Planning a Bachelorette Party in New Orleans
So you want to plan a bachelorette party in New Orleans. Where should you even begin?
New Orleans is my favorite city in the world. I haven’t been to that man cities, but I’ve hit many major ones, and New Orleans has something to offer that you can’t find anywhere else – fun, whimsy, woo, delicious food, and never-ending parties.
As a bride-to-be who has spent a lot of time in New Orleans, I knew that I should be the one to plan my own bachelorette party. My attendees didn’t really know each other. I wanted an extra large group. And I knew that I felt comfortable putting my own credit card down for events and could wait to get paid back by other people. Once I realized all these facts, I started to plan.
Here are the six steps to take when planning a New Orleans bachelorette party.
1. Figure out what you want the vibe to be
2. Plan your home base
3. Plan your itinerary
4. Connect your attendees
5. Get your logistics in order
6. Enjoy!
My caveat: I am not a New Orleans local. If you know a local, talk to them. I’m sure that there are mom and pop shops of which I’m not aware. This is just the story of one New Orleans loving party planning gal who planned her own bachelorette party. I’d love to hear your own thoughts in the comments below!
Figure out what you want the vibe to be
New Orleans is a lot of things and can be anything you want it to be. You want ghost tours. They’ve got you. You want woo. They’ve got you. You want to shop. They’ve got you. You want good food & drinks. They’ve got you. You want good music & art. They’ve got you. You want loud bars and all-night dance clubs. They’ve got you.
Figure out what your vibe is – or more importantly, what your Bride’s vibe is – and plan around that.
If you want ghost tours – there’s so many that you can take. Some are more about history, some are more about ghosts. You can buy yourself a Ouija board and take it out for a test drive. You can visit some cemeteries. You could even take an out-of-town trip to a haunted plantation. This has never been my jam, but if you want to do it, all you need is a quick google search.
If you want woo – you can find tarot card readers, psychics, crystal shops, voo doo dolls, and more. You can hire people to do readings, you can hire people to teach classes, you can give all your guests some sage to go home with to cleanse their homes.
If you want to shop – there are plenty of places you could do this. My favorite is Magazine Street, you could entertain yourself for hours – with plenty of places to grab food in between – just browsing through the shops. You could shop your way through the French Quarter. Or there’s plenty of cute shops in Mid-town. If you want to open your purse, there’s definitely money to be spent.
If you want good food & drinks – there is no end to good food in New Orleans. And this could be anything from a mom & pop’s po’ boy shop to a fancy tasting dinner – from sno ball dessert craving to fancy cocktails. Just do some research about the neighborhoods you plan to be in and find something that aligns with your cravings.
If you want good music and art – consider going for Jazz Fest (April), visit the galleries around town, go the to the museums, visit Pat O’Brien’s dueling piano bar, check out some of the jazz concerts on Frenchmen street, find some live music from people with residencies around town. There’s no shortage of culture.
And if you want loud bars & all night dance clubs – honestly, my knowledge on this is limited, but if you stay in the Bourbon Street, Frenchmen Street, busy Bywater area – you’re definitely going to find something that meets your style. You could also consider going for Mardi Gras (February/March), but remember that most of the parades and parties happen in the two weeks prior to Fat Tuesday.
Start to plan around whichever category fits your style. If you want to know more about how to plan a bachelorette party for your guest of honor, click here. If you want to know more about my personal New Orleans recommendations, click here.
I also used Google Forms to understand people’s preferences about the trip. Questions included:
Whether folks would be interested in joining
Whether they’d ever been to New Orleans before
Whether people wanted to hang out the whole time
Accommodation preferences
Travel preferences
Preferred budget range
What types of items people wanted to partake in: beer tasking, beignets, brunch, the carousel bar, cocktails, crystals, exercise classes, French Quarter shopping, Jackson Square, jazz brunch, karaoke, live music, Magazine Street, museums, Pat O’Brien’s dueling piano bar, Mississippi River, snowballs, the Streetcar, and workshops
And of course, it doesn’t need to be one or the other. The great thing about New Orleans is how easily you can slide between casual and fancy, chaos and calm, and party and intimate gathering. You can walk down the street shopping for a new piece of art on Jackson Square while carrying a mimosa with you on your journey. To quote Space Jam (well, I guess it’s R Kelly, but Space Jam), if [you] can see it, then [you] can do it, if [you] just believe it, there’s nothing to it.
Plan your home base
This was the hardest part of the planning – deciding what you want your home base to be and how you want it to work.
If your group is looking to party all the time, you might want to be located in or near the French Quarter.
If you have a more chill group, you might want to be a little bit outside of the French Quarter in either the Garden District or Mid City – or possibly even out by Audubon Park.
I chose an airbnb house that could sleep 10 people, came up with a dollar value for each bed in the house (more if you got your own bed, less if you were sharing a bed or a room), and then created a Google Sheet for people to sign up for which room they wanted. In order to reserve your room you needed to Venmo me the money associated with the spot for the room. I learned quickly that people in their late 20s and early 30s don’t super want to share rooms with people they don’t know, but it all ended up working out okay in the end.
The reason it was great to have a house was because we had a home base. It was a place that people could meet before we departed to go places (for those not staying in the house), it was a place people could easily hang out in the living room, it was a place I could host brunch (paying for catering instead of a fixed price meal at a restaurant) and it was a place that we could all sit around watching television when it was time to relax.
We chose to have our home base in the Garden District, very near to shops, coffee shops, and the shortest possible ride to the French Quarter for when we wanted to hop in an Uber. This turned out to be the perfect location for us.There’s also fantastic public transportation that goes down Magazine Street and St. Charles Avenue so if folks didn’t want to spend money on Ubers, this was an easy way to go. It’s only $1.25 exact change and/or you can use your RTA app to buy your ticket.
Plan your itinerary
I chose to let people know the itinerary before they committed to the trip. I wanted to let them know where we were going, what types of activities to expect, the vibe of the event, and how much it was going to cost. In putting together the cost I had to figure in flights, transportation, food, drinks, and activities.
I also ended up building a lot of flexible time into the schedule for the mornings. This wasn’t even so much to account for late night partying as it was to account for early risers. Breakfast was always a “rolling breakfast” where people would wander to a nearby coffee shop when they were in search of something in the morning with a friend. This worked out great – I highly recommend it! As long as people knew what time they had to be some where they could plan their morning; however they’d like up until that point.
We also had a rolling fly-in and fly-out schedule. Some people came in on Wednesday (and were responsible for their own housing that night), some people came in on Thursday (the night of the first event), most people came in Friday (one at a time throughout the day), and the final crew (the locals) trickled in on Saturday. Creating a solid itinerary ahead of time can allow people to come in and out easily.
I’d recommend letting people know which activities are not optional. If there are certain activities you’re hoping to have the whole group for, let people know ahead of time. I recommend being flexible with some of the events so introverts can opt out where they need to in order to recharge. I chose to have Saturday night’s activity at a local business and Sunday morning’s brunch as the two events for which I really wanted folks there – everything else was pretty flexible.
I also allowed some other people to take the planning reigns throughout the event. There were no solid plans on Friday night yet and folks were super interested in a ghost tour, so somebody who was interested planned that event for a small group and I was off the hook for the evening.
All in all, the two things to consider here are flexibility and precision. Flexibility to allow people what works for them when they can and precision so that when it’s time to meet up people know where to be and what they should be wearing.
Connect your attendees & let them know the plan
Because I invited so many people who didn’t know each other ahead of time to the bachelorette party, I sent out a long email ahead of time. (Actually, I sent a lot of coordination emails ahead of time, but the most fun email was probably the last one.) In this email I included:
Why we’re going to New Orleans – let your attendees in on why you chose the location that you chose. For me, this was about the fact that it’s my place to go to recharge creatively and remember to smell the roses. Folks in New Orleans – Louisiana in general really – always know how to stop whatever they’re doing to celebrate something – small or large. I love the vibe, I love the culture, I love how you can stop to talk to anybody for hours – it’s my favorite place and I was so excited to share it with so many people I love.
Things I’d like to encourage people to do during the trip – I had originally thought about creating a very specific personal development-type agenda during the trip. I wanted to create a space for people to think about themselves, their lives, and where they were going in life. It took until about a week before, but I realized this was way too deep and kind of imposing. So instead, I decided to make a few suggestions for people – 1) to dress like the person they wanted to be on the trip, 2) to recharge however works for them (journaling, running, reading, etc), and 3) to share stories and ask questions of each other.
What success looks like for the Bride – I feel like there can be a lot of stress when there’s a guest of honor. Are they happy, is this what they wanted it to be? I wanted to put it out there right from the beginning. Here is what success looks like for me. 1) taking SO many fun photos, 2) shooting some video footage to be edited together later, and 3) watching cool people interact with each other and maybe become friends.
Financials – I made a point to say that I wanted people to pay for exactly what they ordered, none of this “let’s split the check equally” nonsense unless everyone literally ordered the same thing. We had folks on the trip who make 6-figures and we had folks on the trip who had to budget hard for a few months to make it happen. I wanted to make sure that everyone could make the trip financially work for them however they saw fit.
Icebreaker Questions – I truly believe that one of the best ways for people to get to know each other is to have them answer icebreaker questions. I laid out the questions ahead of time for each day of the weekend so that a) I didn’t have to think about it later, and b) people could think about it ahead of time if they wanted to.
What to bring – There weren’t too many unexpected items for people to bring, but I did recommend their vaccine cards, a bathing suit for the pool at the house, and whatever relaxation tools they needed.
What I’m wearing – People kept asking if I was going to be fancy or casual, if they needed walking shoes or if they were taking Ubers, etc. I ended up laying out my “to wear” list for each day of the trip so that the people who wanted it could feel comfortable in their own selections. As a woman I feel like this is especially useful to know which days you can easily wear heels.
Itinerary points – This is where I laid out many of the logistics for folks. The address of the main house, what parts of the city we would be hanging out in, I made a Google Map of where we would be hanging out, I sent the link to the Excel spreadsheet where everyone input their flight itineraries, and who the general POC was and how to contact them (in this instance, me).
Introductions – I wrote a blurb about each attendee and put a photo of them in the email. I found out during the trip that people kept going back to reference this in order to make sure that they had people’s names right and understood how each one fit into my life. I’d highly recommend doing this for anyone planning an overnight bachelorette party where most guests don’t know each other.
Find a way for the Bride to honor the guests during the shower
As the Bride, I wanted to find a way to celebrate all of the attendees of the event. I hosted Sunday brunch and gave each attendee a handmade, handwritten card telling them how much I appreciated them. You could do this in any way that works for you. It could be making a toast to each of your attendees, giving them each a book that reminds you of them, printing out photos of you with each guest, or even make a video montage of all of your favorite photos (and videos) with the guests with a fun song in the background. Just something to let the attendees know how much they mean to you.
Get your logistics in order
One of the last things we got in place was the logistics.
Find a way to stay connected
We created a Facebook Messenger Group conversation for everyone to stay connected during the trip. It was super useful if someone left the group early for them to say that they made it home safe – it was also super useful in the mornings for people to reach out if they were going to an early breakfast to see if anyone else was already awake (it’s up to folks to put their phone in do not disturb if they don’t want to be bothered before a certain time…) – and for airport coordination.
Find a way to share photos
I created a shared Google Photos album for people to share their captures with other attendees. It was so fun to see the photos pour in and to see what other groups of people were doing while everyone wasn’t together. I hope to make a little mini booklet of photos and a video montage to send out to all of the attendees at some point in the next few weeks – we’ll see how that goes!
Find a way to capture expenses
We used the app, Splitwise, to split expenses. You can add everyone to the same group, and everyone has the ability to put in expenses split up in many different ways. As someone who really enjoys splitting checks, I always put my card down and then would go home and make an excel spreadsheet the next morning to divide the cost and then input the actual costs in the app for people to help reconcile payments at the end of the trip. It’s free and super easy to use if you’re staying in the same currency the whole time.
Enjoy!
Once all the logistics are done, all you need to do is sit back and enjoy. I mean, admittedly, as someone who usually plays mom of the group there was a little more “let me know you got home safe!” and “do you have a buddy?” and “when will we meet up with you again” happening – but in general, since the planning was done, we all always knew where to be next which made it an easy event to facilitate.
Our Itinerary and Notes
We were able to cram a lot of things into just a few days. The schedule had time for flexibility and time for precision. The dress code was laid out for each event. The price was laid out for each event ahead of time. This way people could make informed decisions!
Thursday: The Day We Arrived
People rolled into the AirBNB on their own timeline throughout the weekend. For the folks who arrived on Thursday, we stopped at the Peacock Room at the Kimpton Hotel to see Robin Barnes perform. She was fantastic, per usual. I was so glad I was able to add a performance of hers to the list.
Something I realized though is that while the music is playing it’s not super easy to keep the conversation going because it’s a little bit loud. This wasn’t a problem, but more just something to be aware of while planning. This night was a $$-$$$ night depending on how much people ordered.
After dinner a few people went to a local dive bar, Down the Hatch, and we sat in the garden, our late arrivers were able to eat, and we all got to know each other better - which was a great way to end the evening.
Friday: The Day We Shopped
We started with a rolling breakfast at HiVOLT Coffee. This became our home base coffee shop for the weekend. It was always fun to walk in and see who else from the group was there. The chai is fantastic, the burrito is fantastic, and I heard the biscuits were fantastic. Honestly, no one had a bad word to say about the place – wouldn’t do this any other way. This was a $ stop.
After that we walked our way down Magazine Street stopping at many shops and restaurants along the way. Some opened at 10:00am, many opened at 11:00am or 12:00pm. Some of our favorites were:
The GOOD Shop – a super cute local shop with a great assortment of items
Cocoally (which we fondly called the opossum store the whole time) – a great store for items with animals on them, people really loved them, would also be great as baby shower gifts
Nadeau – while we couldn’t carry any furniture home, I always love going through the nadeau shop to get inspiration while decorating my own house
Gallery B. Fos – a super fun gallery where you can see some great art and buy some lower-priced prints and items featuring Becky Fos’ work
Zèle NOLA – a shop featuring over 100 local New Orleans artists
Lionheart Prints – a shop full of greeting cards, stationery, and pens
Verdure Olive Oil Co – a great place to get fancy olive oils, vinegars, and other culinary items. If you get a small enough size you can take it on your plane home, too!
French Truck Coffee – a delicious coffee shop with great energy that also has great chai
District Donuts – a place to get super fancy and decadent donuts
Empanola – a delicious empanada shop
Imperial Woodpecker Sno-Balls – if you’ve never had a sno-ball (a better version of a snow cone, and a way better version of an icee), I highly recommend trying one, my favorite thing to ger here is the cardamom flavor topped with sweetened condensed milk
It was sometime in the middle of this walk that people realized they could order to-go drinks and started carrying their drinks between locations. Ah, New Orleans.
From there we walked down to Barracuda for lunch. They have delicious Mexican food, queso, and drinks. Everyone can order as a single person, you get an order number, and they carry your food straight to you at an outdoor table in back in the garden. The food and drinks were both delicious. This was a $-$$ stop depending on the beverages you bought.
Then we walked to Port Orleans Brewing. I brought a the Esther Perel board game, Where Should We Begin, with us to play to get to know each other better and everyone was able to order whatever they wanted at the bar (we really liked it!). We had intentions of doing a few more breweries (NOLA Brewing, Miel Brewery), but our journey took us longer than we expected. These would have all been $-$$ stops for which people had a lot of control over their own spending.
Some folks opted to do a Ghost Tour in the French Quarter that evening (booked earlier that day, so it’s never too late!) and some folks opted to do a Crawfish dinner instead. On the first night, we ended up back at the main house watching Disney movies. A few folks made it out late and went back to Half Moon, where they played pool and darts and had a good evening!
Saturday: The Day We Did the Quarter
Saturday was another rolling start to the day. I got a chai from Hi-Volt this day. Then we all met up at Gracious Bakery at 9:45am up on St. Charles Avenue. This was enough time for everyone to wait in line, order, eat, and catch the Streetcar into the French Quarter. The food was absolutely delicious. This was a $ stop.
The Streetcar only costs $1.25, which is an amazing way to transport a lot of people at once, and once we got in the Quarter we headed directly for the Carousel Bar in the Hotel Monteleone. The drinks are expensive, but you’re paying for the atmosphere. It was a perfect way to start a day with my French 007 (mathilde poire (pear) liqueur, pomegranate liqueur, topped with sparkling wine). My first work husband’s favorite drink here is the Vieux Carre (sazerac rye whiskey, pierre ferrand 1840 cognac, sweet vermouth, benedictine, angostura and peychaud bitters). It’s also an excellent spot to get a Sazarec or Pimm’s Cup, two New Orleans’ specialities. This was a $$ stop.
Then we went to Café du Monde. I told each person to find a buddy (or two) to share an order (or two) with whom to share their beignets. This was cash only and was a $ stop.
Then a group of people went to Napoleon House for lunch. The prices were reasonable and the food was delicious. We did send people ahead of the group to wait in line though in order to cut down the wait time. This was a $-$$ stop.
After Napoleon House, our smaller group took a walk through Jackson Square to look at the art and then headed towards Pat O’Brien’s, home of the hurricane (the drink). It took me 15 years, but I finally learned that my preferred drink there is a jack & ginger. The wine was too sweet, the hurricanes were too much, and the beer offerings weren’t great – but a go-to well drink is a solid place to live there. We sat in the dueling piano bar for about two hours, requested a few songs, and took a load off for a bit. This was a $-$$ stop.
After Pat O’Brien’s we stopped by Dat Dog for dinner, my favorite place to counter-order from in New Orleans. They have hot dogs, burgers, and chicken (but mostly hot dogs). I got a Guinness dog topped with chili and cheese and it was fantastic. This is an easy option for a large group and relatively inexpensive. We also found out they had frozen slushie drinks and the black cherry lemonade one was fantastic. This was a $-$$ stop depending on the drink and sides you ordered.
If you are a family member (or future family member) or co-worker of mine, please consider skipping the next two paragraphs. #kthanks
After Dat Dog, we headed for Dynamo, an erotic boutique that strives to promote happy, healthy sexuality through education, community outreach, and high-quality, body-safe products. We had our own private after-hours party and the facilitator (and owner), Hope, was fantastic. If you want to hear more about their business in general, you can hear about it on my friend Mallory’s podcast.
Now, before you think, man, what sorts of things did these folks get themselves into? Honestly, we were pretty much taught the sex ed class that you wish they taught you in high school. Not middle school. This was definitely a high school level course. I also look for any opportunity in life to promote sexual well-being and personal identity development-type activities. And can you think of any better way to do this besides supporting local? HIGHLY recommend for any folks looking to add a little thrill to your weekend. Just email them to book.
After Dynamo, we went back to Frenchman Street to go to the Frenchmen Art Market. It’s a great place to buy art from local makers and vendors – one of my favorite evening stops in the City.
Sunday: Brunch & Fancy Dinner
Sunday I hosted a brunch for attendees at our home base house. I bought breakfast platters from Whole Foods and La Boulangerie, a local, neighborhood bakery cafe. We were definitely not disappointed. The food was fantastic, and I was able to give leftovers to the locals. I bought 6 bottles of champagne for 20 people, and it turned out to be the perfect amount for the start of the day.
Sunday was a free-for-all day. After so much structure the previous two days – and being together as such a large group the whole time – I think this was perfect. Some folks went to a wine bar, some folks went shopping, some folks went to the pool. Me? I took a nap.
Sunday evening a few of us splurged and went to Mosquito Supper Club for a private tasting dinner. “Mosquito Supper Club is located in New Orleans, Louisiana. our restaurant was created to celebrate the bounty of shrimpers, oyster fishermen, crabbers, and farmers that define our cuisine. a communal multi-course tasting menu.” It was a recommendation off the Joy the Baker blog (here are all of her blog posts about New Orleans – she’s been in town for nearly a decade now) and definitely did not disappoint. The food was delicious, the cocktails were great, the chef came out to talk to us specifically, and you definitely felt like family sitting around the table.
Since this was such a monetary commitment and such a specific menu (a lot of seafood), this wasn’t everybody’s cup of tea, so the group that didn’t go to Mosquito Supper Club went out to Sukho Thai for dinner instead.
Throughout the day, the smaller groups allowed for more intimate conversation that helped forge stronger connections with people, which, as a party planner and connector, made me incredibly happy.
Throughout the day on Sunday people had started to head out, but for those left and staying at the house, we ended in the main room lazily lounging, enjoying a glass of wine or two, and sharing a few final laughs.
Monday: The Day We Went Home
The few of us who were left on Monday each did our own thing. Some went shopping. Some went back to the Carousel Bar (me…) and some found a bookstore. It was a good rolling finish to the weekend. The messages were trailing in from the Facebook Group Chat letting people know they had taken off safely and/or arrived home and the photos were rolling into the shared album so we could all share photos from the weekend with loved ones.
Other Items Considered
Here are a few other activities I was considering in my planning in case you’re looking for additional suggestions:
A paint party at Home Malone
A Move Ya Brass work out class
Cocktail-making and mixology classes
Cooking classes
Drag brunch at The Country Club (needs to be booked farther in advance than I did)
City Park
Audubon Park
All in all it was a fantastic trip and I feel incredibly blessed that so many people wanted to join for the adventure and did join for the adventure. While it was definitely a large task to plan a trip for so many people, I don’t think I could have done it any other way.
That said, I now find myself wondering what it would be like to plan a bachelorette party in Philadelphia (my home city)… maybe one day I’ll get the opportunity to find out!
