Bachelor party planning

[vince]

best friend is getting married and I’m the best man. I’ve never been a best man before and looking for guidance on how to plan the big party before sending him off.

He lives in Dallas, TX.

should I include the groom in all the planning?
Who else besides the groomsman should be invited?
Stripclubs or hire a stripper?
How do I hire a stripper if I go that route?
How soon before the wedding should the night be planned?

Any other suggestions would be awesome.

 

[midswat]

I've been a groomsman a number of times, but only a best man once (thankfully).

should I include the groom in all the planning?

Yeah. I mean, guys don't take this shit as serious as bridesmaids do. It's not going to matter much. Besides, a lot of couples nowadays come up with ground rules for their parties. It's not always a the wreckless free for all they appear in most comedies.

Who else besides the groomsman should be invited?

This is normally pretty cut and dry. It's usually the groomsman and maybe a couple others. I guess it depends. Something you want to discuss with the guy getting married. For most of the weddings I was involved with, it was everyone from our circle of friends. So it was always basically the same group.

Stripclubs or hire a stripper?

Stripclubs are probably the safest and most fun. Just because there's more women, you're in a bar, and a lot of clubs if you tell them it's a bachelors party they might do shit to the guy.

How do I hire a stripper if I go that route?

I'm showing my age here, but there used to be listings for stripper booking companies in the yellow pages. Definitely don't do anything off of craigslist or backpage.

How soon before the wedding should the night be planned?

That'll probably be up to the bride and groom. They usually try and do it on the same night.

 

[Sheik]

Every great bachelor party in the history of the world has had midgets involved somehow.

Get creative.

 

[Rev]

Always look on the roof the next morning.

 

[data]

Talk first to groom to setup framework for what he wants. Depending on him, he may want a small group with an out of state trip camping, some special event/concert, skydiving, white water rafting, etc.

If a large group, keep it simple at one location (food & entertainment) or else logistics/planning will get overwhelming

 

[data]

Every great bachelor party in the history of the world has had midgets involved somehow.

Get creative.

Underground Asian massage parlors. You always lose someone

 

[Cotton]

Every great bachelor party in the history of the world has had midgets involved somehow.

Get creative.

It's good to see you, Sheik. I give you permission to change your avatar now.

 

[Sheik]

Not meaning to hijack this poor guys thread, but it’s good to see things haven’t changed much on these boards.

I hope everyone had great Xmas/holiday season/New Years.

 

[Simpleton]

Talk to the groom, get an idea of what he wants, go from there.

Does he want to turn up or chill? Does he want a huge group of 10+ or keep it to 4-5? Maybe he doesn't want strippers/strip club at all, you should check on that and what sorts of activities he wants to do.

I've been on quite a few bachelor parties and my best advice is to not try to pack too much shit in either way. Assuming this is a 2-3 day event you don't want to have a regimented schedule that makes people feel like they have deadlines to meet, you want to have down time where you can chill and reflect on the craziness of the previous night/day (if you're partying hard).

I've never done a bachelor party in the home city of one of my friends, it's always been out of town so that could change things, but generally speaking I think there should only be 1 big "planned event" type of thing. Like I was in New Orleans and our big event was an LSU night game, the rest of the time we were just chilling/eating/drinking/going out.

I went to Vegas for one and the whole trip was planned which basically didn't allow any time to breath and have a good time organically. Don't jam pack the weekend with a bunch of shit, you guys will figure most of it out.

And lastly, NO EARLY MORNING BOAT SHIT AFTER PARTYING THE NIGHT BEFORE.

 

[Angrymesscan]

And lastly, NO EARLY MORNING BOAT SHIT AFTER PARTYING THE NIGHT BEFORE.

Pussy...

 

[vince]

Talk to the groom, get an idea of what he wants, go from there.

Does he want to turn up or chill? Does he want a huge group of 10+ or keep it to 4-5? Maybe he doesn't want strippers/strip club at all, you should check on that and what sorts of activities he wants to do.

I've been on quite a few bachelor parties and my best advice is to not try to pack too much shit in either way. Assuming this is a 2-3 day event you don't want to have a regimented schedule that makes people feel like they have deadlines to meet, you want to have down time where you can chill and reflect on the craziness of the previous night/day (if you're partying hard).

I've never done a bachelor party in the home city of one of my friends, it's always been out of town so that could change things, but generally speaking I think there should only be 1 big "planned event" type of thing. Like I was in New Orleans and our big event was an LSU night game, the rest of the time we were just chilling/eating/drinking/going out.

I went to Vegas for one and the whole trip was planned which basically didn't allow any time to breath and have a good time organically. Don't jam pack the weekend with a bunch of shit, you guys will figure most of it out.

And lastly, NO EARLY MORNING BOAT SHIT AFTER PARTYING THE NIGHT BEFORE.

Good stuff. I didn't know how involved the groom should be. I've been to some myself but never planned it. I guess it'll come down to just seeing what he wants and what's in everyone else's budget. Going to be tough though because he's having his first kid 2 months before the wedding. Going to have to plan around all that.

 

[Simpleton]

Pussy...

On the two horrid occasions that I had to do this I still partied quite late the night after the boat nonsense while the majority of the rest were out.

I just think those are two diametrically opposed types of bachelor parties. You want early boat shit or some other early outdoors activity? Great but that's probably not a bachelor party where it's a 3 day party where nobody sleeps until 5 AM.

 

[Simpleton]

Good stuff. I didn't know how involved the groom should be. I've been to some myself but never planned it. I guess it'll come down to just seeing what he wants and what's in everyone else's budget. Going to be tough though because he's having his first kid 2 months before the wedding. Going to have to plan around all that.

Yea, also keep in mind that a stripper (or two) to the room will be expensive, depending on where you find them probably way more expensive than going to just a strip club. At least at the strip club everybody can make their own individual decisions as far as what they want to spend, whereas bringing them to the room everybody will have to be in agreement on what they will spend.

The price will also rise once they're in the room and everybody might not agree on wanting to pay for whatever it is that is happening, so unless everybody is 100% in agreement and has similar expectations I'd say avoid bringing them to the room.

 

[vince]

Yea, also keep in mind that a stripper (or two) to the room will be expensive, depending on where you find them probably way more expensive than going to just a strip club. At least at the strip club everybody can make their own individual decisions as far as what they want to spend, whereas bringing them to the room everybody will have to be in agreement on what they will spend.

The price will also rise once they're in the room and everybody might not agree on wanting to pay for whatever it is that is happening, so unless everybody is 100% in agreement and has similar expectations I'd say avoid bringing them to the room.

Good point. Hopefully the other groomsman are easy going. I don't really know half of them.

 

[vince]

Also, is the groom supposed to pitch in for anything?

 

[Cowboysrock55]

Also, is the groom supposed to pitch in for anything?

When I was best man I made sure the groom didn't pay for anything. We split costs of rooms (Everyone except the groom) and I paid for his plane ticket in that instance.

 

[Simpleton]

Also, is the groom supposed to pitch in for anything?

That's completely up to you guys, I've seen it go both ways.

 

[data]

Good stuff. I didn't know how involved the groom should be. I've been to some myself but never planned it. I guess it'll come down to just seeing what he wants and what's in everyone else's budget. Going to be tough though because he's having his first kid 2 months before the wedding. Going to have to plan around all that.

Groom should definitely be involved. His last weekend of freedom and you want to make sure it's 100% what he wants.

Groom pays for nothing.

Great advice by simp to not overplan it.

 

[vince]

So he really wants to go to Vegas. He's a reasonable dude and is going to leave it up to everyone attending but he has expressed interest in it. It's coming down to $$$. Anyone know a cheap option for a Vegas trip? I have to admit I have never been.

 

[Simpleton]

So he really wants to go to Vegas. He's a reasonable dude and is going to leave it up to everyone attending but he has expressed interest in it. It's coming down to $$$. Anyone know a cheap option for a Vegas trip? I have to admit I have never been.

I don't know what your definition of cheap is but depending on the time of year there are plenty of hotel/casinos out there that aren't overly expensive if you're splitting rooms.

One thing though, if you go to a club with a pack of like 6 guys and you aren't getting bottle service you will wait in line for 1-2 hours, pay cover, and then have to fight through a huge crowd to pay like $15 a drink. Maybe your boys won't care because they haven't been to Vegas and everything will be new but that's the reality of the situation so keep that in mind.