Bachelor Party

August 24, 2007 9:50 AM

Bachelor Party: My best man is trying to plan my bachelor party. I do not want to do the typical Vegas, strippers, drink-till-you-fall-down thing. Some of the guys that will be there will want to get wild / drunk, some will not. I don't mind getting hammered, but would like to do more than just that. I thought something like an amusement park might be fun, or maybe an all-inclusive resort. We would do this over the period of three days. What are some good ideas for a bachelor party on the east coast / florida for about 10 guys? I don't want to golf. Maybe some type of adventure / adrenaline rush? How can we have fun without going to jail or feeling guilty when coming home, while at the same time letting loose and getting wild? I am not averse to going to Mexico, Montreal, or Chicago. West coast is a little too far.
posted by kaizen to human relations (24 comments total)

Are you into rock music? You should go to New York City, catch a show at Bowery Ballroom or something, and then do a Lower East Side pub crawl, followed by afternoon hangover breakfast with bloody marys, a walk in the park, and a museum or two.
posted by nasreddin at 9:54 AM on August 24, 2007

Laser tag is a must. Laser tag on hard drugs is a variant you also might enjoy.
posted by Greg Nog at 9:54 AM on August 24, 2007

If you're into baseball, go to a baseball game (either major or minor league, indy or affiliated - it really doesn't matter, you'll have fun wherever as long as its a fairly modern park). Not sure how much it would be in an MLB park, but at the minor league park I used to work at, you could get a skybox (with catering and waitstaff service) for a game for around $600. Plus, most games are done by 10pm, so you can still do something else after if you'd like, or the people who aren't into staying out late can make it an early night. Plus, when you book the group, you can tell them that you'd like to take part in one of the dopey on-field games if you'd like - they'd most likely hold one or two for you guys - bachelor party groups were always fun to watch, especially for the dizzy bat race. Also, if there's a rain delay, you're already inside, with food and beer!

Of course, this idea only works if the party is in the next month or so, depending on destination/league you go to see.
posted by AlisonM at 10:01 AM on August 24, 2007

A little too far from where? Where are you?
posted by The World Famous at 10:02 AM on August 24, 2007

You could go sky-diving or ride in an Indie and Nascar champion racecar or go power jumping.

Of course, if you do decide to go the stripper route, Mons Venus in Tampa is all nude.
posted by misha at 10:09 AM on August 24, 2007

Paintball. My fiance is paintballing for his bachelor party, followed up by drinking and pool at his favorite bar. He couldn't be more excited.
posted by starbaby at 10:18 AM on August 24, 2007

For my bachelor party, we drove from Cincy to Chicago, went to Sears tower, the Merc, a White Sox game, and one night at strip club. Good times.
posted by Argyle at 10:20 AM on August 24, 2007

Drink around the world at Epcot! It's really cool, especially compared to the other disney parks. The steak place in the Canada section is -amazing-. Also in Orlando you have Islands of Adventure, which has some killer rollercoasters and thrill rides. Of course, it's Orlando, so there are countless other tourist traps to poke around. You could have one day in Epcot to satisfy the getting hammered, one day at Islands of Adventure to satisfy the theme park thing, and then one day to nose around the cheesy tourist center of the world.
posted by d13t_p3ps1 at 10:35 AM on August 24, 2007

Paintball is way too much fun. We went for my bf's 30th with a group, and there is nothing like shooting at your friends. There was a bachelor's party there too, and they'd dressed the groom in a pink tutu - to make him an obvious mark for everyone else to shoot at.
posted by sarahmelah at 10:37 AM on August 24, 2007

You certainly need to give some dates for this planned trip. Amusement parks north of Southern California, Texas and Florida do have weekend events reaching into October but you might have hard times stretching out three days at one of them. The Florida parks espacially those in Orlando would certainly make for a decent destination for a group. The Disney and Universal parks both have plenty of things to keep you busy with during the day as well as attractions for the evening. I've heard that Universal around Halloween is espacially good. They apparently pull out all the stops.

Other possibilities would include camping or perhaps distillery/brewery tours, pilgrimage to Graceland?
posted by mmascolino at 10:39 AM on August 24, 2007

A two day white water rafting trip??
F1 racing??
Direct flight to Playa del Carmen for beach, jungle trip with zip lines and rafting in bat caves, and nights of cuban cigars and great food??
No rental car needed.
posted by beccaj at 11:04 AM on August 24, 2007

The most fun I've had at bachelor parties have involved renting a cabin (preferably by a large body of water; Lake Superior has worked pretty well for us, but that's an accident of geography... I'm sure you could find your own) and then spending a weekend maintaining a steady buzz and engaging in competitive feats of strength.
posted by COBRA! at 11:36 AM on August 24, 2007

Went to a wedding in Key West last year, that included a bachelor party. It's a pretty awesome little town. Lots to drink, a few strip clubs, great food, lots of boats to charter. You can booze cruise, visit historic sites and fish every day.
posted by Phoenix42 at 11:48 AM on August 24, 2007

10 guys is just right for 2 guided white water rafts.
posted by Megafly at 12:24 PM on August 24, 2007

i recently went on a bachelor party camping trip to the finger lakes of upstate new york. it was great. we rented canoes, pontoon boats, and a speedboat for saturday. we had a little adventure (water skiing) plenty of booze, and were on an island so we didn't bother the neighbors and ran no risk of getting arrested.

so much better than bars. you and your friends can go to bars all the time. if you are going to take the effort to plan something, do something you wouldn't otherwise do.
posted by lotusmonster at 12:24 PM on August 24, 2007

Flying to western Europe is a lot cheaper than flying to the west coast sometimes, you can get some ridiculous NYC< ->London fares. Traditional English pub crawl? Depending on how much you want to spend, a few nights getting wasted on the Spanish coast?
posted by borkingchikapa at 12:32 PM on August 24, 2007

Having just taken my wife skydiving in Titusville, FL, I'd recommend that highly. (if you're thinking skydiving, go south, where they do it year-round.)

The best bachelor party I've been to thus far (10+) involved twenty or so guys whitewater rafting down the Shenandoah to Harper's Ferry, WVA, then camping at the side of the canal, getting liquored up, and generally having a great time. No strippers, limos, or other foolishness involved.
posted by idiotking at 1:03 PM on August 24, 2007

P.S. Paintball==fun, but don't let the groom go a week before his wedding. high-powered paintballs on bare skin makes for unsightly bruises come wedding-picture time.
posted by idiotking at 1:07 PM on August 24, 2007

Weeki Wachee. Seriously, you know you want to!!
posted by Sassyfras at 1:39 PM on August 24, 2007

My husband's brother chartered a fishing boat and they went bass fishing for his bachelor. They then hit the bars. I think all had a nice time.
posted by miss tea at 3:47 PM on August 24, 2007

I'll second (no, third... no fourth!) the paintballing idea. Went last weekend just for giggles and ended up playing against three other teams, on a team of about 15, in what was basically a war. If we'd been actually killing each other it'd have been horrible, but since we were only mildly bruising each other in these massive team games, it was awesome fun.

I'll second idiotking though, I have a bruise which covers my right shoulder from a hit to the fleshy bit just above the armpit. The others have gone down fine, but that one is still there a week later, and it's an ugly bugger.
posted by Surfyournut at 3:55 PM on August 24, 2007

How about a burlesque show....it's strippers with a bit more intellectual bent and humour, with less focus on getting drunk and more on entertainment.
posted by Kickstart70 at 4:34 PM on August 24, 2007

i know it might not sound manly, but my bachelor party was pretty focused on relaxation. we hung out a bit, smoked a little weed and got massages (many for the first time, and no, not that kind of massage.) Then we went to a great wine bar in the village and drank port and listened to very good live jazz and flamenco bands. Also black market cuban cigars. Last stop was a crazy dive bar and then we crashed in a hotel. No strippers and everyone felt like they had had a 5 day vacation.
posted by n9 at 9:35 AM on August 25, 2007

I'll second Laser Tag. We did it on the morning of a friends wedding and had a blast. As an added plus, it was a fun physical activity that didn't risk busing the groom the way Paint ball might have.
posted by nalyd at 9:50 PM on August 25, 2007