Let’s flamingle in Palm Springs! I’m excited to FINALLY share my Palm Springs bachelorette party weekend with you. I’ve been meaning to post this for weeks but you know #life. Plus, I feel like I’m still recuperating from all the wedding madness this summer.
I took the lead in planning my own bachelorette—I’m great with planning things out and it ended up making everything a lot easier, at least in my experience. Whether you’re planning for yourself or for a bride-to-be, I’m sharing my top tips for throwing an amazing bachelorette party!
Keep reading for my tips plus get the full deets on my tropical-themed bachelorette party, my fave Palm Springs spots, and a look inside the epic party bags I made for my best gals!
CHOOSE A DESTINATION
Being in SoCal we have some really good nearby options for fun, destination bachelorette parties—Las Vegas, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco—all are fairly close or super easy to travel to. While I had thought about a crazy Vegas weekend, I ended up going with Palm Springs. I wanted a more relaxed and casual bachelorette with lots of pool time. Plus, it made it easier for guests to travel too—it was an hour or less drive for everyone attending! If they didn’t want to stay the entire weekend, they could pop in for the day. Palm Springs before the rings, baby!
BUDGET + ACCOMODATIONS
Now that you know where you want to go, it’s time to figure out a budget and what everyone is comfortable paying. Personally, I can’t stand going to bachelorettes that pack 8 girls into one hotel room, having to sleep on floors (ew) or air beds so I knew we would be splurging a bit for a house or a couple hotel rooms.
For a Palm Springs bachelorette, a house is the way to go! I ended up finding an adorable mid-century-esque house through HomeAway that was both affordable and adorable. Palm Springs has so many house rentals that can fit any budget! Love this mid-century house and this luxe house as well!
We split the cost for food and drinks for the house as well to keep things on the cheaper side and it worked out perfectly!
PICK A PARTY THEME
We went with a flamingo theme for my Palm Springs bachelorette party and luckily at the beginning of summer, flamingo décor was EVERYWHERE! We were able to find a ton of cute décor items to place around the house and pool to get into theme. Fun pool floaties were also a MUST!
ITINERARY: FESTIVITIES & ACTIVITIES
For any trip, creating an itinerary is a must—especially with a big group. You don’t have to be strict about it but It’s good advice to plan ahead meals and spots you want to visit. No one wants to play the ‘where should we eat?’ game during a party! Below is our itinerary with a few fun Palm Springs spots that were perfect for a low-key bachelorette.
FRIDAY
Check-in
Relax & pool-time
Dinner at The Tropicale Restaurant: I gave my bridesmaids a couple of suggestions for dinner and told them to surprise me—they ended up going with The Tropicale, a Palm Springs staple. The restaurant has an upscale tropical theme with yummy drinks and the food was delish– I got the pupu platter for myself! I highly recommend making a reservation as this place gets packed quickly.
Copa Nightclub: After dinner, we headed over to Copa for drinks and dancing and walked into the start of a drag show. The performers and costumes were excellent— it was a blast! After the show, the floor cleared for open dancing so we ended up staying here the rest of the night drinking and dancing the night away.
SATURDAY
Pool party & BBQ: We spent the day at the house in our own private pool oasis—it was over 100* and the pool felt AMAZING. I had invited a few other friends to come out to celebrate and we spent the day having drinks, floating in the pool and munching on some BBQ. And yes, I did the grilling 😀
Drinks at Bootlegger Tiki: I’m a sucker for a good tiki bar and had to check out Bootlegger while in Palm Springs. The bar is super tiny and be prepared—you might have to wait outside before you can go in. While the bar has those traditional tiki vibes and decor, unfortunately, the drinks were a big miss—my drink was good but the rest of the groups were downright disgusting and undrinkable.
Dinner at LULU: After our disappointing tiki drinks, we headed over to the popular LULU for dinner. It was delicious! I heard they are known for a good brunch as well and would definitely return.
Dancing at Hunter’s Nightclub: The gay scene in Palm Springs is banging so there’s several fun gay nightclubs and bars. Hunter’s is the most popular and a couple of the gals headed here Saturday night to dance it up. The rest of us opted for bed 😀
SUNDAY
Check out
Brunch at The Pink Cabana: Ever since I came across The Sands Hotel & Spa, I knew I had to have a girls’ brunch at The Pink Cabana and what a more perfect time than my bachelorette? I wrote all about the hotel and brunch here.
Moorten Botanical Garden: Even though it was sweltering, we stopped at the Botanical Garden to check it out and get some pics. It’s a great photo opp!
The Palm Springs Sign: No trip to Palm Springs is complete without a picture at the Palm Springs sign in front of the Palm Springs Visitor Center. I was hoping to get a full group picture but some of the gals headed out early so it ended up just being a couple of us.
DON’T FORGET THE PARTY FAVORS
It’s a bachelorette so penis straws and games are a must, but I also wanted my #bridesquad to go home with a few goodies of their own! I found adorable tropical print totes at 99 Cents Only stores and filled them with must-haves: sunglasses, tank top, Victoria’s Secret NAME, a custom sipper, a hangover kit and more! I love how these came together (they were a lot of work to put together—especially to customize) but was worth it in the end.
Here’s what you can include in your hangover kit:
- Drawstring Bag (there’s so many cute design options!)
- Packets of pain reliever
- Bottle of water
- Pack of gum
- Packet of Liquid IV (these are a lifesaver!)
- Emergen-C
- Snack (I included granola bars)
I hope you enjoyed reading all about my Palm Springs bachelorette party! What was the best bachelorette party you’ve been to? Spill the details in the comments!
How cute! This looks like so much fun! Love all the colors and details – Palm Springs was a perfect choice for this!!
Lizzie
http://www.lizzieinlace.com
Your bachelorette party sounds so fun! I love the tropical flamingo theme! The best bachelorette party I have gone to was an 80’s dance party on a ship that sailed around all night. We all wore huge and crazy 80’s prom dresses and danced the night away!
You party theme was so cute!! And I love those bags!! This is getting me so excited for my bach in a few weeks!
-Morgan
How 2 Wear It [] http://how2wearit.com
How cute!! Sounds like you had a blast at your bachelorette party! Super cute too!!
http://www.sundaydahlias.com
What a fun bachelorette weekend! This makes me what to plan even a girls weekend to Palm Springs. Looks so much fun!
http://www.darlingdarleen.com
I love the flamingo theme, so cute! Looks like y’all had a blast.
Looks like you had the best bachelorette party!! I’ve never been to Palm Springs but it’s definitely on my list! Maybe for our next girls trip
Such a fun trip! I’d love to visit there!
Loved your bachelorette party friend! It was so cute. xo ~ Megan
Why go to Hunters – a gay bar? I’m gay and used to go there w/ my lesbian friends. We stopped going after the bachelorette party invasion. When a gay bar is filled 70% w/ screaming bach party girls, it totally ruins the vibe. Gay people go to gay bars to be w/ other gay people and not bachelorette parties!! It’s truly selfish and tacky and the only reason you are there is to escape hetero men (who eventually end up showing up in droves b/c they know single women are there. )Go to one of the hetero bars downtown to party and let us have one tiny corner of the world.