mason. http://offthegridsf.com/ Not a ton of hopping around town but seriously a lot of fun even just for a girls night out, sign me up!
Fun ideas. I mostly like the wine tasting, the camp out, the girls weekend, and the spa day!
I love terrariums and really want to make one of my own soon (thanks for the tutorial links-really clear and helpful), meanwhile does anyone know of terrarium classes in LA? I would love to go!
My fave is the camp out (any time there’s a the vintage trailer I’m in!) That little peach is in the UK, but we’ve got a couple of cuties here in the US at Archive Vintage Rentals.
I love all these ideas (for me, the jewelry or cooking classes sounded fun, along with the hot air balloon ride!). Seeing the camping pics made me think that doing a fun mini photo shoot with your girls would be fun too! It would be a chance to practice smiling a lot before the wedding (and you’d have AWESOME girls day pics)!!
absolutely love all these ideas!
thanks for sharing
awesome ideas. i love the idea of a campout…some buckets of cold beer and marshmallows…mm. perfect idea.
Great ideas! I love the camping idea especially!
Laura- a make your own pizza party with your girls sounds awesome too! I love making pizza at home. :)
Jessica – How fun! Love that you are doing boudoir photos there earlier too!! :)
Meredith – You and me both!!
Dahlia – Check out Rolling Greens Nursery! They actually have a class this Sat! http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rolling-Greens-Nursery/286687194194
Recently, I hosted a shower at a wine and tapas bar; http://www.theblindmonk.com
We enjoyed delicious meats, cheeses, chocolates and cake that all favored well with the 5-course wine education that our awesome Sommelier guided us through. She started us off with a sparkling prosecco, the 2 whites and 2 reds. I had a slide show of all of her girls playing on the big screen and we each wrote the bride-to-be a note and I added them to a scrapbook along with photos from the slide show, as a keepsake from her shower.
The bride-to-be had a very close relationship with her 2 puppies that passed away this last year; so a donation was made in honor of each guest to our local animal “no-kill” shelter and cookies by http://www.goodgirlcookies.com, were served in honor of Belle & Taz.
All of the flowers were from our local green market ($35 for 5 HUGE centerpeices that I made) and the cake was from a local all-organic baker. (www.cakeahlicious.com)
It turned out to be such a fantastic and non-cheesey evening. We all were just the right amount of tipsy and the atmosphere was superb. I HIGHLY recommend a wine education in honor of a wino-bride :)
Hot air balloon ride, that’s perfect! Great ideas here, way more classy (although I do have to say penis straw parties are fun too lol)
We are TOTALLY doing a baseball game!!! SF Giants vs. LA Dodgers… An age-old rivalry doesn’t get any better! Plus bar hopping around SF, of course ;)
I work for a bead store, so I totally second the idea of doing a class there! You could make jewelry to go with your bridesmaid dresses, or just for fun.
This is a wonderful post! I have been thinking about a way to get all my best girlfriends together- they live all over (North Carolina, Washington DC, Colorado, and Taiwan!) I have thought about a wine tasting trip in Cali, but thank you for all the other ideas. Ps. I love the DIY video for terrariums.
WOW IDEAS!
the vintage camper is so cool!
I LOVE THESE IDEAS! Makes me wanna get the girls together for a girls night. Thanks so much for the inspiration.
Amazing ideas! Love the flower arrangement option, I’d totally love that!
We are camping for my party. We are making a weekend out of it. A day or overnight rafting (most of us girls were guides) and probably some mountain biking! We just can’t decide if we are going to do some great class III-V whitewater or just a booze cruise float. . . .that’s what’s great about Colorado, lots of options!!!
My fiancee already did his bachelor’s trip, back country hut ski trip!
So happy to see the highlight on wine tasting. We will be doing this for my friend’s party and I will be pulling ideas from the site to make it not cheesy but cute at the same time.
Salud!
I rented a cabin by a lake and had my 9 bridesmaids and some other friends as well (and my Mom! She’s a ton of fun) come up and stay the weekend. Not everyone could make it, most did though. We had YUMMY food and games, we watched chick-flicks and scary movies and slept SO late. It was a really awesome weekend that kind of served to give everyone a breather and a time to chill more than anything.
I’m so glad to see a post about this. I was not a typical Bride and since so many of my girlfriends lived very far away, I had a hard time justifying asking them to fly in to see me once for a bachelorette party and again for the wedding. My “Hen Party” ended up getting planned in with the rest of my wedding weekend. I chose a private yoga class for my closest girlfriends, aunts, cousins, and mother(s). So many people dragged their feet and worried that they wouldn’t enjoy it or it would be too challenging. It was a HUGE hit and everyone has a great time bonding and laughing over all the poses. Best of all, it left us centered, energized, and ready to go for the wedding day!
My brides maids and I went to have our boudoir pictures taken. We went to warwickboudoir.com booked the date. The rest is history! We split a few bottles of wine and came out with some amazing pictures. Totally a great idea!
I’m planning a bachelorette party for my best friend-only catch is the party would be in March-she’s outdoorsy and not into bar hopping/wine…have any ideas for something to do in March? I like the idea of getting a hotel room with even a waterpark…but I’m looking for other ideas as well…help?
Reading this post made me so happy! Before my wedding I had a “Spa Day Before the Big Day” and invited my sister, niece, mother, mom-in-law, bridesmaids and sisters-in-law to the spa. We booked a cabana so we’d have concierge service and no one would have to play host (so everyone could relax and enjoy), shared a fabulous lunch, lounged in the pools, sipped pina coladas, some got massages or other services, and we all laughed and had a great time. For full disclosure I work at Glen Ivy Hot Springs in Corona, CA and wanted to share that many of these party ideas reminded me of the free programs we now offer – tomorrow is a container gardening class and we also have yoga, water aerobics, flower arranging, cooking classes…too many to name…so you could easily plan your day around one of those special programs. If anyone does decide to come to Glen Ivy, be sure to do Club Mud for a great shot of the whole group covered in red clay! (also, make a cute little bikini veil for the bride!) Cheers!
I’m the maid of honor for my best friend and we came up with the idea together (along with the other maid of honor) to have an weekend getaway in Chicago with an 80’s night. We are visiting all of the bride’s favorite spots in the city, doing some shopping, and topping off our Saturday night in the city with an 80’s bash complete with outfits of our favorite 80’s female icons!
Jewelry making class is always fun and interesting for certain girls.
For something a little more adventurous try out a scavenger hunt. You can make it as crazy or mild as you want but they sure are fun.
there’s a 99 topic scavenger hunt checklist over at this site with matching shirts:
http://www.amazingbacheloretteparty.com/bachelorette-party-bridal-shower-games/
I actually had a cooking class for my best friend’s wedding and it couldn’t have been better. There was so much fun making and learning the recipes! The best part is you get to eat what you made which was delicious! And it’s because of this cooking class that I now know how to make a mean Baklava… Will definitely try your ideas.
~Paulyn from http://www.headpiecesforbrides.com
A gathering is always a good idea!