Ideas for a Non-Traditional Bachelorette Party

I’ve never been in a wedding before. Not as a bridesmaid, not as a junior bridesmaid, and not even as a flower girl. Until now that is! My big sister got married last weekend and guess who was the co-maid of honor? This lady!!
The beautiful bride and her maids of honor- back in the day
The good news: I didn’t rock this hair-do.
The bad news: it is my first rodeo, so I worked hard to navigate the duties of this special job with zero experience. Books, Blogs, Interviews, Advice…. I did my research. Correct me if I’m wrong, but my research had me believing that the only reaaaal responsibility a maid of honor has before the big day is to plan the Bachelorette Party.
Fast forward- the maids of honor today
Sounds easy enough, right? Wrong. Clearly, you don’t know my sister. The one who kindly requests that we do not throw her a Bachelorette Party (Or a shower, or an engagement party, or anything else that goes along with pre-wedding celebrations).
 I begged, pleaded and insisted that I throw a tiny little party. The answer: NO.
The beautiful bride and her soon to be husband
I refused to allow my big sister to miss out on this right of passage, plus, I only had one job… and she was saying to forget about the only job I had? Yea right.
I, of course, had to respect the fact that she did not want the attention that came with the traditional bachelorette party. So, I was forced to get creative and find a loop hole that made us both happy.
Fun, creative envelopes for our secret non-traditional bachelorette party

That’s when I brainstormed the idea of a non-traditional bachelorette party. I drafted a letter that explained the premise of this party and SECRETLY sent it to 35 of the special women in Katie’s life.

We sent this letter to 35 of our sister's closest friends and family

The letter read:

Ladies,

So what do you do for a bride-to-be that doesn’t want a shower, cringes at the thought of a Bachelorette Party, and wants nothing else but to stay out of the spotlight until her big day? The answer: be creative… very, very creative.

As sisters of this oh-so-humble bride, it’s hard not to give Katie the attention we feel she deserves while also respecting her wishes. With a little creativity and lots of help from all of the important ladies in Katie’s life (like YOU), we think we’ve found a loop hole within Katie’s requests. (Shh… don’t tell her!)

Instead of throwing Katie a bachelorette party and forcing her under that glaring spotlight she dislikes so much, we are hoping that this alternative demonstrates that same level of love, support and overall thoughtfulness without that dreaded attention. Here’s the TOP SECRET plan:

Each important lady will send Katie 1 pair of underwear. Pick a pair of panties that remind you of her (yikes) and send them via mail to her house. Feel free to add a fun note, piece of marriage advice, or whatever else you feel fits the ticket (we won’t ask) into your box of love. If you’d rather not send this package through the mail, feel free to drop it off at the O’Connor’s house and we will get your secret package to her (again, no questions asked). Within this envelope, you will also find a date and/or a week that we are encouraging you to send your top secret package to Katie. With each important lady following this secret schedule, we are hoping that Katie will be able to receive a new scandalous treasure in the mail each day for a month! How could she not love this alternative?

If you are interested in participating in this non-traditional Bachelorette celebration in honor of our favorite big sister, send a pair of undies (size **) with a little note to her address:
                            The future Mrs. Smith
                            Address Here
                        
Blah, blah, blah… you get the point.

Love,
Bridget & Maggie

Each recipient was given a date to mail their surprise

Each lady also found a date in her envelope. This date was the day (or week) we wanted each of these special women to send their scandalous packages. My co-maid of honor and I planned it so that Katie would receive a new pair of panties each day for over a month!

To kick off the month of undies, the maid of honors presented these fun treats to the bride-to-be:

My sister and I kicked off the month of fun with these presents
We used cookie-cutters in the shape of a heart to create the “bottoms”. Before we baked the sugar cookies, we cut off the point of the heart to create the “butt” effect.
We brought her perfect cookies to begin
With some icing and a little imagination, we were able to create lots and lots of fun panties to present the bride-to-be!
What an easy, creative, and classy dessert to bring to your next bachelorette party.
This was our favaorite

After presenting her with platters of scandalous cookies, we explained to her the general guidelines of her non-traditional bachelorette party, but did not tell her who was sending what, and how many packages she would be receiving. We just advised her to keep an eye on her mailbox.

For a month, our grateful big sister received package after package of undergarments. Each one was creative, individual, and included hilarious & valuable marriage advice. [Mature eyes only]

Our co-conspirators went all out with ideas

“Spoiling the Bride” is an understatement! These mailers went above and beyond expectations.

The end result- mountains of unmentionables
Perfect for wedding day

This is just a small sneak peek at the endless supply of underwear that came flooding into her home. Some mailers went above & beyond that panty guidelines. Check out their packages…

They got creative with gifts like this

Bridal Gear… check!

They proved they knew her well- she's a runner!

Panties for the marathon runner that she is…. check!

Personalized beach towels
Honeymoon towels… check!
Some went above and beyond- how cute is this?

An equation for the bride-to-be, who happens to be a MATH teacher. (Her + Him = Baby Smith) #yikes

Detail of the math professor's gift

Talk about adorable and over-the-top creative!! And the creativity of this package didn’t stop here…

It came complete with worksheets

It was accompanied by a story of Katie and Joe filled with every math term you could possibly imagine… the math terms even got a little risk-ay at times. Oww Oww. You can imagine that a fellow teacher was the mastermind behind this unique package.

Mountains and mountains of panties

Overall, I would definitely recommend this Non-Traditional Bachelorette Party to any Bridesmaids who are trying to spoil a bride that hates the spotlight. With a little creativity and a lot of love & support (literally) there’s still a way to pamper your bride-to-be without embarrassing her ((publicly)) along the way.

Bridget