When I think "bachelorette party," the following two scenarios immediately come to mind:
1) A bunch of women shaking it in the club, potentially in a hot tourist spot (i.e. Las Vegas or New York), with one wearing a "bride" sash and getting anywhere from tipsy to sloppily drunk, while random guys buy her drinks and attempt to grab or kiss her and strangers shout words of encouragement and/or warning.
2) A bunch of women at someone's house when an [insert blue-collar worker of choice] knocks on the door, says something corny, and starts to do some awkward striptease with a lot of grinding that's supposed to be sexy.
Which type of bride am I? Um, neither of the above.
Luckily, more options are opening up for non-club-hopping bachelorettes without stripper fetishes: wine-tasting, pampering parties, girls-only camping trips, and other activities for women who actually want to remember their bonding.
Instead of going to a club before my wedding, my sisters will be hosting an old-fashioned slumber party to celebrate my last night of being single.
Now I know that some of you are rolling your eyes and thinking I'm a lame. I admit: renting a limobus with friends sounds cool, and a night at the club could be fun....
But wait, that's what we're doing for our wedding reception after party!
Huh? After party? Won't Jeremy and I be extremely exhausted or "otherwise preoccupied" after our wedding?
Well, yes.
However, a lot of our friends are going to be coming in from out of town, including some that we haven't seen in years -- plural. We want to spend more time with them than just a few minutes thanking them at the reception. (For the older folks and early-risers, we'll be having a brunch on Sunday morning.)
In addition, our bridal party and guests live in over a dozen states. Getting everyone together for a bachelor or bachelorette party isn't practical or cost-effective, and I don't want to exclude anyone from the festivities.
Lu and I would much rather sacrifice a few hours of sleep and put our libidos on the back-burner for a bit to have some fun with all of our friends together.
Thanks to Chariots for Hire, we'll be able to do just that in our 35-passenger limobus.... And we're not the only ones jumping on this trend.
With the convenience of modern technology and transportation, it's a lot easier to remain "close" to people that you don't see in person on a regular basis. Besides your garden variety Facebook stalking, it's easy to stay up-to-date with the latest happenings in your friends' lives via texting, email, and video chat. After all, Lu and I both agree that we fell in love over AOL Instant Messenger (AIM).
Technology still doesn't replace face-time with friends. It just makes it easier to pick up where you left off... even if it is four years later at a wedding.
I know that partying as a newlywed isn't the same as a crazy no-guys-allowed club night, but I have to be true to myself on this one.
When I think back to my memories of college, the nights that stand out aren't the ones at the house parties or the clubs... and there were plenty of those. The nights that I now cherish are the random ones with all of my friends packed into someone's dorm room until 3 AM, the impromptu sleepovers after we came back in for the night, or making s'mores in our apartment's fireplace -- using Duraflame logs. (Sooo we obviously didn't think that out up front, but we got a lot of laughs later.)
This is truly my last time to do that. The club will always be there. But I don't think Lu would be too comfortable if I wanted to invite my 10 closest girlfriends over for pizza, games, gossip, makeovers, and more junk food than I typically eat in a month.
I don't spend my normal weekends getting drunk, shaking it fast, or being groped by strangers. I certainly don't want to spend my last night with my closest gal pals this way just because I'm "supposed" to enjoy it.
To each their own, but throwing up on a street corner or paying a man to thrust his neon-spandex-covered penis in my face -- yeah, i just said that (sorry, Mom), but that's pretty much what strippers do -- is not how I want to say goodbye to singlehood.
My sleepover may not be the typical bachelorette party, and our after party may not be the typical wedding night. Regardless, I guarantee there will be as many memories and as much laughter with less damage to my liver, wallet, and dignity.
1) A bunch of women shaking it in the club, potentially in a hot tourist spot (i.e. Las Vegas or New York), with one wearing a "bride" sash and getting anywhere from tipsy to sloppily drunk, while random guys buy her drinks and attempt to grab or kiss her and strangers shout words of encouragement and/or warning.
2) A bunch of women at someone's house when an [insert blue-collar worker of choice] knocks on the door, says something corny, and starts to do some awkward striptease with a lot of grinding that's supposed to be sexy.
Which type of bride am I? Um, neither of the above.
Luckily, more options are opening up for non-club-hopping bachelorettes without stripper fetishes: wine-tasting, pampering parties, girls-only camping trips, and other activities for women who actually want to remember their bonding.
Instead of going to a club before my wedding, my sisters will be hosting an old-fashioned slumber party to celebrate my last night of being single.
Now I know that some of you are rolling your eyes and thinking I'm a lame. I admit: renting a limobus with friends sounds cool, and a night at the club could be fun....
But wait, that's what we're doing for our wedding reception after party!
Huh? After party? Won't Jeremy and I be extremely exhausted or "otherwise preoccupied" after our wedding?
Well, yes.
However, a lot of our friends are going to be coming in from out of town, including some that we haven't seen in years -- plural. We want to spend more time with them than just a few minutes thanking them at the reception. (For the older folks and early-risers, we'll be having a brunch on Sunday morning.)
In addition, our bridal party and guests live in over a dozen states. Getting everyone together for a bachelor or bachelorette party isn't practical or cost-effective, and I don't want to exclude anyone from the festivities.
Lu and I would much rather sacrifice a few hours of sleep and put our libidos on the back-burner for a bit to have some fun with all of our friends together.
Thanks to Chariots for Hire, we'll be able to do just that in our 35-passenger limobus.... And we're not the only ones jumping on this trend.
With the convenience of modern technology and transportation, it's a lot easier to remain "close" to people that you don't see in person on a regular basis. Besides your garden variety Facebook stalking, it's easy to stay up-to-date with the latest happenings in your friends' lives via texting, email, and video chat. After all, Lu and I both agree that we fell in love over AOL Instant Messenger (AIM).
Technology still doesn't replace face-time with friends. It just makes it easier to pick up where you left off... even if it is four years later at a wedding.
I know that partying as a newlywed isn't the same as a crazy no-guys-allowed club night, but I have to be true to myself on this one.
When I think back to my memories of college, the nights that stand out aren't the ones at the house parties or the clubs... and there were plenty of those. The nights that I now cherish are the random ones with all of my friends packed into someone's dorm room until 3 AM, the impromptu sleepovers after we came back in for the night, or making s'mores in our apartment's fireplace -- using Duraflame logs. (Sooo we obviously didn't think that out up front, but we got a lot of laughs later.)
This is truly my last time to do that. The club will always be there. But I don't think Lu would be too comfortable if I wanted to invite my 10 closest girlfriends over for pizza, games, gossip, makeovers, and more junk food than I typically eat in a month.
I don't spend my normal weekends getting drunk, shaking it fast, or being groped by strangers. I certainly don't want to spend my last night with my closest gal pals this way just because I'm "supposed" to enjoy it.
To each their own, but throwing up on a street corner or paying a man to thrust his neon-spandex-covered penis in my face -- yeah, i just said that (sorry, Mom), but that's pretty much what strippers do -- is not how I want to say goodbye to singlehood.
My sleepover may not be the typical bachelorette party, and our after party may not be the typical wedding night. Regardless, I guarantee there will be as many memories and as much laughter with less damage to my liver, wallet, and dignity.
