cool fresh bachelorette party themes

Later in the hour, the first "Ask Laura" question!!!

Let's be real, a lot of bachelorette party themes have been done to death. Cowgirl? 70s? Vaguely tropical? Gag me with a spoon. It's wedding season now, and you may have the pleasure of planning a bachelorette party for a friend. You wanna do something fresh and fun, something fitting for your friend, something that will make all the attendees say “Wow, I attended 40 bachelorette parties this summer alone and this was by far the most special.” Look no further than right here.

Fresh from my brain, here are some super unique, never-been-done-before bach themes:

1. Jenna Maroney

Need I say more?

2. Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie The Simple Life

I think this is one of the best ideas I've ever had. Can't you just picture the “That's Hot” banner? The Y2K outfits? The pink RAZR phone photo prop? Please.

3. Carey Martin, the mom from The Suite Life of Zach and Cody

Inspired by two things: me loving Carey Martin so much, and my girlfriend saying “The Simple Life of Zack and Cody” when trying to remember the name of this show. The best idea for a weirdly specific SNL sketch in 2005 I could possibly imagine. Can't you see, say, Kristin Wiig and Bill Hader in Sprouse brothers wigs saying “That's Hot?” Alternatively, them as Paris and Nicole at the Tipton Hotel. Either way.

Also, Carey Martin seemed so old when I was eight and watching this show, but looking at pictures of her now? She is my age? You either die a Zack/Cody or live long enough to look at Carey Martin and think “now that's a girl I could get a beer with.”

4. Vanessa Hudgens Sneakernight

BASICALLY WHAT WE'RE GONNA DO IS DANCE

5. HBO's Girls themed

There is a mandatory part of the party where we are all aggressively honest with one another about every person's worst flaws.

6. Debbie Thornberry

Not only did my soon-to-be sister-in-law write a great song about her (stream “Debbie” by Ashley Lepre on Spotify), but my God, was she iconic. This is maybe the perfect bachelorette party theme for me because I dress like Debbie Thornberry on a daily basis.

6. Rocket Power

Kind of in the same realm, I feel like a Rocket Power bachelorette party could kind of shred. You could all skate as a part of the party?

7. Twister

You can make a signature drink for the event and call it “the stormchaser” — iconic I fear?

8. Jersey Shore

This is kind of a copout because the themed of Jersey Shore already overlap with the general themes of bachelorette parties (drinking, vibing, yelling a little bit, being Italian if that is part of your whole deal, being a little Italian even if that isn’t really a part of your whole deal). I understand this, but consider the outfits.

As a tie-in, I asked Laura about wedding DOs and DON’Ts. Their lovely response here:

I'm recently engaged AND we are approaching wedding season: I would love advice for people planning weddings. What have you loved at weddings and what have you disliked at weddings? Fully just your opinions lol but you have great taste and I wanna know all your suggestions and recommendations

Huge congratulations on your engagement!! You may not know this about me, but I am a HUGE wedding lover. To my core I am a big fan of love, and an even bigger fan of my friends, so getting dressed up to go watch my friends be deeply and publicly in love? Very compelling to me. I’ve attended a few weddings over the course of my life, including one very recently that I helped plan as a maid of honor (insert obligatory pics of me ugly crying at the altar here). 

My number one favorite thing at a wedding is when the event really captures the vibes of the couple. During wedding planning, a couple gets inundated with a million different expectations and suggestions, some with more pressure applied than others. It can feel really difficult to push back against those (often unsolicited) opinions, especially when everyone’s yelling “this is the way it’s done!” The best weddings I’ve been to are the ones that feel authentic to the couple getting married, whether that’s in the aesthetics of the wedding, the components of the ceremony, or the activities taking place at the reception. These often end up being the most memorable weddings for guests, too! 

Being true to yourself comes in many forms. My brother decided to get married at city hall with only 10 immediate family members in attendance and a small dinner afterward because he and his wife hate being the center of attention. My friend Hanna hosted a 150-person black tie soiree complete with a crystal tiara, a red carpet, and a cello cover of Love Story by Taylor Swift to walk down the aisle to. Both of these weddings absolutely slapped because the couple clearly made the choices they knew would make them the happiest. Honestly, in my experience as a guest, weddings are only really fun if it seems like the couple is having fun - there’s nothing worse than feeling like the newlyweds are stressed or frantic.

Another thing I really love is how modern couples are beginning to eschew the outdated, and kinda gross, gender norms that typically come with weddings. In recent years I’ve seen more

mixed gender wedding parties, with fewer folks opting to have only “bridesmaids” and “groomsmen”. I’ve also seen a trend moving away from traditions like fathers “giving away” brides and, what I consider to be the most foul wedding tradition, the garter toss. (Side note: choosing to get under your bride’s skirt to toss their garter to your drunk former frat boy groomsmen is actually a wild thing to do in front of your family.) I am very much all for the move away from weird gendered wedding stuff, especially since so many of these traditions don’t even make sense for queer couples. 

I do have one major pet peeve when it comes to weddings, and that is unwavering rigidity about one’s wedding day. This is an issue I have in general with big milestones and events - the expectation of perfection is so unrealistic and only sets you up to be disappointed. This isn’t something I’ve seen firsthand because most of my loved ones are pretty laid back, but I keep seeing stories online of friendships falling out because someone wore the wrong color dress, or dared to have unnaturally colored hair, or even wear glasses on someone else's wedding day, stories of friends being told they’re too tall, short, or fat to be in bridal parties, stories of relationships ending because brides expect their bridesmaids to cover thousands of dollars in expenses for bridal showers, bachelorette parties, dresses, accessories and other costs. It’s one thing to have an expectation of what your wedding day will look like, it’s another to expect the entire world to revolve around your one big day. I think it’s important to take a step back and remember what your priorities are for your wedding, the most important of which is to celebrate your love with your spouse. Leaving room for the possibility of imperfection and having realistic expectations are how you prevent disappointment and avoid creating tense situations in your relationships. 

Ultimately, my advice here is: do what makes you happy. You don’t have to abide by traditions you don’t like just because some old people are telling you there’s a certain way to do things. Taking the care to make your wedding feel like you means both you and your guests will have an extra special time celebrating your marriage!

Thanks for being here this week, y’all!

xoxo,

evt (and honored guest Laura)