My First Bachelorette Party

The bride for the wedding that I'll be attending in a few weeks had her bachelorette party this weekend. (In England this is known as a hen party, I like hens.) This was the first bachelorette party I've ever been to, and it was a lot of fun. The theme was pretty pretty princesses (remember that game?) and so everyone was in fun party dresses with lots of glam accessories.
The bride purchased glow sticks and silly little kid jewelry for us all to wear, and man did we turn heads walking down the street. (possibly because we looked like very large (and slightly drunk) 7 year olds)
On the agenda was a disco version of a Midsummer's Night Dream, which was very racy and hilarious. There were go-go dancers in sparkle boy shorts, and it was bachelorette party perfection! The bride danced on stage with go-go dancers and we all had a great time watching the play take place around us.
From there we went to a club and danced and danced and danced. I left after the first danced though, I was not drinking that evening, because of a terrible cold I have, and I was too sober for the club scene.

All in all it was a stereotypical bachelorette party with scantily clad male dancers (at the play, they were the pixies) and silly drunk women dressed funny (though I was not drunk) and lots and lots of dancing. It was a lot of fun, but most importantly the bride to be had a lot of fun, and I'm glad I was there to be a part of it.

My mother asked why there had to be a bachelorette party at all, and that they didn't used to have them. I tried to explain that men have always had bachelor parties, and this was feminism's answer to that male tradition. Sure women don't have as crazy of a time as in the Hangover, or go to strip clubs, but its a chance to hang out with your girls and be silly before "settling down".

While I greatly enjoyed the bachelorette party, I'm not sure I would want mine to be similar. I'd want fewer people, something more relaxing, less sweaty, and more girl time and less getting hit on by random men. (My friend the bride had men coming up to her all evening telling her not to get married, which I thought was quite rude, if you want her to feel special tell her the future husband is a lucky man, not that she should stay single so you can hit on her... I didn't like that.)

All in all it was a good time, and it was a fun experience, but it clarified for me that it is not the sort of experience I would want to be the center of attention for.