{bachelorette party supplies}

Summer means wedding season which is great and all, but the really nice part about wedding season is the cooresponding bachelorette party season!!!  I love a good excuse to throw a fun girly party for a night out filled with champagne and confetti.  My one complaint with bachelorette parties is the obnoxious decor- can we all just agree once and for all to leave the penis crowns and pink zebra striped decorations at the tacky party store where they belong?  Here's a little round up of some fun alternatives for any bachelorette parties in your future:

For the bride:  No need to over-do it, but the bride to be HAS to wear a little something.  This is not negotiable.  When else in her life can she parade drunkenly around in a wedding veil.  Simply inform your bride-to-be friend that this is happening and buy her a simple veil.  And grab the adorable ring sunglasses to go with it!

Groupwear: In addition to the penis crowns, please also leave the matching rhinestone tank tops at home.  You are all better than that and your wardrobes deserve more.  That doesn't mean the ladies shouldn't get the chance to wear a coordinating accessory because like the bride's outfit- when else do you get to parade around with your friends wearing the same cute flair?!?  Colorful flower crowns (diy tutorial here) or bow headbands (see them in action here) make a nice alternative.  Personally I love the chiffon or tulle pouf for the ladies to wear, but I am biased since that's what we did for my bachelorette- see an easy tutorial for those here.   You can't go wrong with a simple pair of earrings like these or festive Lolita sunglasses.

Decor:  If you can just recreate the decor from this amazing 30th birthday party then you will be all set!!! Throw in a pink + gold tassel garland from The Flair Exchange to fancy up your hotel room and add a cute fringed heart on the wall- perfect for photo ops!

Activities:  Since most guests will expect a game, why not make it enjoyable for everyone and have a little blindfolded champagne tasting contest.  Buy a few different bottles of champagne- have all the girls blindly taste them and see if they can guess which is which! Don't forget to pick up a cute blindfold!

Favors:  Whether it is the bride to be or the main party planner who buys some favors for the guests, it is always fun to have a little something to thank everyone for coming.   Load up a cute tote bag with custom cocktail bottles, nail polish and other fun items- see some more ideas what to put in these bags here. 

Special Extras:  These are just some fun items to bring along for extra credit- girl's night table topics would make for a fun late night activity, custom name krazy straws would be perfect for guests to keep track of their drink and of course a secret stash of confetti never hurts!

{bachelorette party pins}

This past weekend was the bachelorette party for my good friend Katie who will be getting married in just two short weeks from now!  We spent the weekend up in Santa Barbara going wine tasting, dining and other general bachelorette activities which I won't go into detail about here.  I have blogged in the past about cute bachelorette party accessories from my friend Heather's bachelorette weekend and my own bachelorette party out in Palm Springs so I am obviously a big fan of the matching girly group flair.  

For Katie's bachelorette, we debated between embellished sashes or some sort of headpiece, but ultimately we decided to create some custom pins with girly ribbon and sequins inspired by this image.  I designed the simple pink heart design and then we ordered 3" custom buttons through Zazzle.  This was my first time using Zazzle and it proved to be completely painless- the shipping was free and the pins looked picture perfect for less than $3 each!  I created a "bride to be" pin for the guest of honor and a "katie's final fling" pin for the rest of the group since we had a mix of bridal party members as well as good friends otherwise I would have done a "bridesmaid" option. 

We picked up a mix of grosgrain ribbon, satin ribbon, lace, sequin strands and fringe in the fabric district of downtown Los Angeles.  The bride's pin included some exclusive striped pink ribbon as well as white lace while the rest of the pins featured a mixture of light to bright pinks in the varying materials.  We cut each of the pieces of ribbon/sequins about 6 inches long and hot glued them directly onto the back of the pin.  

These were such an easy project and would lend themselves well to a variety of events- even if you are just making one singular pin for the guest of honor at a birthday or baby/bridal shower.  Since there is no minimum order quantity on Zazzle, you can order one singular pin and the price/shipping does not change.  How amazing would a simple version of these pins be as personalized place-cards for a wedding or dinner party?!?

{bachelorette gift bags}

The past weekend, I had my bachelorette party at The Parker with all my favorite ladies.  We had a truly great time sipping cocktails poolside and dancing the night away.  Before heading out to the desert, I put together some small gift bags as a "Thank You" for all my friends' hard work with my bridal shower and bachelorette planning.  I purchased some simple canvas tote bags and used iron-on transfer paper to affix a big red fabric heart on the side of each bag.  Then I filled each one with a mini champagne, lolita glasses, confetti and my favorite lipstick.

My girlfriends truly spoiled me this weekend.  I was surprised with a decorated hotel room, another set of fun gift bags, pink poufs for each girl to wear, champagne cocktails and of course, a veil to wear out on the town. Here are a few snapshots from our weekend....

 {custom gift bags from The Wedding Chicks put together by Eva & Kristen}

 {champagne cocktails put together by Heather & hand made pink poufs put together by Kay}

{bachelorette}

This weekend, I am headed out to the fabulous Parker Palm Springs for my bachelorette weekend with all my favorite ladies.  First I will be wrapping up some wedding details with our coordinator and bakery.  After that,  I cant wait to be poolside with a cocktail in hand and dancing the night away in this little outfit:

ASOS white skater dress

ASOS multi zip tassel clutch

Paris Hilton gold bow d'orsay pumps