Planning a BachelorX Party

By  Mac Molli
Updated on 11/20/23
Planning a BachelorX Party

Planning a BachelorX Party

By  Mac Molli
Updated on 11/20/23
Bachelor Party

Part of the Bachelor Party

Planning a BachelorX Party

By  Mac Molli
Updated on 11/20/23
seperator

Bachelor parties are notorious for wild times and it can be incredibly overwhelming to think about starting to plan your own (or if you’re the best-person in someone’s wedding, someone else’s) bachelor party. 

The history of bachelor parties are built on gender stereotypes and oftentimes the hypersexualization of women. If you watch any movie that has a bachelor scene in it, this will ring true. 

However, now that gay marriage is legal (finally) and more members of the LGBTQ+ community are saying “I do”, the culture of bachelor parties has begun to change as well. 

If you’re part of the LGBTQ+ community, planning a bachelor party becomes even harder because there are fewer resources out there to help plan an LGBTQ+ friendly bachelor party. Here’s how you can plan your LGBTQ+ bachelor party, how to decorate for your party, and a step-by-step process on how to make your dream party come to life.

How to host an inclusive, LGBTQ+ friendly bachelor party

One of the most important things you can do to make all of your guests feel safe and included is to make sure you’re using inclusive language throughout your festivities. For a bachelor party specifically, you can always use the gender-neutral term “Bachelorx” if you don’t want gender to be associated with your day. 

Not only does it sound cool, but the word literally excludes the gender parts of the words “Bachelor” and “Bachelorette”. This can help get rid of gendered stereotypes usually associated with these parties and allows non-binary folks to feel comfortable naming this party. 

Of course, you should always do what feels best for you, your gender identity, and your group of friends. 

Where to start planning

The first thing you need to decide when planning your bachelor party is what exactly a party means to you.

If you’re planning to follow a traditional pre-wedding celebration route, you need to remember that a bachelor party is not an engagement party. This means that typically, you and your partner wouldn’t celebrate your bachelor party together, just your engagement party. If you want to celebrate together, that’s a great idea. It’s also a great idea if you have similar or shared friend groups. 

However, if you want it to be a little more of a traditional bachelor party, then you should make it all about you. Typically, a bachelor party, bachelorette party, or bachleorx party is all about celebrating one half of the couple getting married so you get time to celebrate what makes you a unique individual before your wedding day. Your wedding day is all about celebrating you as a couple. 

At the end of the day, it’s your party and you should celebrate how you feel comfortable. Take Chris Anderson’s advice, a writer, who had first-hand experience planning and throwing a bachelorx party. He said, “I focused on creating an event that would be personal and memorable for everyone involved.” Chris started the day off with a group brunch, followed by a private art museum tour, dinner, cocktails, and dancing at a local bar for a perfect evening out.

Who should attend?

Historically bachelor parties were only attended by men. But we’re throwing tradition out the window, so throw gender out the window as well when you’re planning your bachelor party. 

Generally, people invite their wedding party, family members, and important friends who will be at the wedding. Depending on what you want to do at your party, you might want to skip inviting family members or you might want to keep your party group small. Just make sure you don’t invite people to your bachelor party that aren’t invited to your wedding.

Where should you host your party?

Deciding on a location for your bachelor party can be the trickiest part of throwing a party because you may have friends and family coming from all around the world. At the end of the day, it’s your celebration, so you should party where you want to. Just keep in mind that the closest you keep it to people’s homes, the higher the chance people will attend. 

Some other questions you should ask yourself about your party location are: 

  • Will people need to spend a night at a hotel? 
  • Should we just rent a giant Airbnb for a weekend? 
  • Should I just invite people to hang out at my house? 

Should-you-have-a-theme

 

Should you have a theme?

Your decorations, which we’ll talk about soon, should correlate with your theme. When choosing a theme for the party, you should make it about what you or the fiance likes. Think about interests such as sports, movies, popular culture, or a place. 

Once you choose one thing, you can begin to focus the decorations, activities, and supplies all around that theme. If you’re stuck, here are some theme ideas to get you started:

  • Celebrity twin costumes-Everyone dresses up as a different celebrity who shares the same name as the fiance. For example, if the fiance’s name is Taylor, party goers can dress up as Taylor Swift and Elizabeth Taylor 
  • Favorite movie theme-Let’s say your favorite movie is Lord of the Rings. Have your party guests arrive as Lord of the Rings characters, decorate your home as the Shire, and use all the ring puns you can in your decorations 
  • Slumber party-No one likes changing out of their pajamas, so don’t make anyone do it. Have everyone come to the party in pajamas and just have a chill, classic best friends time.

What’s a good budget? 

Deciding on your budget is one of the most important things to decide when planning a bachelor party. It’s always important to respect the budget of everyone attending. Have an open and honest conversation with your guests about the budget they can do to celebrate with you. Yes, it’s a bit of an awkward conversation, but one worth having.  You don’t want to ruin friendships over someone not being able to pay for a fancy hotel room for two nights. 

Your budget can help you decide if you’re going to travel for your party, if you’re going to book accommodations, and if you’re going to go out and do an activity. No matter what your budget is and what your party guest’s budgets are, you can have fun at any cost. 

Activity ideas

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Are you totally lost on what you want to do for your bachelor party? Here are a few ideas that are not only unique, but incredibly fun: 

Game night 

If you’re more of an introvert and just want to hang out with your favorite people, host a game night or even a full-game weekend. This could really work for any type of game you love to play: board games, video games, or a weekend-long D&D campaign. There are really endless options here. 

Drag brunch 

If you and your friends are busy people and only have a day to celebrate, going to a drag brunch is a fun idea to do with a group of friends. Drag brunches and other drag events are inclusive, safe spaces, and all-around endlessly entertaining.  And plus, there’s delicious food involved, so it’s a win-win. 

Camping trip 

If you want to spend quality time with your closest friends, but don’t want to spend a lot of money on things such as accommodations, think about going on a hiking or camping trip. It’s a whole adventure, plus a party. 

Go on a weekend trip 

If you want to head out of town and party for the weekend, take a weekend to go party in a city. New Orleans is a great city to have a bachelor party and one of the most LGBTQ-friendly cities in the United States. New Orleans is also a more affordable option than other popular bachelor-party destinations like Nashville or Scottsdale. 

Decoration ideas

Decoration ideas

Bachelor party supplies

What’s the difference between party decorations and party supplies? Think: activities and games. Party supplies usually inspire funny moments, moments for blackmail photos, and just silly times.

Just like decorations, you don’t have to have party supplies, but it’s almost guaranteed that someone is going to bring something shaped like genitalia. It’s a bachelor party. It’s just going to happen.

LGBTQ+ bachelor party planning checklist by person

CheckList

Best person’s to-do list

  • Finalize invite list with fiance 
  • Confirm date with fiance and those invited to the bachelor party
  • Decide on location with fiance 
  • Finalize desired budget with those invited 
  • If you’re traveling for the party, book the accommodations
  • Purchase food and party supplies for the party 
  • Make any necessary reservations

Wedding party to-do list 

  • RSVP to bachelor party 
  • If traveling, buy necessary transportation 
  • Help best person or fiance pay for party

Fiance’s to-do list

  • Decide on location of party 
  • Decide on date of party 
  • If traveling, buy necessary transportation
  • If you’re planning the party yourself, go to the “Best person’s to-do list” above and complete those steps
  • Have fun!

Overall thoughts

At the end of the day, your bachelor party is all about celebrating you and your friendships. You should work with your best-person or partner to plan a party that forgets about everything a bachelor party “should” be and focus instead on the unique and wonderful individual you are. 

There are no rules anymore. Go have fun and celebrate you!

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