Planning a Kick-A$$ Bachelorette Party...Done!

My feet are still recovering from MOH K's Bachelorette party this past Saturday. While all things went extremely well, my nerves are definitely still rebuilding themselves after they were barely holding together dealing with the COMPLETELY anal-retentive, control-freak bridesmaid that helped me plan it. I mean it, I had one nerve left and it was stretched and yanked as far as possible without breaking. The only thing that kept me from jumping across the table at her was making sure my sis was having the best time ever. Luckily my love for her is stronger than even the most obnoxious person in the world!

So anyway, the party started at my place. Mr. S was AMAZING and helped me clean the whole house during the week before the party. He left for a few hours while us ladies were there, and when he came home after we left, he even cleaned up after us. AWWWW I got a good one!

Pin the Lips on the Hunk Game - Amazon

We started with some drinks and snacks, played "Pin the Lips on the Hunk" and jammed to some tunes. From there we went to have dinner, more drinks, and open gifts at J. Gardella's in downtown Grand Rapids. After they opened up our space to all the patrons (45 minutes earlier than they were supposed to) we walked down to another popular bar McFadden's. After telling them about our experience at the last place, they gave us the VIP section and a bottle of champagne FREE! We ended up hanging out until 1 a.m., and  the bride-to-be had an awesome time.

From there we went home, and 6 of the guests stayed at my place. Mr. S, once again, was on as host and made all the beds, made us frozen pizzas, and played "DJ" as we all wound down and passed out. The next morning, he even made breakfast for everyone!

Now that I've successfully planned and hosted my first bachelorette party, I thought I'd give a few tips on what worked, and what didn't. Some of these really could go for any type of party you host:

• DO let others help! Fellow bridesmaids and other guests will offer to help with anything you need. Take them up on it. You have enough to do.
• DO keep it simple! There are so many fun games, themes and gift ideas out there, but you don't need to do them all. Especially if you are planning to do a lot yourself, for example: making the food instead of buying it the store. Pick a couple simple dishes, a couple signature drinks, and a dessert. Going all out sounds like a great party, but trust me, know one will care if you don't have 50 options of everything.
• DO have a few frozen pizzas in the freezer if you are having anyone stay over. A bunch of girls coming down from a buzz can only think of one thing, and that's greasy food. Trust me, you won't be sorry.
• DON'T let people sleep on an air mattress unless you KNOW for a fact that it won't deflate. I had 2 people (the bride-to-be and her 4-months pregnant friend) sleeping on an air mattress, and by morning they were pretty much sleeping on the hardwood floor. Not a good thing...
• DO plan ahead and have transportation figured out before the party. I live and work downtown, so I coordinated a few of us who aren't big drinkers to drive and drop other people off at the bar, then park at my work (which is only a few blocks away). Then we were able to quickly walk the gifts, supplies, and decorations back to our cars while the rest of the guests walked to another bar. Also DO put everything in the trunk, not in the backseat. You are just asking some homeless guy to break your window and take it all.
• DO have a plan for breakfast the next morning. Again, this is if you have people stay over at your house. We asked everyone to bring some type of breakfast goodie. Mr. S made us scrambled eggs, toast and smoky links. Hungover girls will want breakfast, I guarantee it.
• DON'T expect everything to go exactly as planned. Nothing ever does. You have to be "fluid", otherwise everyone will sense your mood. Go with the flow and just focus on everyone having fun.
•  DON'T get trashed. I know it's a bachelorette party. And you are probably the maid of honor if you are hosting and planning it. But your main goal is to keep the bride happy and off the floor. I had a couple glasses of wine at the house, but had water the rest of the night. This may sound boring to you (and I'm not a big drinker anyway), but I was glad I did because I needed my head on straight to make sure things didn't ever get out of hand. I still danced, laughed, and had an awesome time.
• DO pick one fun game for everyone to participate in. But just one. You won't have time for more if you are planning on going out for the night as well. We played the "Panty Game" in which each guest brings a pair of panties in their own style that they would wear. We pinned them on a clothesline. The bride then had to guess who brought each one. We went through 5 rounds and she finally got them all right. Everyone had fun with it, and it got all the guests laughing and throwing panties at each other. Success.
• DO clean up as the night goes on. I know the last thing you want to do is step away from the party for a few minutes, but I did it every so often just to dump things out and throw things away after they were used. This made cleanup the next day so much easier. Also, DON'T let anyone dump anything in your sink. Mr. S had to unclog the drain because someone put some sort of paper in the sink that didn't have the disposal. No biggie, but a pain in the butt that could have been prevented if I had put the trash out in the main area so it was more visible.

That's all I can think of at this point. Hopefully these tips can help you plan the perfect KICK-A$$ party for any event! And remember to have fun! This was probably the only bachelorette party I will ever host, and I'm sure it will be memorable to everyone who was there. It sure will be to me :)

Happy planning!
Miss Spaghetti

Feelin' Oh So Crafty

MOH K's Bachelorette Party is this Saturday at my house. I'm pretty prepared (aka: still hustling to get my house in order after having our tub and bathroom sink snaked Sunday and having black crap spewed all over the door and walls and toilet and floor...but hey at least the drains work now!). My bathroom is not even technically a bathroom, it's a commode. It's a closet filled with toilet, sink and tub. Seriously, it's tiny. But I take pride in finding ways to make it seem organized and not a complete mess. There is a white shelf thing over the toilet (like a toilet armoire) that is just shelves, no doors to close. So everything on these shelves is visible ALL the time. It drives me nuts. I wanted to get some of those fabric drawers like the ones that go in the little cube cubby hole organizers. But they were too big. And also upwards of $10 each. Ya right! So I set out to find a way to make my own.

I started with some random boxes that were headed for the recycle bin. Then I printed some cute designs on paper to wrap them in. I really didn't have a true plan in mind as far as what size, or how the paper would actually look when I wrapped it. So I started folding and cutting and just seeing what I ended up with. To my surprise, the first one came out pretty darn good! I began wrapping the paper around it, secured it using some handy dandy Scotch tape, and threw it up on the shelf to admire my handy work. Other than the box being a tiny bit warped from being smashed in a bag, it looked mighty good! I took some random crap that was on the shelf and put it in my new "deco box" (that's the official name I came up with) and the shelf looked better instantly.

Having had such success on the first try, I set out to make one to hold the washcloths that up until now just sat awkwardly on the shelf. No, I don't even have a linen closet. Pathetic. Using a cereal box, I folded and cut and used the stack of washcloths for sizing. Once I had something to work with, I wrapped it in a different pattern printout. It was a little more rickety than my first one, but looked good nonetheless. I plopped that thang on the shelf, put my washcloths in it, and stood in amazement at myself for actually following through with a craft project, and being happy with the result. I made Mr. S immediately pause his Xbox game and get up and take a look. He was thoroughly impressed, of course.

Now the next one I actually took the time to take some pics while I was working. This one was designed to be a q-tip holder with a flip-top lid. Yes, I am that OCD that even the q-tip box doesn't belong on the shelf...so here's how it went down (all pics personal):

I started with a box that I cut down and reassembled to make it fit some q-tips (hint: use actual q-tips for measuring)

Next, I cut the top off a baggie and placed it inside the box. I thought this might be more sanitary since q-tips go in your ears. I used a glue-tape-dispenser that kind of looks like a whiteout pen to adhere the top of the baggie to the box.

Then I wrapped the box with the printed paper. I chose stripes for this little guy.

And here's a pic from the front with the baggie.

Next came the flip top lid. I cut a single piece of cardboard to fit the top, and then folded another little piece to make a hinge. Glued that puppy onto the inside of the box, and the underside of the lid.

Ta-da! My new q-tip holder deco box with the lid closed, and also finished with q-tips inside it.

The moral of the story is, sometimes you just have to try something to really know if it's going to work or not. I honestly did not think I'd make it happen, just because I often have these little craft projects that end up being half done and stuck in a box in the basement. But it was worth a shot, and it ended up working out just fine!

Happy planning!
Miss Spaghetti

Dress-in Up

This past Sunday afternoon was spent browsing racks for Bridesmaids dresses. I had 3 of my 4 ladies in tow, BM H being the missing gal (since she sadly moved to Texas last month). But she was with us in spirit as we perused the options at Alfred Angelo and David's Bridal. Our appointment at Alfred Angelo was at 1:00, and they told me they would be about an hour long. So we started looking and pulled a few cute dresses to try on. Some were good, and some just not good at all. Unfortunately, I didn't keep track of what style # each one was, and I can't seem to find them on their website. But here are a couple that were major contenders (until we learned their prices...)

A pretty faerie dress (as we nicknamed it) $240 (holy crap!)

Another favorite, at a much more favorable $170 (still higher than I preferred, and also we decided we would cut the weird strap off)

Being done with our appointment a half hour early, we decided to try to get into David's Bridal before our appointment time of 2:30. Success! They were busy (as always) but got us in. We started with these two:

(Both $139)  Left: Strapless Pick-Up     Right: Strapless Chiffon

Then BM M found a little cotton sateen number that she just loved. We grabbed one in everyone elses size, and wha-la!

Happy ladies!! BM S, BM M, and MOH K in Cotton Sateen Strapless

Here is the actual color - image via David's Bridal

Best part was they were on sale for $99 each. Plus, since I bought my wedding gown there, each girl got an extra $20 off! Now THAT'S what I'm talkin' about!

Next step for the gals, picking out shoes. I've given this task to MOH Fashionista K since she will be MUCH better at finding something than I would. Oh, and by the way, we were done and out of DB before our actual appointment time. Boo-ya!

How quickly did you and/or your bridesmaids find dresses? Was it an easy task, or were there disagreements?

(All photos personal unless otherwise stated)

Happy planning!
Miss Spaghetti

Day 2 of No Chocolate

I don't consider it a New Year's resolution, because those things never work out. But the start of a new year is a good time to start over. And for me, that means healthier eating. Plus, the fact that we are now a mere 5 MONTHS away from our wedding gives me enough cause to make some changes.

My name is Miss Spaghetti, and I'm a choco-holic. Between the dates of December 23rd and January 1st, I must have consumed my weight in it. I blame it on my mother and her over-the-top stockings (full of Reese's Trees, Peanut Butter M&M's, and theater-boxes of Reese's Pieces). I also blame it on the fact that I had that whole week and a half off work for vacay. And I realized something-I eat much much MUCH healthier while I'm at work. This may not surprise anyone out there, but it was a surprise to me. Probably because when I think of eating at work, I think of food days and people having little bowls of snacks on their desks that are all too easy to grab from.

I start the day religiously with a bowl of Fiber Plus cereal. Laugh if you want, that shiz is awesome. Then throughout the morning I eat some combination of yogurt, a banana, or crackers and peanut butter, all before lunch. Lunch normally ends up being a salad, turkey sandwich, or tomato soup. Then, I have one or two more snacks before the clock strikes the glorious 5 p.m., which are usually chips and salsa, oatmeal, or whatever I didn't eat for one of my many breakfasts. I'm sure it isn't the most extremely health-nut healthy stuff to eat, but I always buy low-sodium, low-fat whatever I can, and my body feels it when I stray from this "diet".

Now I'll let you all in on another little secret...remember when I wrote about my fitness plan a while back? Ya, the one that I haven't done whatsoever? Yep, that's it. Well, I am starting the new year off with a bang, or should I say "kick", because I've done my Tae-Bo workout every morning so far. I hope I didn't jinx it by telling you. But I need some accountability! So hold me to it folks. I am bound and determined to have the least flabbiest arms of anyone at our wedding.

Speaking of flabby arms, mine won't quite be toned yet for MOH K's bachelorette party, which is in just over 2 weeks. Invitations have been sent (I will share with you once I know they have been received), and I'm going to try to make some cute little cake pops that I'll discuss in another post. But for now I'm signing off, and not eating chocolate. For real, I promise.

Happy planning!
Miss Spaghetti