Thursday, July 31, 2014

Ashton's Bachelorette Bash Part II: The Presents!

 

Instead of traditional bachelorette gifts, I asked each of the ladies to make a 12x12 scrapbook page for Ashton and to bring a favorite love story.


As the ladies were initially arriving for the party, they each left a lipstick print as a little memento for Ashton.

 

She loved it and it's such a fun and easy gift that is so adorable.


 

After the lipstick print, 
 




 




 











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Friday, July 25, 2014

Ashton's Bachelorette Bash Part II: The Games!

One of my absolute favorite parts about planning a bachelorette party is coming up with the games!
Some bachelorette parties have a totally wild vibe- which I love, but this bachelorette party definitely felt more subdued.  I wanted to create and find games that were classy, yet sassy.
 
 

Our first game of the night happened as soon as the ladies walked back in from our outdoors photoshoot.  Each girl was handed an envelope and told not to open it and to enjoy the food.
When everyone was content and had a glass of sangria (or two) in her system, 
we started the first two games.

 
The first was a sassy word game where each of the ladies was given a bedazzled clothespin (got them from Michael's- 5 pack for $1).  I asked Ashton to pick two words that were "forbidden" to be said.  She wisely chose missiles to avoid shop talk at the party and she also chose wedding (which would later get me).  If you said one of the forbidden words and someone caught you, she could "steal" your pin.  The lady with the most pins at the end of the night won a prize.

 

The next game, Find the Groom, is a really simple and easy way to kick off a bachelorette or bridal shower.  Ashton and I (without her knowing about the game) picked 9 gorgeous celebrities and of course you can't have a bachelorette without including the groom.  I photoshopped their faces onto a suit and had them printed out.  Once printed and cut, each "groom" was put into an unmarked envelope.
 
Each of the ladies got to open her envelope to reveal their groom.  The lady who had Matt won the first prize of the night.  These little dudes easily became a hit and the clothespins for the word game were also used to pin husbands onto blouses.  I mean, who wouldn't want James Marsden on their sweater?

 

Between each of the games, we took short breaks to chat, drink more sangria, take jello shots, or just eat.  It was a lot of fun!
  
 
 The next game, The Perfect Partner, is probably my most favorite bachelorette game ever and it was the first time I played.  I highly recommend it because it is a creative outlet and a nice way to transition into the more competitive games.

This was also the game where I lost my pin (boooo Andrea boooo).

 
 With The Perfect Partner, each of the ladies were given a drawing challenge to create their perfect partner.  They were told to not forget about personality, career, clothes, etc. while creating their perfect man.  I also emphasized that if they already had a significant other, it definitely did not have to be that person.  It's just a fun, silly event.

 

Once all of the ladies were done, we shared each of our perfect men.  There was a lot of facial hair and nice butts.  Surprisingly as important as monogamy is, it was not the first thing that came to mind for a lot of us.  There's a senior thesis in that somewhere.

 
 Hannah, being brilliant as always, utilized the entire page to explain Steve...named after Captain America.  She even flipped the page over to emphasize his nice derriere. She won, hands down.

You can see Hannah with Channing Tatum and her No Preggo the Eggo Baby
Another game that was going on during the length of the party was my notorious No Preggo the Eggo Cake.  Normally, I use cupcakes for this but I had the help of my friend Emily, who made a S'mores Cake.  It was delicious and fit so well with theme.  No Preggo the Eggo Cake is just like King Cake.  Several little plastic babies are hidden in the cake and the first person to find it wins the first prize of the night.  We had two ladies find babies at the exact same time, so two prizes were granted.

 We moved onto the more direct games and this actually takes a bit of time in preparation.  If you're keeping a running tally this is game number five (Word Game, Find the Groom, Perfect Partner, No Preggo the Eggo).  This was the Romantic Movie Quotes Game, and one that is a crowd pleaser for sure.  

 I utilized iMovie and sound bites from popular romantic movies.  I set it up so that the ladies would have to guess 10 romantic movie titles based off of famous quotes from said movies.  In iMovie, I would separate each sound bite with a slide saying "first movie" or "fifth movie" to give the ladies time to write stuff down and remember, you can't show the actual clip because that's too easy!

I highly recommend making a DVD of this so that it can play on a TV.  I had a snafu and the DVD could only play on a computer so the sound was a little limiting but still a lot of fun.

 

The second to last game, also utilized iMovie to make.  He Said, She Said takes a bit of planning and preparation.  I interviewed Ashton and Matt before the party on 10 unique things about themselves.  I also created a little sheet for ladies to circle a set of lips for Ashton, a mustache for Matt, or to mix things up, there was also the option of circling both.  We also had a tie breaker question as well.

 
The last game of the night is a Bridal Shower favorite- toilet paper dress designer!


I had Ashton split the ladies up into three teams with the goal of making a toilet paper wedding dress.

 
 As you can see, the celebrity grooms made it throughout the entire night.





 

This was the dress I designed with Brittany! :)


 
 


Kaila won with the addition of that amazing TP garter!

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Thursday, July 24, 2014

Ashton's Bachelorette Bash Part II: The Food!

 

No, that is not a penis...it's a missile.
Moving on...


Ashton's bachelorette party was themed: Girl Scouts Chic.  The goal was to have a very vintage and retro vib with all things Girl Scouts related.  The guests dressed in neutral colors or vintage wear that was inspired by retro Girl Scout attire.  Girl Scout handbooks were displayed everywhere and the ceiling was covered in banners of pink and tan cloth with ribbon and poms in GS colors.


A really cute and affordable way to distinguish wine glasses is to find a free ring printable online.  Conveniently as I was perusing the blogosphere, I found a free printable and cut them out for the ladies to use as wine glass markers.  These were originally gift tags, but I added an additional cut to make a really easy name tag.

 

We had so much sangria, desserts, and appetizers!  To counter some of the costs, I had each of the ladies bring an appetizer, dessert, or drink.  We had two big dispensers of sangria, this amazing fully loaded queso dip, bruschetta, fondue with dipping foods (provided by Ashton's husband, Matt), cookies, and so much more!


Each of the ladies were given an envelope which was part of the first game of the night.  Before we played the game, we noshed on the delicious appetizers and drank plenty of sangria.

 

I also set up a little station of prizes for the party.  I took advantage of the Bath and Body Works' semi annual sale to stock up on their amazing lotions.  I put sparkly ribbon around the neck of the bottles and voila- easy prizes that everyone loves.  I don't know about you, but the older I get, the more I appreciate free Bath and Body Works ;)

 

Of course, it wouldn't be a bachelorette without a stripper.

Ahem...

 

Meet Raul, our male entertainment for the evening.  We unfortunately did not have tiny dollar bills and he now resides in my craft room.  I'm sure a DIY tutorial will be up shortly ;)


I also made bra and panty cookies and they were so easy to make!  All you need is a heart-shaped cookie cutter.  I also took advantage of the ready-to-frost pouches that are sold in the cake-decorating aisles.  The cookies were yummy, easy to decorate, and fit perfectly with the party.



I want to thank all of the ladies for contributing such delicious foods, desserts, and beverages!


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