Happy, happy Monday y’all!

Apologies for the radio silence here last week—as I mentioned, I went to Chicago weekend before last for my cousin’s bachelorette party in Chicago. I flew out early Saturday morning and came back Monday night and spent the rest of my week playing catch up. Y’all—this bachelorette was so much fun and even though it was rainy and cold the whole weekend, we had the best time.

Because of the weather, we mostly hung out in the Airbnb we rented playing a fun round of bridal beer Olympics and taking in the elite eight basketball games, but we did enjoy a dinner of Chicago deep dish pizza, sing our hearts out at Howl at the Moon piano bar, and took as many pictures as we could of the rosé all day sign at The Hampton Social.

I thought my cousins planned an awesome weekend for the bride-to-be, and wanted to share some of the fun ideas for a bachelorette party they came up with. Because if your social calendar looks anything like mine, there’s a lot of brides to be celebrating these days! 

01. RENT AN AIR BNB FOR A LARGE GROUP.

Surprisingly, this was my first time staying at an Airbnb—millennial fail, I know. But now I can totally see why they are such a popular option for travelers these days. We stayed in a four-story townhouse in the Lake View section of Chicago that was absolutely stunning!

The best part besides the #housegoals? It cost $1,000 for the two nights, and since there were 10 of us staying there, it was only $100/person for the whole weekend. Even if we had stayed at a subpar hotel, it would have been more money and we wouldn’t have been able to spend as much time together. Trust me—it’s no fun to cram 10 girls trying to have a pre-dinner cocktail or getting ready session into a tiny two-queen bed city hotel room. Having a house meant we could all eat, get ready, and lounge together, but also retreat when we needed a mid-day nap or a few minutes of alone time.

02. HAVE HER FINACÉ FILM A “NEWLYWEDS” STYLE VIDEO.

This was one of my favorite moments of the weekend, and now I want to do it for all my friends! The bride’s fiancé was given a set of questions ahead of time by the maid and matron of honor. They asked him things like, “What’s your favorite drink to order at a bar? What’s her favorite drink to order at a bar?,” “Who said I love you first?,” and “What did you do on your first date?”

He video taped his responses and then at the bachelorette, we asked the bride the same set of questions. If she got the answer right, the party attendees drank, if she got the answer wrong, she drank. It was a fun way for her fiancé to be apart of the bachelorette weekend!

03. MAKE FLOWER CROWNS.

This was such a fun and easy craft for a rainy day! A disclaimer that I’m not sure I trust my artistry skills to make a flower crown I’d want to wear out in public, but if you have an afternoon where you plan on lounging or doing a bridal beer Olympics like we did, these are a fun way to make a more relaxed activity just as special. We took tons of photos wearing our flower crowns and bride squad t-shirts—seriously the softest, best tank ever! (size down!)—and they turned out so cute.

These are also easy to make—all you need are wire cutters, an assortment of faux flowers, covered craft wire, and florist tape. We cut the covered craft wire to be one and a half times larger than our head. Then, we cut the faux flowers off their stems and wrapped onto the wire. Once we were happy with how they looked, we went in with florist tape to cover any rough edges.

04. HAVE A MIMOSA BAR!

This is a pretty common bachelorette party staple, but for good reason! We all arrived on a Saturday morning and were at our Airbnb by 11 am. To greet us all, the hostesses had set up a fun mimosa bar with champagne provided by the bride’s fiancé and all sorts of fun juices—cranberry, pomegranate, orange, pineapple. The bride, of course, popped the first bottle and it was a great way to get the weekend started.

The hostesses also gave everyone a stemless champagne flute with their names on it, which was a great idea with ten girls—it was really easy to keep track of who’s drink was who’s!

05. STOCK UP ON THE BRIDE’S FAVORITE SNACKS.

When everyone is on vacation, calories don’t count, right?

My cousin’s stocked up on all of the bride’s favorite snack food and candy for us to munch on all weekend—Cheez-Its, Sour Patch Kids, Snackwell cookies—and had an assortment of her favorite finger frozen foods on-hand for when we wanted something a little more substantial between meals. I thought this was such a nice touch and really a fun way to show the bride how much she is loved—it’s always in the details!

I’d love to know if you have any fun bachelorette party ideas as I am always looking for more ways to shower the brides in my life with love!