First marriage didn't have a bachelor party. Meh. This time, just under a year away, who knows? Many MANY more friends than in 1993, older and (hopefully) wiser.

They all know my drinking days are long past, but never say never. I'm thinking 1/2 day at Full Throttle go karts, maybe Zombie Shooting range in West Chester, and a bon fire at the house. Good enough for me. (Hm, any of my friends reading this??)

Don't invite anybody who doesn't understand the "No Cameras" policy.

Future bachelor party attendees: prepare to spend. I spent nearly $500 in one night on the town in Miami.

I wasn't able to get off of work for another friend's this year, but I can only imagine what 5 days in Vegas would do to my bank account.

Mitchell wrote: Future bachelor party attendees: prepare to spend. I spent nearly $500 in one night on the town in Miami. I wasn't able to get off of work for another friend's this year, but I can only imagine what 5 days in Vegas would do to my bank account.

FIVE DAYS in Vegas? That's not a bachelor party. That's ridiculous. I bet they're have a $100,000 wedding, too.

I went to GameWorks (think Dave and Busters). My brother popped for himself and my unlimited gaming cards. We did the same for his wedding. It worked out well. I went to another friends bachelor party some years ago, and there was a nice dinner, (where we spent an hour arguing whether or not that was Denny Hecker in the corner booth) some casino action, then I departed because a bar and strippers were in their future. Call me strange, but if there's boobs in front of me and presented to me, I'd like to be able to touch them. That'll get your hands broke in MN.

My friend's bachelor party consisted of paint ball for a few hours and then getting cleaned up and hitting a brew pub for dinner/booze. Good times had by all.

N Sperlo wrote: Midget strippers.

Riding elephants!!!

Make sure someone respectable is there to tell the groom "no" if he's a lunatic.

My bachelor party involved a bunch of reckless idiocy I'm too ashamed to recount, suffice to say two of my groomsmen and a nice young lady all ended up in the hospital with minor injuries.

I had my best friends bachelor party all planned out, but he didn't ask me to be in the wedding party at all.

Too bad, because I asked his future brother-in-law what we are doing and it just sounds like a night without the women, not a bachelor party.

Ive been involved in a whole mess of bachelor parties and they have all gone really well.

A few tips:

1. Organization. Get everyone's email and send out mass emails with updates, also open it up to a "reply all" option so that everyone knows whats going on. In this day of email and smartphones, almost everyone will agree email is the best option. If everyone is on Facebook, you can set up an event on that as well. If its a long, multi-day extravaganza in Vegas or similar, I would suggest gathering and publishing all cell numbers for all attendees. Be careful on a very scheduled single day though, because that takes the fun and spontaneity out of it. Be sure to allow plenty of time at all events because it always takes longer than you think and no one wants to be rushed.

2. Events. Make sure its something the bachelor wants to do. Its his day, not his shiny happy person friends' day. If snorkeling in the Bahamas is out of the means of most attendees, consider something else. Paintball or similar is very fun because its a group activity. You will almost always have people who dont know each other showing up, groomsmen, ushers, etc. Putting them in a team or group activity lets them have a great time and get to know each other before the wedding. Makes the wedding and party just that much more smooth and enjoyable.

3. Food and drink. Get a few coolers, one with water and soda, one with beer, and keep them full. If people like mixed drinks, a few handles of moderately priced booze goes a long way too. Captain, Beam, Jack, etc are nice, dont break the bank, and will keep the booze flowing. Cookouts are great and economical. If you play paintball, make sure people from out of town have a place to clean up before going out.

4. Transportation. If there is a bar crawl or similar in the works, get a party bus or limo. Make sure everyone gets home safe, even if it means a taxi or crash on a couch somewhere. Nothing like a DUI or worse to spoil a great event.

5. Funding. If you have a rich uncle, invite him along since he will cover most of the tab for the evening. If not, just make sure the bachelor doesnt ever have to pay his own way. Everyone else can cover for him, or the best man can cover for him. One of the smoothest bachelor parties I went on involved the best man shaking everyone down for a crisp $100 bill at the start. That money covered all the fuel to get to the event, boat rental, a few coolers of beer and water, dinner, hotel, and a round of shots at the bar. After that, you were on your own. The bachelor didnt pay for anything, no one felt ripped off, and there was no awkward moments at dinner arguing over tips or drinks or other BS.

Good luck, and most of all, have fun!

I've been best man at 3 weddings, never been to or organized a bachelor party. I did arrive too late for the sand surfing at the Australian wedding, sadly. But a karting track day sounds a hell of a lot more fun than most of these Hollywood-inspired suggestions.

2 on 93gsxturbo's list seems like the key to me. Especially the part about a group activity for bonding. Almost every wedding I've been to as an adult has been with a group of people who were already pretty close, and it's a lot more fun than the ones where nobody knows anyone else. Maybe that's what all the booze is for.

SilverFleet wrote: Whatever you decide, DO NOT hand the groom a bottle of Wild Turkey and let him drink the whole thing. It's just not a good idea. Ask me how I know.

Actually the smaller bottle should be ok.

I never had a bachelor party, but if I did, i would've wanted a never ending night of videogames and mt. dew. The lucky thing is, now that I'm married, I can still do that with friends. Yeah, i can be lame, but 2 or 3 of my groomsmen would've wanted the same thing. So would the cellist, my cousin, and a few other people...

Rufledt wrote: I never had a bachelor party, but if I did, i would've wanted a never ending night of videogames and mt. dew. The lucky thing is, now that I'm married, I can still do that with friends. Yeah, i can be lame, but 2 or 3 of my groomsmen would've wanted the same thing. So would the cellist, my cousin, and a few other people...

That was me, save the Mt Dew. Best part of the night was signing some random homeless dude's coat, because he was awesome.

AngryCorvair wrote: oh, one more thing. don't have the bachelor party the same weekend as the wedding. gotta bake some recovery time into the plan.

Good advice. Just incase the groom can't hold is booze and his friends think it would be funny to set him down on an Amtrak train and buy a ticket to say Chicago or something.

My best man, and all groomsman are all dorks like me. We made a spreadsheet and voted on activities. We ended up having a blast, but the highlight was definitely a giant go-kart track. Very little alcohol overall, although a few got a little drunk, I didn't drink a thing. No strippers, not my idea of fun. Even then.

Figure out what the groom wants, then do that with no reservation. That's all.

93gsxturbo laid down a solid management structure a few posts back.

tuna55 wrote: I didn't drink a thing.

(whispers and points) he's one of those people! (/whispers and points)

That might be another idea, if drinking is involved, ensure EVERYONE WANTS TO DRINK. Nothing worse than a sober person standing in the corner away from the group, awkward and definitely kills the mood.

Alcohol primes you to do stupid/funny things. If you can do those things while sober, son, you got other issues...

Sound advice here . .

Just plan some reasonable activites more focused for the Groom, but keep it lively for the other attendees.

For the two I planned (was the Best Man in one and a Groomsman in the other), I asked the Groom what he wanted to do and made it happen with in reason. For one party that everyone was supposed to pitch in, no one did or even showed up . . . We fired up grill had steaks and beer. He's a mellow dude and had a blast!! The other was a night out on the town . . . a few bars, few shots, lots of food and a topless bar + got everyone back safely . . . Both were done less than $200 out of pocket

Best time I've had at a bachelor party:

http://www.whirlyball.com/what/

Basically bumper car polo. Enormous fun. Plus you can drink before and after. Not hellishly expensive, either. This one's in Chicago, but I know they have similar things in other cities.

Almost all here are good suggestions. Planning up front things the groom wants and does not want to do is the key.

We had day activities, dinner and night activities for the few I've been invovled in. Some elected not to stay for the night activities and it was clear that was perfectly fine. Always a DD.

One regret for mine - getting up at 5 AM or so to go fishing, and someone suggested a few hands of poker before we went to bed. After beers and crashing much latter than planned, the boat ride out in the AM was NOT good for a few of the guys. Too drunk/hungover to fish - yup (not me).

Stripper canoe?

It's almost as good as all the canoes i used to get whenever i was talking about Escorts.

And then i put an Asian motor in my Escort.

My best man is also a nutjob motorcycle racer/gearhead as are all my friends. He bought a large amount of beer, a couple bushels of crabs - we being in Maryland and all - and gathered up all the dirt bikes, go karts, potato guns and fireworks he could find.

The venue was his (Retired, legendary hard-ass motorcycle cop) dad's place which has a few acres spread around the house and house-sized garage.

I vaguely recall every internal combustion vehicle simultaneously circulating a track defined by large, immovable objects. In the dark. Competitively. And with his dad lobbing huge cop-issue smoke grenades into the fray to add the "Apocolypse Now" vibe.

It was one of the great parties I've been to, and I've been to some good ones.