Low Budget Bachelorette Party

With the bachelorette party I’ll be attending in Vegas this weekend on my mind, I thought this week’s post should be about the first bachelorette party I ever planned. And, in honor of it being our first event “throwback” post, you are getting it on a Thursday.

Throwback to 2011: Low-budget Bachelorette Party

Elizabeth and Corey were set to be married on December 31, 2011. Less than a week beforehand, I met with my best friend Kate (which is how I know Elizabeth) and two of Elizabeth’s other friends to finalize the plans for her bachelorette party. We had a short amount of time to coordinate the final details and a limited budget (approximately $50) to pull them together. We had been communicating for a few months about the basic plan, which involved surprising the bride and taking her straight from her bridal shower to her bachelorette activities. Since Elizabeth was under 21, we had to find locations other than bars to host our event.

After presenting my ideas and discussing all of our options with Elizabeth’s friends, we can up with the following plan:

Part 1: Surprise Elizabeth at the end of her bridal shower with a bachelorette sash and announce that we are kidnapping her for her bachelorette party
Part 2: Head to the mall for the bachelorette scavenger hunt
Part 3: Dinner at Cheesecake Factory (also at the mall)
Part 4: Back to the house for snacks, drinks, and games
Part 5: The closing event - Stripper!

Part 1: The surprise went perfectly! Now wearing her bachelorette sash, we whisked Elizabeth out the door to our first destination: the Chandler Mall.

Part 2: The scavenger hunt was adapted from one I found on Pinterest (though I do not have the original, you can find lots of great ideas on our pinterest board here) and had roughly 20 tasks on it. The list below includes some examples from our scavenger hunt:

Find a random guy to serenade the bride
Spell out the word BRIDE using the people at the bachelorette party
Find a penny from the year the bride was born and the year the groom was born
In a bookstore (we chose Barnes & Noble), have all of the guests find a book that they think is the best advice for the bride. Then each guest tells the bride why that book was selected (this can get pretty funny depending on how creative your guests are. They may pick up something like this or this or even this).
Get marriage advice from 3 strangers
Ask a random guy to convince the bride why she should marry him instead of her fiancé

Part 3: We fortunately did not have to wait too long between our scavenger hunt and our table at the Cheesecake Factory (more time for photo ops in between!). My brother’s friend was working that night, so he served our table. This worked out well because not only was he a very entertaining server, but he also fulfilled the role of “random guy to serenade the bride” for our scavenger hunt.

Part 4: We purchased a few snacks and beverages in advance and had those to offer the guests, though everyone was pretty full from dinner and cheesecake. We played games like “Pin the Junk on the Hunk” and drank from pecker straws. It was fun and laid back – just like the bride.

Part 5: Though about half of the guests had departed at this time (it was nearly midnight), our “stripper” finally arrived. I say “stripper” because it was one of our friends who had to be pretty liquored up to come do a strip tease for us, but it worked out well. He was our final form of entertainment and it was definitely a fun(ny) and memorable way to end the night.

Bachelorette Party Cost Breakdown

Scavenger Hunt Print Outs: Free from my printer! If you go somewhere like Kinkos, it is approximately 19 cents per sheet (black and white) to print there. You can either print one you find online, create your own, or a combination of both.
Bachelorette Sash: $9.99 at Fascinations
Pin the Junk on the Hunk: $10.99 at Fascinations
Pecker Straws: $6.49-$9.00 on Amazon. We purchased ours at Fascinations, but they are no longer on their website. Here are some options on Amazon: flesh colored or bright colored
Dinner: This varied per person at the Cheesecake Factory (their menu is huge!), but I would say between $15-$20 minimum per person, including pitching in for the bride’s dinner.
F&B (not including dinner): Approximately $20 for a few snacks and beverages at the house.
Venues: All of these were free because we used the mall, a restaurant, and friend’s house. Hotels also make for great bachelorette party venues, but public places and houses are an excellent low-budget alternative.
Vehicles: We carpooled in a few cars and stayed local, so this was of minimal cost to the drivers, and much cheaper than a limo (though a limo is another fun option to add on if it’s in your budget).
Stripper: Free! While this is certainly NOT an obligation (I would prefer no strippers at my bachelorette party – FYI Bridesmaids!), it was definitely more affordable to have a friend take on the role than hiring someone. Now this may have been a totally different level of entertainment for those of us who knew him (it was harder to take the striptease seriously), but it was still entertaining.

Total Cost for the Bachelorette Party: $47.47 (plus individual dinners).

Thrifty Tips

Utilize free venues
Save on transportation by having hosts and guests help with driving
Print materials (i.e. Scavenger Hunt sheets) from home if possible
Plan ahead and shop online for bachelorette sash, games, straws, etc. for better pricing than in stores
Make going out to dinner part of the bachelorette party itinerary to lower your F&B costs as the hostess. As a curtesy to your guests, be sure to include this information on your invitation (restaurant name, location, price range, etc.). This way you will only need to supply snacks and beverages if you are at a house or hotel before/after the other activities

What Went Well

The Bride was surprised
Everyone had fun
All 5 parts of the itinerary flowed together smoothly

What I Learned

It is not difficult to find people at the mall to participate in your scavenger hunt
Watching your guy friend perform a striptease can be hilarious
If there are people at your party location who are not aware of the bachelorette party events, warn them when the stripper will be entering and exiting to avoid an awkward encounter