NYC Bachelorette Party
When my college roommate Caitlin told me she was engaged I couldn’t have been happier. Caitlin was living in DC at the time and had met an amazing man from London while out one night. After the news of the engagement, Caitlin also informed me that she would be moving to London to be with him and only had three months left in the states.
Obviously a bachelorette and proper send-off was needed before she left the continent! Unfortunately this gave me about a month of planning. Luckily Caitlin was all about the idea of her bachelorette weekend being in NYC and since I had been living in the city for about three years, it was a bit more of a comfort zone for me with plans.
I started with a guest list and started forming plans with estimated costs. With girls traveling from DC, California, and Boston I felt it was a good idea to get an estimated cost for the weekend so the girls had that in mind when deciding if they were able to make it or not. We chose MLK weekend and luckily all girls were able to make it!
For this Bachelorette Weekend/International Bon Voyage I tried to find as many pre-pay and pre-fixe options as possible. With 10 girls I wanted to avoid splitting checks as much as possible. I landed on the below for our weekend and I would definitely say the pole dancing class and Mexican fiesta dinner were the highlights of the weekend!
Tips - overestimate when you are providing details of the weekend to the guests, it’s easier to ask for money up front vs. asking throughout the weekend. Get to the place where everyone is staying before anyone else arrives. Decorating and making sure everything looks perfect takes more time than you think - luckily I had my roommate help me or else the set-up would not have gotten done before everyone arrived. Share the itinerary and recommendations on what to wear each day at least one week before the weekend.
Here was our itinerary along with some pictures/tips -
Hotel - Holiday Inn Chelsea - great location, decent size rooms, good price
Friday - - I went and checked into both rooms for the ladies. I stayed at my apartment, but had the rooms in my name so I could decorate and set-up for the evening. I got each one of the girls matching shirts from Etsy, and I got cute hangover bags that I filled with Advil, chapstick, a granola bar, band-aids, hair ties, personalized sunglasses, flash tats, and some sparking rose!
- After the girls arrived, we had a lingerie shower and played some fun games. I had asked Caitlin’s fiancé questions about their relationship and for every question she got wrong, she had to take a shot (peppermint patty her favorite!) and for every question she got right she got to give out a shot. We also played a fan favorite that I found on Amazon - Pin the Cock on the Jock. Seriously this game has been a fan favorite at all of the bachelorette parties I have attended.
- Dinner was at 8pm at Tortilla Flats - prepaid with 2 hours of unlimited drinks - http://www.tortillaflatsnyc.com/ - Post dinner we went out in Chelsea at Brass Monkey
Saturday
- I told the girls to put on the matching shirts I had proved in their rooms as we would be matching for brunch and our pole dancing class - Brunch was at 11am at Hotel Chantelle's rooftop in Lower East Side - 92 Ludlow Street- We did the pre-fixe family style menu which included 1 brunch cocktail. They also offer penny drinks and large champagne bunch bowls that we shared after our first cocktail. I had the girls pay me for the pre-fixe amount of the brunch and had them Venmo me for the balance of additional cocktails and tip. - Immediately after brunch we headed to Shockra Dance Studio for a class at 1:30pm - we did the private pole dancing class for an hour. - Post class, we went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner - had to get in all black for our bride to be to shine in white! - Dinner was at 5:30 at Sugar Factory in Meatpacking - 835 Washington Street - This place has typical american food and super cool goblet drinks to share! http://sugarfactory.com/nyc-meatpacking-district - After dinner we went to a drag queen show near Times Square called Diva Royale. Honestly, this was not exactly what I expected. We were one of three groups there and I would have liked for it to have been busier, but it did mean more attention for our girl and she even got up stage during one of the songs! - Post show, we went to Senor Frogs to live out Caitlin's Spring Break fantasies! And then made our way to Murray Hill
Sunday
- We checked out at 11am, had some hangover food for breakfast and all said our goodbyes.