With the wedding planning well underway and bridesmaids all picked out, it's time to start brainstorming ideas for your bachelorette party. Ideally, this pink and Patrón-fueled affair will become an evening that you and your friends inside joke about for years to come. But before you let your hair down, ladies, there are few things you should know. Here are our 10 rules to abide by on your big night out with the girls.
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10. There will be penis.
You may say that you don't want strippers. You'll probably ask that the evening be free of phallic straws, crowns, and cake. But here's the hard, erect truth: If you're a heterosexual woman set to the tie the knot, you can bet your bag of sweet dong-shaped gummy candies that your friends are going to disregard that request.
9. Post with care.
Don't be afraid to document the memories, but do be aware that some people have employers, significant others, and possibly children that will be seeing everything you upload to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Periscope, and whatever other social media platforms have been invented by the time you're reading this.
8. Put some thought into the invite list.
Some people like to say "the more the merrier," but those people don't factor in Debbie downers, judgmental future in-laws, underaged add-ons, and people who never shut up about their kids, spouse, or singledom. You're here to have a good time, not worry about staying in everyone's good graces.
7. The bride doesn't pay for squat.
Ideally, you only get married once. And bachelorette parties? Those should definitely only happen once. So why not treat the bride-to-be for the special occasion it truly is. Think of it as a very sexy birthday party. The same rules apply.
6. Try not to bankrupt your friends
That being said, keep your bachelorette party within budget. Not everyone can afford a weekend in Napa, Las Vegas, or whatever other destination you saw being used in a movie. At the end of it all, your friends still have to pay for a wedding gift and possibly bridesmaid dresses. There's no shame in keeping your girl's night out in town.
5. Don't throw a bachelorette party the night before your wedding.
Have you learned nothing from movies like Bachelorette, Bridesmaids, and The Hangover franchise? A lot can happen at your bachelorette party, starting with hangovers and ending with -- well, it's really a choose-your-own-adventure of drunken antics. Give yourself some time to rest, recover, and repress the shame of whatever it is you did on that unspeakable night.
4. Don't contact your exes.
Okay, you've found the one. You have won. No need to drudge up the past and rub it in people's faces. Worse, it looks like you're still hung up on someone (or someones) from you past. Leave your exes out of the equation.
3. Or your fiancé for that matter.
You're about to spend the rest of your life with this person. You can go one night without calling and texting each other. Besides, your girlfriends spent a lot of time and money to ensure you have a night of cocktails sipped through penis straws, strippers dressed as police officers, and coordinated tank tops that let everyone around you know that you're getting married and you're friends are somehow involved.
2. It's a two-way street.
If your significant other has his own bachelor party, these same rules should apply. Assuming there's a good level of trust between you, you can just abide by the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Honestly, do you really want to know if there were strippers at your fiancé's party and if so what they looked like? No good can come from such questions.
1. What happens at your bachelorette party stays at your bachelorette party.
Do you want to tarnish the image of your future spouse's little sister by telling him the drunken debauchery you witnessed on your women-only outing? Do you want you're future mother-in-law to see a picture of you on Facebook playing pin the wang on the cardboard Channing Tatum? Ideally the people you most want to share your bachelorette party memories with will be at your actual bachelorette party. So whether you make it out to Sin City or not, treat your ladies' night out like they do in Las Vegas.
