San Francisco bachelorette party suggestions?

March 24, 2005 1:56 PM

San Francisco bachelorette party suggestions?

My little sister is getting married and I'm stumped. After throwing out a bunch of ideas I thought would be fun (an erotic dance class, go-kart racing, a treasure hunt) she finally said what she really wants is a night of drinking and dancing in San Francisco. I've apperently been a married woman living in San Francisco for too long to even have a clue what the cool kids are doing these days. One of her very good friends has suggested dinner at Asia SF and dancing at Ruby Skye. I'll admit that I'm a snob and I think that sounds like my idea of absolute hell. Let's not even talk about the woman who suggested the party trolley... I have no clue what's going on outside of my usual Friday happy hour at Casanova or grabbing beers with friends at the Toronado. Can any of you Metafolks help me come up with a night out that a bunch (5-10) of single 27ish year old girls who don't usually go to the city might want to do that won't make me want to hurl - or barring that -suggestions for getting over myself and embracing this kind of cheese...

posted by Wolfie to Food & Drink (13 answers total)

well, if you end up going to ruby skye you can, at the very least, console yourself with the knowledge that you are not attending a party at "YOUR BACHELORETTE PARTY HEADQUARTERS"

THAT'S RIGHT POLLY ESTHERS

i had the experience of going to the polly esthers in nyc (long story: co-worker's girlfriend's birthday) and one of our buddies bought a round of budweiser for six folks -- ended up being a $36 six pack.

before tip.

i seriously can't think of any fancy dance clubs in san francisco that also aren't full of bridge and tunnel urban professionals -- maybe if you look around north beach enough you can find someplace you can consider going to that doesn't make you throw up a little in your mouth.
posted by fishfucker at 2:07 PM on March 24, 2005

but you know what, i bet the asia sf/ruby skye thing could be friggin hilarious.

last summer we made a pilgrimage to a suburban sports/frat bar, and it was shitloads of entertainment.

maybe bring a bunch of party beads, get everyone drunk, pay men to show their man titties, arrange for the extra-action marching band to show up, enlist the cacophony society to do a club invasion, bring along a tranny you found on polk street and insist she is one of your oldest friends.

or just drink excessively and pretend you're not there.
posted by fishfucker at 2:12 PM on March 24, 2005

The first thing I'd look for is to see if there are any bands she'd like playing that night. If there's something likely at Cafe Du Nord or Great American Music Hall or another place that serves meals you could reserve a table for dinner and stay for the music and whatnot.
posted by cali at 2:14 PM on March 24, 2005

Umm, is this party about you or your sister? Sounds like it's pretty clear what she wants to do, so suck it up for a night and do it for her. I'm sure you could pretend to have fun for one night, and it'll make her very happy. You don't need party suggestions, you need an attitude adjustment (and I say that in the nicest way possible, I really do- my best friend got married last summer, and all of her other bridesmaids were the biggest prudes, so we couldn't have fun, but I planned something I knew they'd enjoy and sucked it up, and it went better than I expected.)
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 2:15 PM on March 24, 2005 [1 favorite]

Oh, and an idea to make the club thing a bit more bearable- I can imagine that if you call in advance, and say you're bringing a crowd that's definitely going to be drinking big, they'll put you on the guest list, reserve you a table, make you VIP, etc. Make it clear you're gonna spend big dollars, and they'll make the night easier for you.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 2:22 PM on March 24, 2005 [1 favorite]

What about something like The Va Va Voom Room? It's cheesey-bachelorette-party-y enough to satiate the girls who who think they're being "wild" but it's laden with enough irony & boozing to keep the jaded hipster happy, too.

(full disclosure: I used to work with them in New York, but I do personally think it's a great show that would entertain a pretty broad group of people.)
posted by bcwinters at 2:42 PM on March 24, 2005

Response by poster: While I don't argue with the sentiment, ThePinkSuperhero, I suppose what I'm trying to figure out (and what I may have been a little too snotty to express) is whether there is something in this vein that might actually be a bit more fun for her.
She has expressed no opinions of her own on this and if there are better clubs or more fun restaurants for groups of girls who will most likely be getting ripped - I'd love to hear them.
Thanks for all suggestions so far.
posted by Wolfie at 2:53 PM on March 24, 2005

I love the Tonga Lounge. It's tacky. It's tiki. But it's really, really expensive.

I'd say party in the Castro. Go to the Mint, do karoeke, see a real drag show that doesn't charge you lots for froofy appetizers like Asia SF. (That being said, I've enjoyed my trips to Asia SF not by looking at the entertainment, but by people watching. It's lousy with bachelorette parties and old women in their Sunday best for some reason.)

I think by far the best girl's night restaurant I've been to is Julie's Supper Club in the SOMA. It's cheapish for how good the food is, it has a rat packy vibe and the cocktails are good. When we did a girl's night there, we walked to a play at the Venue 9 afterwards, but that sounds like it might be far too indie for the crowd you're entertaining.

Things like Butter, DNA lounge and other hipster venues may swing too far the other way, but doing Valencia street might be a good compromise. Go out for tapas and cocktails, or Te Cous for crepes, hit the strip of chic Mission bars and embarass her in public. Sounds like fun to me.

What kind of music is your sister into? Is she 94.9-style hiphop? Alternarock? Polyester's-brand 80s? What do you think would get her booty shaking? And really how hipster vs. Marina is this crowd you're dragging around?
posted by Gucky at 4:10 PM on March 24, 2005

I saw a bachelorette party of bridge and tunnel chicas at the Beauty Bar and they seemed to be having a great time. Maybe a mini-pub-crawl through that part of the Mission: Elbo Room, Beauty Bar, Amnesia, Blondie's, etc.
posted by bikergirl at 4:14 PM on March 24, 2005

Ruby Skye is great if you like hanging out in a meat market of adolescent 20-30 somethings.
posted by aGreatNotion at 4:27 PM on March 24, 2005

Also, I second the Mission booze crawl. A friend of mine is currently planning a bachelorette party for a friend of hers and that's what they are probably going to do.
posted by aGreatNotion at 4:29 PM on March 24, 2005

The Holy Cow?
posted by robbie01 at 4:55 PM on March 24, 2005

The best bachelorette party I ever attended consisted of: one hour of salsa lessons followed by two hours of drinking sangria and eating tapas followed by three hours of dancing at a salsa club. A little bit of instruction mixed with a lot of red wine goes a long way. So much fun. This was in NYC, but should be very easily replicated in San Francisco - plenty of tapas places in the mission and dancing at Roccapulco or Cafe Cocomo would be great...still gets you the dinner and dancing thing, but with more style and much more fun.
posted by judith at 10:01 PM on March 24, 2005