Pinup Girl Bachelorette Party?

January 24, 2008 2:21 PM

I'm planning a lingerie shower/bachelorette party with a pinup girl theme (e.g., Gil Elvgren, Art Frahm, etc.) Any ideas about how to work the theme into the evening?

This is my first Maid of Honor gig, and I'm doing it from a few hundred miles away. How should I integrate the "pinup" theme into games, party favors, goodie bags for guests, etc.? Is it too much to ask the (~10-12) guests to wear something pinup-y? What kinds of favors/prizes can I make or have made that will fit in my luggage? Generic recommendations on bachelorette parties will be appreciated as well, since I've managed to reach my early 30s whilst remaining relatively clueless about bachelorette parties and weddings in general.

posted by ultraultraboomerang to society & culture (12 comments total)

Go to a burlesque show! Or maybe find someone to come give you lessons?
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 2:25 PM on January 24

Dresscode - whatever but you have to wear proper stockings and suspenders.

My friend did this once for her birthday and the only thing we had to do was wear s+s and instantly you become a different person, you dont even have to discuss the other parts of dress, you have to wear some cute shoes and a skirt with stockings, sheerly because it just makes you feel so sexy!

Otherwise I'd go with burlesque dancer/ lesson, like the above poster (good idea, i so want that as a suprise!) cocktails in martini glasses, plenty of red lipstick, and nail varnish, fake eyelashes, cute little aprons, a little black dog toy like the one in that really famous pin up...nice old fashioned silk (or silk like) scarves to tie up in your hair, or make a big neck bow with, cds of glenn miller style music decorated in an old stylee way...

umm, games, how about pin the...panties on the pin-up?

Im jealous of your party!
posted by Neonshock at 2:37 PM on January 24

Prizes:

Handmade soap wrapped in black lace.
Notecards
More pinup goodies


Generic recommendations on bachelorette parties :
Whoop it up. Don't get too drunk.

E-how article
posted by LoriFLA at 2:47 PM on January 24

you don't mention if you are having the party at a private location or going out on the town, but if you are hosting the bash at a home, here are some ideas:

make drinks named after famous sex icons. like, have a bettie page and mariyln monroe. following this idea, you could also play that game where everyone gets a famous sexy woman taped to their back, and they have to ask everyone else questions in order to figure out who they are.

also, favors--thongs! you can get them cheap cheap cheap nowadays, and they don't take up much room. or hose, or thigh-highs, or whathaveyou. or feather boas.

Pin-Up Girl Magnets.
posted by starbaby at 2:53 PM on January 24

Put tasseled pasties on the cupcakes!
posted by Metroid Baby at 2:55 PM on January 24 [3 favorites]

Wow! You guys have already made this the greatest party ever. Seriously, thanks, these are great ideas, and the bride will love them.

Incidentally, the evening will be part limo pub crawl and part lingerie shower/makeup party/slumber party, so these all work great.

This is fun! Keep em coming!
posted by ultraultraboomerang at 3:02 PM on January 24

In terms of decoration, all you need is yards and yaaaaaahds of pink fabric and sew long black fringe on the end. Drape it everywhere. Put red fabric over lamps (or to be safer, red lightbulbs).
posted by spec80 at 3:18 PM on January 24

A few years ago, a friend of mine had a box of Vargas Girl bubblegum, with each piece of gum came with a little mini pinup girl wrapped around it (a la the Bazooka wrapper with the Bazooka Joe cartoon, but I can't remember if it was actually Bazooka brand gum or not). Don't know if that's still being manufactured (my brief googling turned up nothing), but if you could find some, that could be a fun little party favor, too.
posted by scody at 3:37 PM on January 24

There are also sex-toy companies that do home parties too. They usually have a nice big package to give to the guest of honour. The one I went to was fun. Can you photoshop the bride's face on a pin-up photo for the invites?
posted by saucysault at 3:58 PM on January 24

For favors, pinup is, like, the hot theme in "indie" crafts. Just search in etsy and you're sure to find pinup magnets, notecards, buttons, keychains, etc. Of course, if these are priced too expensively for just a little pin, they'd be fairly easy to make yourself or delegate to someone else. Or even as a quick make-and-take to start the party (depending on the age of your women, I suppose).

This page might give you some ideas too. I like the idea of big fake flowers behind everyone's ears when they come in.

Or, you know, you can give them a chance to win some celery.
posted by artifarce at 3:59 PM on January 24

Suggestion for the pub-crawl part of the evening, and to keep the theme going when you all venture out:

Remember those old fashioned fans they used to put in churches to get through the sermon in the dog days of summer? OK, well if not, they were simply two pieces of rounded or oval heavy paper pasted onto a wooden stick... rather like a cheap wooden paint stir they give out at the hardware stores when you buy some paint, only shorter. What if you found enough pictures of pin-ups from back in the day, got them blown up, pasted them to cardboard and then onto these sticks? When you all go out on the town, you can hold them up to your face as a mask. (Highly recommended that you ALL do this as you leave your limo to set the "pin-up stage" at each venue.) I suspect it will draw many of the pub crawlers, into your night of fun in a more creative way than usual, and multiply everyone's fun at the same time. Once inside, the shyer among you, can leave their "faces" on the table if they wish. No one needs to feel uncomfortable, as some might if this gets too costumey. Even better, you can do all of this before you leave home, pack them on the bottom of your suitcase, distribute at the shower and allow the guests to just come as they please. No one needs to be hassled to do anything, except show up and have fun.
posted by LiveLurker at 7:48 PM on January 24

Send garters out as an invite or party favour. You can get cheap ones at any adult store; HowCool has cheap ones.

Check to see if there is a Dr Sketchy's Anti-Art School in your area. It's essentially a life drawing session with burlesque dancers as the models, combined with quite a bit of drinking and merriment.

One of my friends had pole-dancing lessons for her birthday. Everyone dressed up in their sexiest dress and highest heels. I saw the whole group walk past us in the city - they looked like they were having fun.

Book a trusted photographer (any of your friends good with cameras?) and take pinup photos of everyone.
posted by divabat at 6:12 AM on January 25