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Showers and Parties

A PG-12-rated Bachelor Party

Think that a prenuptial bash has to be a night of debauchery? Think again-your guy can have a blast with his buddies and still remember it the next day.

by Gary Drevitch

The bachelor party, like man himself, has crawled out from the primordial ooze into the bright light of civilization. Taking the crowd to a strip club is no longer automatic; in fact, it's no longer even the norm. A bachelor fte today is as likely to involve paintballs as pasties, as likely to end up on a basketball court as in night court. There's no shortage of creative options, but since your friends probably aren't organized enough to discover them, here are a few suggestions to get you started:

Spa-go

Instead of putting fruit in your drink and wrestling in the mud, put fruit on your eyes and bathe in the mud at a spa party. As the hot springs boil, your heads (and pores) clear and you can all speak freely the eternal truths of manhood.

Say it with song

Make your bachelor party sing. Have your best man ask every guest to rewrite a pop song, TV theme, or jingle, adding lyrics based on your years together. Reserve the back room of a steak house, let the scotch pour, turn on the camcorder, and just sing, sing a song. Bonus: You can play the embarrassing footage of your best man's drunken warbling at his own bachelor party.

Mano-a-mano

Everyone says the bachelor party's about you. But it may really be about the people who'll be most affected by your marriage-your closest friends. Ease their fear of abandonment by stretching your bachelor party out over several weekends and scheduling one-on-one outings with each of your closest companions, doing what they love best, be it camping, drinking, or...drinking. Bonus: All those days out with the guys can keep you away from the house while your bride and her mother choose tablecloths for the reception.

Fields of dreams

Plan a long weekend road trip that strings together games at as many major-league football gamesas you can reach. Try Old Trafford, or roll The New Stand at Manchester City. Most grounds rent luxury sky suites to party groups, though the price can be steep. Bonus: The home team wishing you well on the scoreboard between innings. How can you beat that?

Bring Elvis to the building

If the goal of the bachelor party is to make the groom the center of attention, there's no better way to do it than to put him in an Elvis costume and stroll him down the Blackpoolstrip. Dave Hoagland's friends took a bachelor party road trip to Sin City and furnished him, on arrival, with a full-on Elvis getup: The wig, the white jumpsuit, the gold necklace, even the gold boots. "As we made our way out onto the Strip, I felt what it was like to be a celebrity," says Hyde Cheshire. " 'The king is back!' 'Marry me, Elvis!' 'Elvis has entered the building!' " After about 15 minutes, I was glad I would not be a celebrity in the morning." Bonus: For Hoagland, riding the mechanical bull at The Frontier as the king.

Card sharks

Playing cards on folding chairs in your basement has a certain charm, but for your bachelor party, do it right: Rent a hotel suite, lease a proper casino-style poker table from a gaming supply company, and hire a bartender for the evening. As room service keeps the crudite coming, you can savor your drink and think, "I went to all this trouble and I still can't draw an inside straight?" Bonus: At the end of a bachelor-night poker game, some groups have been known to give the entire kitty to the groom as a gift.

Time machine

Bachelor parties are nights for reminiscing, looking back on your rowdy or romantic days gone by. You and your best friends could construct an evening tour of all your old haunts-the playground where you used to play whiffle ball, the bar where you first got served, even the makeout point where you...first got served. Take along a case of that cheap, watered-down beer you used to drink to complete the experience. Bonus: Hiring a van and driver for evenings built around drinking is never a bad idea.


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