Ideally, a bachelor party is a no-expense-spared, over-the-top blowout that everyone will remember as long as they live. The reality is: not everybody has the same amount of money to blow. If you want to include all your close friends in an affordable bachelor party, you’ll have to balance their means against your expectations.
In many cases–especially if we’re talking about a destination bachelor party–there’s airfare, hotels, meals out, entertainment, and booze. Lots and lots of booze.
Your bachelor party is like a cocktail, and you’re the mixologist putting it together: what do you do when not all your guests can afford the really good stuff?
HOMEBREW: STAY LOCAL
Take a look around. Unless you have been kidnapped, chances are you are living somewhere you chose to live. You don’t have to fly anywhere to get to your favorite city: you’re already there. If most of your crowd lives in the same area, cut out the airfare and hotel rooms.
There are some disadvantages, of course, to staying local. You’ll be closer to your fiancée, for one, which might put a crimp in your boys-will-be-boys vibe. But that’s why God created hotel suites.
ONE FOR THE ROAD: YOU TRAVEL TO THEM
Let’s say you have some good friends who are starving artist types. Not living-in-Soho starving artists but living-in-Detroit and actually malnourished.
If your cash-strapped friends live in a city that offers some crazy bachelor party fun, have your shindig there. You and your more “well-off” friends get a suite or two in said city, and your local guests can show you around. They get to save on hotel rooms and flights, and you get a man or two on the ground who can scout out potential activities.
SKIP THIS ROUND: THE OPT OUT
People like options. Like the choice to not spend money on something they don’t want to do. Thus, the Opt-Out. While everyone should be there for the opening meet-up, the big dinner, and the after-dinner trip to the cigar bar (or strip club or speakeasy, etc.), there’s no reason everyone has to shell out hundreds of dollars for volcano helicopter rides, or get themselves fitted for custom-made cowboy hats.
A SINGLE SHOT: STICK TO ONE NIGHT
Until recently, most bachelor parties were just that: parties. They lasted a single night, or maybe one day. Just because weekend-long bachelor parties are all the rage now doesn’t mean you have to have one. If you want an old-fashioned bachelor party that that lasts a single night instead of a long weekend, that’s what you should get.
SHAKE & STRAIN: FILTER YOUR GUEST LIST
They say you can judge a man by the company he keeps. Maybe that’s why it’s a good idea to cull your friend list every so often. While the point of a bachelor party is to celebrate your friendships, it’s also a good time to take a good hard look at your inner circle, and maybe get rid of the guys who think you need to spend money like a drunken sailor to have fun.
You invited these friends for a reason: these are the comrades whose company you’d enjoy even if you were all dropped off in a bug infested swamp in nothing but your underwear. (But don’t do that…Zika, and so on.)
Your bachelor party should be about you and your friends, so come up with something that everyone can enjoy without worrying about the cost.
