Archive for December, 2010

Are you trying to plan a bachelorette celebration for a bride that doesn’t want a big party? You don’t need to go over-the-top to celebrate her upcoming nuptials. Here are some party ideas for a low-key celebration for the non-traditional bride-to-be:

1. Girls’ Night In: Plan a girls’ night in for your low-key bride. Rent her favorite movies and stock up on all of her favorites snacks, desserts and drinks. She will appreciate your thoughtfulness and love spending an evening with her friends and family enjoying all of her favorite things!

2. Dinner Party: Whether you book a reservation at her favorite restaurant or host a more intimate dinner party at home, the bride-to-be will appreciate a relaxed bachelorette party. Make sure to get her approval on the guest list. Great food mixed with close friends is always a recipe for an enjoyable evening!

3. Wine Tasting: Host an evening at home and arrange for a sommelier to explain the basics of wine and teach you how to pair wine with food. Everyone will enjoy learning about wine and the bride-to-be will love this low-key bachelorette celebration. Order personalized wine stoppers to give to each guest as a special keepsake.

Even though the bride-to-be doesn’t want to make a big fuss with a bachelorette party, she will appreciate gathering with close friends in a more intimate setting to celebrate. By choosing a low-key bachelorette activity to suit the bride’s personality, the evening is sure to be a success!

Do you want her bachelorette party to be unique and memorable? Plan the party around a holiday and theme it! Everyone loves a theme party. A theme will help you coordinate the games, décor and menu to create a truly unforgettable celebration. We’ve compiled some of our favorite seasonal themes for a bachelorette party. Here are the top three:

1. Halloween: Whether you want to go out to a nightclub or celebrate at someone’s home, make sure that everyone coordinates costumes beforehand. Love a scary costume? Dress as a corpse bride and dead bridesmaids. Pick up an old dress at a thrift store and pair it with dark eye makeup, pale base and plenty of fake blood for a fabulous, frightening look!

2. Winter Wonderland: Choose an ugly-sweater theme for a holiday bachelorette party. Remember those cringe-worthy holiday sweaters that your mom made you wear when you were a kid? They’ve made a comeback as a theme-party essential! Scavenge your local thrift store for the perfect Santa Claus sweater and pair it with jingle bell earrings. Whip up a batch of eggnog and serve a variety of holiday cookies. Rent a karaoke machine and belt out all of your favorite festive tunes!

3. Valentine’s Day: Celebrate love and the bride’s upcoming nuptials with a Valentine’s Day-bachelorette party. Host the party at home and decorate with all things heart-shaped and girly. Serve wine, tapas and a variety of fondue treats. Pick up your favorite romantic comedies and enjoy a lovely girls’ night in!

No matter which theme you choose for her bachelorette bash, the bride will surely appreciate all of the planning and effort to make her celebration unforgettable!

Sure, as long as you’ve gathered great friends to celebrate the bride, she’s bound to have a great evening. However, we’ve compiled a list of three places to avoid planning a bachelorette party to ensure the celebration is remembered for the right reasons.

1. Crowded Concert: Hosting a bachelorette party at a crowded concert may sound like a good idea if you all love the same music, but this isn’t the place to spend an evening celebrating the bride-to-be. This evening is supposed to be all about her and that’s impossible when the musician is the center of attention. It will be too loud to carry on a conversation and socialize. After you factor in the over-priced food and drinks, you can see that this is not the best place for a bachelorette celebration.

2. Mommy & Me: We have a “no kids allowed” rule for all bachelorette parties. This night is about the bride-to-be and it’s not an appropriate occasion for little ones. Spring for a babysitter and enjoy some grown-up time with the ladies. Hosting a party at home? Send the kids to Grandma’s house and send your husband out with the guys. Whether you’re planning a girls’ night in or out, make sure that everyone comes with the same intention, to have a fun and carefree evening in the bride-to-be’s honor!

3. Sleazy Nightclub: Be sure to do your homework before hosting a bachelorette party at a club. Find out how much they charge for cover and the average drink prices. Ask if you can reserve a table and if they have an automatic gratuity charge for a party of your size. Search consumer review websites to find out the club’s reputation. If the club is known to overcharge customers or charge an exorbitant cover fee, steer clear and find another venue.

Make sure that you keep the bride’s personality in mind when planning her bachelorette bash. This is her special evening, so plan it to suit her tastes, not your own.