A blog about life experience and inexperience, written by Dallea Caldwell.
We were too hurried to take pictures of the decorative handy-work. Basically, we picked up every purple trinket I could find at Party City and placed/hung/taped it somewhere. I might have hyperventilated from the excitement, but that’s why I stuck to blowing the balloons… to keep me calm while my sister did pretty things around the house.
What pictures my sister did take are being withheld to protect the innocent: women wrapped in toilet paper like high-fashion mummies, bride choking on 12 sticks worth of gum, teary-eyed huggers, toasts, toasts, and more toasts. If anyone leaks those images, it would pale in comparison to the transcript, but I won’t get into that either. Let’s just keep it as PG-13 as possible.
That’s also what I said when I started planning my mother’s surprise bachelorette party in the first place. Because… you know that awkward moment when you’re watching a movie with your parents and the characters get all R-rated? Well, my biggest fear was that that Officer Spanx would show up and create that stomach churning sensation for a full 4 hours.
So, I did a Bachelorette Shower. Light on the drinks. Even lighter on the debauchery. And, by keeping it a surprise I kept the drama high and the expectations low. Here are the 5 games we played… including “Fool the Bride”.
“Fool the Bride” is basically keeping the party a secret. I’d say that surprise party planners require at least 2 co-conspirators. In this case I needed her fiancee to keep her schedule open and the wedding planner to give an excuse to go the party location. When mom came in and saw her family and friends, her hands started shaking and her eyes swelled with tears. It was awesome. Then it was on to the next adventure.
“Something Sweet and Something Spicy”: As guests arrived, I directed them to a stack of postcards and asked them to write something sweet/kind and something spicy/sassy for the bride; it could be jokes, tips, or whatever they think of. They didn’t sign it. I collected the cards, and the bride had to guess who said what. The guessing game was toward the end, and reading the notes out loud and discovering who was behind them made for many sentimental, surprising, and uproariously shocking moments. My sister wrote the names on the cards, which made for nice keepsakes for mom.
“2 Truths and a Lie”: The candid talk that occurred at that party would not have been possible without an icebreaker. We have about 20 guests from different parts of my mom’s life. Once she arrived we all formally introduced ourselves with 2 truths and 1 lie. The first person to guess wrong on each turn takes a sip of wine, and if someone guesses correctly, the guest who told the lie takes some wine. The added liquid courage made it an icebreaker+. My guests generally went around successfully passing as younger than they were to win each turn, but it was still fun.
“Toilet Paper Wedding Dress”: This explains the aforementioned toilet paper fashion. I divided the guests into 5 teams and handed each a roll of toilet paper and a roll of clear tape. Then, I gave them 10 minutes to wrap one of the team members in the toilet paper so that they look like a bride in a wedding dress. My mom picked the best dressed. The results were amazing! Toilet-paper sweetheart necklines, long trains, bows, mermaid silhouettes, and more. And the fashion show! Those toilet paper brides really worked it, and the teams described the gowns like they were on the red carpet.
“The Newly-Wed Game”: It didn’t hurt the relationship that my mom got so many answers wrong during this quiz, but it would have hurt her liver. To play, I compiled a list of questions and got the answers from her fiancee a week before. If mom got the answer wrong, she drank. She drank too much. I put gum in her mouth for every wrong answer after that. It pained me to ask what she said 3 or 4 times, have her struggle not to pronounce the answer, and then hand her another stick of gum. Actually, it was completely painless… and hilarious!
So, aside from getting stuck in traffic for so long the check platter melted, having to rush to decorate, and then waiting an extra 30 minutes with a house full of guests hoping mom wouldn’t miss her own surprise party… it went off without a hitch! And great presents to boot!
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