Happy, happy Monday! I hope you had a wonderful weekend. Today, on mrsprofresh.com, I am sharing my top tips on how to plan a bachelorette party. I am so excited to share this blog post with you! It has been long in the making. (I took one week off from posting to catch up and organize upcoming blog posts.) If you have no idea how to begin planning a bachelorette party, you are going to want to keep this guide in your back pocket. 😉

As you know, my little sister is getting married next month. We visited Napa Valley for her bachelorette party – all about our trip here.

This wasn’t my first time planning a bachelorette party so I guess you can say I’ve learned a thing or two about planning them. Having said that, let’s jump into my top tips on how to plan a bachelorette party!

10 tips on how to plan:

1. Pick a location
   • I think the person who will influence this decision is…the bride, of course. She will have to eventually decide whether she wants, or doesn’t want, a local bachelorette party. Dependent upon her decision, you (and the girls) can begin creating the itinerary.
2. Set the date(s)
   • This is probably the biggest struggle of planning anything that involves a large group of people. (If you have a small bachelorette party, lucky you.) The best thing to do is set the date early on so more options are available for everyone, especially for the girls who really want to make it and be a part of the celebration.
3. Decide on the theme
   • So you’ve got the location and date, now what? I strongly believe in having a theme, and no, I am not referring to party decorations. I am referring to the vibe of the party. Are you going to Vegas and getting a little wild? Or are you planning a day at the spa? Once again, input from the bride will be necessary. I would begin by asking, “What do you envision for your bachelorette party?” For the bachelorette parties I have helped plan, I remember getting a very clear picture from the bride-to-be’s on what they wanted their bachelorette party to look like. This vision drove all decisions.
4. Begin creating the itinerary
   • In order to begin creating the itinerary, you will need to know the final headcount of girls participating. Why? Because you want a general idea on what their budget is. I mean, by this point, they should be aware of how much it could possibly cost based on location of the party, but still, it’s important to gauge their thoughts on hotel price and activities. If you are booking a hotel (or Airbnb), lead the way by looking up options first. Afterwards, text top picks to the girls to see what they think. (They might even jump in and help by looking up places to stay 😉 ) Book the place as soon as you find something you love. It is important to book the place first because it will be used as the center point of all activities. You want to make sure you plan the logistics of it all in a logical manner. This means, it makes sense to go from point A to point B. Last thing you want is to be running around town like a chicken without a head, lol! (I hope this makes sense.)
   • If you are traveling, decide if a rental vehicle is the right decision for the group. Again, this will depend on location of the bachelorette party.
   • Once you’ve determined hotel (or Airbnb), you can begin thinking about how you (and the girls) want to spend the day(s). Remember tip #3? Yep, the theme. This vision from the bride-to-be will help you begin planning where to book reservations for restaurants and activities. Does she want to relax and book a spa day? Is she outdoorsy and loves to hike? Does she want to hang out by the pool and have mimosas as soon as she wakes up? Does she love tequila shots and a little champagne? I mean, these are all relevant questions to begin coordinating reservations for the trip. If I could suggest another tip here is, if it’s a bachelorette party that’s happening from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon, count on booking at least one dinner reservation and two brunch reservations. The dinner reservation would be for Saturday night, one brunch reservation would be for Saturday morning, and the second would be for Sunday morning.
5. Ask for input
   • After having a general idea of the itinerary, ask for input before making reservations. (By the way, reservations aren’t permanent decisions either. There is usually some flexibility in moving or cancelling them.) The reason you want to ask for input before making any reservations is because usually the girls will throw in ideas that you probably missed. This, of course, can get a little overwhelming so it’s up to you on how much their suggestions mean anything to you (or the bride-to-be). I know I’ve missed cool dinner spots, or wineries, in my research before.
6. Book reservations
   • After gathering input, or asking for additional suggestions, book reservations. You especially want to book reservations for the things you know are definitely happening. Don’t get me wrong, room service for a delicious pizza sounds quite effortless and relaxing. The amount of dinners, brunches, and other activities will all depend on tip #3, the vision from the bride.
   • Here’s a tip within a tip – leave a little room in the itinerary for the unexpected. There are two types of unexpected events – the ones you have control over and the ones you don’t. The best thing you can do is go with the flow in both instances. For example, if you girls are having a great time at brunch, but scheduled a hike afterwards, perhaps consider pushing back the hike, or cancelling altogether. I think input from the group will help drive the final decision. I’ll use an example of an unexpected event I recently experienced during my sister’s bachelorette party. After arriving in San Francisco, I discovered our rental car wasn’t ready. We waited almost two hours before we could get a car assigned to us. And no, they didn’t warn us about the shortage in advance with a phone call or an email. Apparently, they were experiencing a shortage on vehicles because people weren’t turning in their cars on time. The rental car crew was very aware of this shortage because there was people who were waiting on a car since the night before. It was wild. Anyway, we ended up skipping one activity so we could arrive to our lunch reservation on time.
7. Distribute the itinerary
   • This is completely optional on how you would like to inform the girls of the final itinerary. Do you want create a digital itinerary with pretty font and graphics? Do you want to print a few copies to take with you on the trip? Do you want to send it via text or email? The main important thing is they know what’s happening. You want to include dates, times, names of places, and types of activities. These are all important details because it will let them know when to be ready, what to pack, etc.
8. Pick a party theme or color scheme
   • Now that you have an idea of what is planned for the bachelorette, it’s time to begin planning party decor, if any. If you cannot think of a specific theme, no worries, pick a color theme. The standard color themes are: rose gold, silver, gold, black, white, or pink. I’ll link a blog post of my sister’s bachelorette party decorations here.
9. Brainstorm game ideas
   • There are so many bachelorette party card games on Amazon to choose from. I am not a fan of anything in particular – the one I purchased for my sister’s was corny so I returned it. I prefer deep life chats – as my bff says. There is a game called Table Topics, I came across it at an Airbnb, and really loved it! Provided thoughtful conversations with the group I was with. Anyway, coming up with game ideas should be fun! They could be drinking games, naughty games, you get the idea. Ask the girls for input – there is a lot out there if this isn’t your forte.
10. Coordinate snacks and drinks
    • I feel like a soccer mom with this tip, lol! But seriously, you want to coordinate snacks, food, and drinks with the gals. If you plan to drink all weekend long, you will thank me later for suggesting this tip. Please, please ensure someone is in charge of H2O. I mean, no big deal if you don’t coordinate any of this. After all, you are all adults and can figure out this part later. It’s just nice to plan ahead and have your bottle of water ready to go on your nightstand when you wake up thirsty AF in the middle of the night, or the next morning. Nothing sucks more than a broken ATM machine, just speaking from experience 😉

Well, that’s a wrap for today. If you follow the above ten tips, and plan accordingly to the things I suggested, you will do JUST fine 😉 I would say these are the basic top tips on how to plan a bachelorette party. I could have continued with additional suggestions, I mean like fine fine details, but I don’t want to overwhelm you. Mainly, I focused on covering the essential stuff.

I truly hope this guide helps. As always, if you have any questions, please never hesitate on reaching out via email at mrsprofresh@gmail.com or through Instagram. I always respond to my messages.

Wishing you a happy and productive week! I can already feel fall in the air! In fact, tomorrow is the FIRST day of fall and I am SO ready! Stay tuned because I plan to share a #psl latte recipe – eek! Also, I will give you a hint, pay close attention to stories for a little something. 😉