The Art Of The Classy Bachelorette Trip: 10 Rules To Celebrate In Style

A bachelorette trip is one of, if not the, most important girls trip a woman can take. Not only is it a chance for the soon-to-be-bride to celebrate her upcoming wedding with her closest female friends and family, but it’s an opportunity to create special memories and prepare for marriage. Movies like Bridesmaids, 13 Going On 30, and Bachelor Night depict bachelorette trips to be these wild, borderline disastrous, weekends full of partying, occasional crude activities, and poor decision making.

But if you’ve never been on a bachelorette trip, please don’t let these false portrayals set your expectations. If you’re a bride-to-be, a bridesmaid, or someone who may be invited to a bachelorette trip in the future, read on for tips on how to craft the classiest bach weekend!

1. Select The Perfect Theme

Not every bride decides to go down the thematic route, but if you do, know that the theme will set the tone for the whole trip, so choose wisely! Here are a few ideas to aid in your brainstorming: 

• Pretty in Pink ~ For the girly girls who love getting glammed, sipping cosmos, and of course wearing the color pink.

• Country Club Soiree ~ For the boujee bride who wants to grab a tennis racket, swing a golf club, or hit the spa in style. 

• Camp Bachelorette (or glamp if that’s more your vibe!) ~ For the outdoorsy bride who wants to sleep under the stars and roast marshmallows around a campfire with her besties.

• Sleepover Chic ~ Great for the bride who wants to be cozy and stay in to watch movies or play games with the girls.

• Wined & Dined ~ Perfect for all the foodie brides out there! Consider visiting Napa or similar vineyards for a day of wine tasting or cooking classes. 

• Broadway Bach ~ For the theater-going, show tune-singing bride who can’t get enough of Broadway. Of course, a staple activity for this theme is to attend a show of the bride’s choice. 

• Breakfast at *insert bride’s name* ~ For the low-key bride who doesn’t want a bachelorette weekend but opts for celebrating over brunch or high tea. (Or for the bride who loves everything Audrey Hepburn.)

• Beachy Bach ~ This one’s for the bride who wants to kick up her feet and soak up the sun in paradise before her big day.

2. Discuss The Budget

It’s never anyone’s favorite topic, but the reality is that the bridal party could have differing opinions on how much they can or want to spend on a bachelorette weekend. Budget conversations can get awkward and/or ugly very quickly. So, my best advice is to appoint a group planner, whether that’s the maid of honor, a helpful friend, or the bride herself, to send out an anonymous survey to determine how much each girl is willing to spend on the weekend before making any plans. Only once expectations are set should decisions be made about where to go, stay, and what to do. 

Helpful tip: If you’re the bride, keep in mind that your friends are graciously spending their time and money to celebrate this life milestone for you – try to be courteous and forgiving. And if you’re an attendee, remember that it’s a privilege to be invited on a bachelorette trip, and that the bride is excited to celebrate with you. Don’t let anything get in the way of this!

3. Limit The Trip To A Weekend

Expecting a week-long bachelorette trip will likely raise some eyebrows and could cause pushback from your bridal party. Keep the trip to a weekend or long weekend to avoid it feeling overwhelming and excessive. Try to keep in mind that everyone has different limits on how long they can spend away from home with taking time off from work, spending constraints, and putting other personal matters on pause. There’s always more celebrations to be had on the wedding weekend and beyond!

4. Rent A Home Or Airbnb

Splitting up into hotel rooms isn’t the end of the world, but if you can, opt for renting a home or condo. Accommodations like these with a shared living space will allow more togetherness and lend itself better to group activities, ultimately fostering more bonding and memory-making amongst the bride and her friends!

5. Remember Your Camera

Your bachelorette (or your best friend’s/sister’s/cousin’s) is a trip to remember so make sure you bring your film. If you’re anything like me, packing the camera is the easy part – it’s remembering to document the fun you’re having that can be the biggest challenge. Designate someone on the trip to be the photographer each day and make sure to set up a group album to share photos at the end of the weekend. 

Helpful Tip for maids of honor & bridesmaids: Creating a photo book from the bachelorette trip and giving it to the bride on her wedding day is a really thoughtful and cute gift idea! 

6. Make A Game Plan

Chances are the bachelorette party will be a sizable group, so planning activities in advance and booking dinner reservations is essential – especially if the trip is in a popular destination at a high tourism time of year. There’s nothing worse than a vacation that feels disorganized, so if you’re in charge of planning, make sure to do your research in adequate time and craft an itinerary to share with the group so that everyone knows what to bring.

7. Stay Bride-focused

Not to sound like a broken record, but remember that a bachelorette trip is supposed to be about the bride. Whenever possible, try to honor her wishes, plan activities that she wants, allow her to make decisions, etc. 

8. Pencil In Some Downtime

Before contradicting an earlier point, allow me to distinguish that planning properly does not mean you need to have every minute of the day booked. Try to secure dinner reservations and must-do activities, but allow for downtime as well. You don’t want the itinerary to feel like a list of chores. After all, some of the best memories come from just hanging out on the couch together.

9. Do An Activity That’s Out Of The Norm

Whether that’s karaoke, a painting class, splurging on a spa day, sightseeing in a hot air balloon, or throwing a themed costume party, a bachelorette trip is the perfect excuse to try something you and your friends wouldn’t typically do. If you’re a bride, spend some time thinking about a hobby or event that you’ve always been interested in trying but have never gotten around to. 

10. The Do-NOTs

This shouldn’t need saying, but I’d be remiss not to call out the obvious no-no’s when planning a classy bachelorette party:

• Do NOT: hire male strippers or other adult entertainment

• Do NOT: accessorize with sexually explicit decor like genitalia or phallic symbols

• Do NOT: excessively drink or party

• Do NOT: engage in salacious or adulterous behavior

A recent study found that over 70% of bachelor and bachelorette parties in today’s age end in cheating. Let’s change that statistic and return to classy bachelorette trips. Let’s make them what they were originally intended to be about — celebrating the bride-to-be and showering her in positive energy as she embarks on the beautiful journey of marriage.

It can be challenging to strike a balance of throwing a fun and classy bachelorette trip while still being courteous of your girlfriends’ time and wallets. Above all, if you remain considerate of your guests, plan properly, and keep the themes and activities clean but fun, you will succeed in throwing a classy trip that your friends and family will be talking about for decades.