Secrets Revealed!

When last we left the Bachelorette Party Shenanigans, I was blind-folded, in the back of Leah's car, and singing/dancing to "Boom Boom Pow." Oh, and clueless as to where we were going. It looked something like this...

Next thing I knew, I was clutched on to Lisa's arm like my life depended on it, walking down a street at locations unknown. When the took off my blind fold I was at the top of a set of stairs...Leading down to The Melting Pot!

If you've never been to the Melting Pot...you should go. It's fondue. It's an experience. And it's delicious. There are 4 courses available at the Melting Pot: Cheese Fondue, salad, entrée, and dessert. You can purchase a variety of "packages" for two: just cheese, just cheese and entrée, just dessert, everything, etc. For our party, we went with just dessert. We had four different kinds of chocolate fondue, and a plate of yummy stuff to dip! You share a plate of "dippers" with someone, and we passed our fondue forks up and down the table the whole time to try the different concoctions. YUMM-O! (For the record, Erin, my sister/MOH picked out our location. We had celebrated Erin & Matt's anniversary, and Carter and my dating anniversary, there last October.)

White and Dark Chocolate. Yin Yang Fondue. Yum.

My personal favorite, Flaming Turtle. That's right, it's on fire.

S'mores

The plate of goodies. Cheesecake, strawberries, bananas, marshmallows, rice crispy treats, etc.

If you choose the "Big Night Out" option (all four courses) be forewarned: you'll be there for at least 2 hours. The courses come out slowly, and you cook all of your food in the fondue pot. So it takes a while. Not the greatest option if you have a tight timeline. But definitely worth it if you've got a while and someone (or several someones!) that you love.

My worlds colliding in a good way: Julie, Lisa (both from college) Melissa, Leah (both from home) and me.

Sister/MOH Erin, Becky & Allison

Lamb & Manna

I had SUCH a wonderful time at my bachelorette party. A HUGE and unending thanks to Erin and Melissa for putting it all together; to Lupe for the wonderful party gifts; and to Beth, Manna, Alyssa, Leah, Lamb, Becky, Allison, Lisa, Love and Julie. You're the best friends anybody ever had!

-Amoré

(PS, points if you can name the movie I quoted in the last line of the post!)

All the Single Ladies

The wedding weekend of wonderfulness began with celebrating as a single girl. If you'll remember , I don't drink. Not even a little. Not at all. So, this presented a bit of a challenge for my sister and MOH Erin, and my BMs. However, these creative girls planned the best bachelorette party I could have asked for!

The whole gang. Top Row: Allison, Julie, Manna, Beth, Leah, Lamb; Middle Row: Becky, BM Melissa, Love; Front Row: MOH Erin, Me, BM Lisa.

The hilarity of the evening began with my father innocently asking if my friends coming in from out of town were coming to our house first, or just going straight to Melissa's. He was quickly reprimanded--scolded, really--for spilling the beans. See, I had NO IDEA what was in store; only that I was to be ready at 7, and not to worry about eating a lot before we left. So, I knew the first part of our journey: that we were going to Melissa's. (Turns out two of my friends coming in from out of town would have ruined the surprise anyway, as they both sent texts telling me they would see me at Melissa's!)

Once we got to Melissa's, there was a spread of delicious (and aptly named) food. We had carrots and dip (d*cks and dip), different varieties of peanuts (hot nuts, etc), and even a summer sausage that you sliced with a tiny meat cleaver (named after Lorena Bobbit!) We snacked, and then the games began.

Our first game was for me only--we had fun feathered masks (similar to the ones we sported for Lisa's Bachelorette Party) with different words on them--Wild, Sexy, Single, Hot, etc. I had to choose which girl got to wear which mask for the evening. Then, while wearing our masks, we played the next game, Love Bingo!

You can find DIY instructions for this Martha Stewart game here, but we played on a pre-made version that Melissa picked up. Each player has a LOVE (instead of Bingo) board, game pieces, and a little sign that says "bride" on one side, and "groom" on the other. Melissa then read out questions to which the answer was either bride or groom (who was the first to say "I love you"? Who's favorite candy is York Peppermint Patties? Who will clean out the litter box? etc). Melissa talked with Carter to get good questions and answers for our game. After each question, the players hold up their sign with their answer. If they got it right, they got to cover up a number on their board. It was such a cute game--and a great way to share a little more of our relationships with our guests.

Next up was Bridal Pictionary. We split into teams, and we had everything wedding-related to draw: from wedding dress to personal lubricant! One team even got lucky (pun intended!) and called out "condom!" before the artist even had time to draw. Turns out they were right!

Allison's an artist!

Goodness knows we laughed during this! MOH Erin's team ended up winning. They named themselves Team KY...

Turns out that was an appropriate name for them, as the prizes were goody baskets sent with love from one of my best friends from high school, Lupe. She couldn't be there with us (she lives in Arkansas now), but she was there with us in spirit. Lupe works for Johnson & Johnson, and she was able to hook us up with some amazing J&J products. Baskets included, but were not limited to: KY Yours & Mine, sunscreen, lipstick, and a first aid kit. The four members of the winning team got a basket, and I got one for being a bride.

Then, just like on Oprah's Favorite Things, Melissa disappears and comes back into the room bearing the contents of the gift baskets for EVERYONE. That's right, Lupe is amazing and sent enough goodies for us each to get our own! (these didn't come in an easy-to-carry basket, but were no less amazing!) It was awesome!

THEN, just when I thought it couldn't get ANY better, Melissa comes out with a gorgeous touille box filled to the brim with goodies wrapped in tissue paper. Each one had a tag on it to "explain" what was inside. Let me tell you, this thing was unbelievable. I am now the proud owner of every KY product ever made, as well as band-aids, poison ivy scrub, sunscreen, chapstick, and who knows what else. An example of a tag "For when you do it in the woods, and choose the wrong spot." That tag was on the poison ivy scrub! The gift was SO cute and creative--not to mention useful ;) The box was also so pretty, it was almost better than what was inside--almost!

Julie's jealous, you can tell! And that's Lupe on the phone, so she could experience the opening of the box even though she wasn't able to be there in person. If I haven't said it enough, LUPE ROCKS! Oh, and that balloon? There were lots of those. That one was tied to my wrist ALL NIGHT. Thanks, girls!

The next thing I knew I was blind folded and riding the back of Leah's Suburban, dancing to "Boom Boom Pow" without a clue as to where we were going...

Next up: Secrets Revealed!

Have you ever gotten a fabulous party favor from a Last Night Out?

--Amore

My New Favorite Bachelorette Game

Last night was my second-ever bachelorette party, and like the first, I helped host this one. I've got lots of details and pictures coming, but I wanted to write about a game that we played that is my new favorite. I'm particularly proud of it because the MOH and I came up with it together.

After scouring the internet for fun and not-terribily-inappropriate games, we came up empty-handed. We just weren't fans of the raunchy games that were deemed bachelorette party material. So while we were wandering around at a party store buying decorations, we stumbled upon a Magic 8 Ball knock-off and got inspired.

MOH ran around all day Thursday looking for a Magic 8 Ball, and was finally able to buy one at Toys R Us. Who knew they'd be so hard to track down? Armed with the 8 Ball, we explained to the girls at the party that we'd pass it around, and each in attendance would ask a question about the bride's future sex life and/or wedding night. Boy did we get a kick out of this!

Q: Will it hurt?

A: Don't count on it

Q: Will the bride be satisfied?

A: It is certain

Q: Will the bride be knocked up within a year?

A: Ask again later

after a "mmmmm" noise from tasting a good sip of her margarita:

Q: Will the bride make that noise on her wedding night?

A: Without a doubt

Without fail the Magic 8 Ball answered our questions in the best possible way. I even got asked if I had rigged it somehow--I hadn't! We're hanging onto the 8 ball for future bachelorette parties (and just girl get-togethers in general). How fun!

Have you made up any of your own bach. party games?

-Amoré

(image source)

Mardi Gras Masks and the Fold, Part 2

For those of you who have never heard of the Carter Family Fold (affectionately referred to as "The Fold" by those who know it well) let me introduce you to a rich piece of Appalachian and country music history. 

The Carter Family: A.P., Sara, and Maybelle, are regarded by many as the founders of old time country music. Maybelle Carter is the mother of June Carter Cash, wife of Johnny Cash. In fact, Johnny played his last-ever show at the Fold shortly before his death. 

The Fold was established in an effort to keep old time music alive, both in its practice and in its enjoyment. The venue is open-air in the summer and toasty warm with the help of space heaters in the winter. The large concrete dance floor is always full of flat-footing folk (flat-footing is a type of clogging, practiced by men and women alike, with no synchronized choreography), and the sound of their clogs on the floor is music in and of itself. There are weekly concerts at the Fold every Saturday night. Admission is $5 and the show always starts at 7:30, even in those Southwest Virginia snow storms. 

Our bachelorette loves the Fold and pretty much everything about it: Old Time Music, Flat-Footing and the Appalachian heritage it represents. It was only fitting that we take her to the Fold for her bachelorette party. And she loved it. 

We finished up the evening with an old-school sleepover complete with a viewing of 27 Dresses, reading Cosmo and answering Girls' Night questions. (There were also shots of liquor and a penis cake. If you need someone to make some phallic baked goods, Love's your girl!)

So her party wasn't a wild drunken night out on the town, but it was very Her. We were out to celebrate the bachelorette and that we did! 

Anyone else ever been a part of an "unconventional" bachelorette party?

-Amoré

Mardi Gras Masks and the Fold, Part 1

This past weekend, Love & I celebrated the upcoming wedding of a mutual friend with a bachelorette party. This was my first-ever bachelorette party, and I was helping to plan it! The four of us that were there all contributed to the planning and execution of a very personal bachelorette party. 

None of us really had a lot of money for a huge bash, so we chose to spend our budget on some fun bach finds from Party City.

First, we found some fun-looking truth-or-dare games to play. This first one looked really fun--lotto-style truth or dare! Scratch off one pair of lips from each row and do what the card says. Unfortunately, you get what you pay for, and at $1.99 for 12 cards, we ended up rubbing through the dare, rather than to the dare. Oh well. Obviously, I would not recommend this product...

But aren't they so cute?!

The other game we had was more entertaining...to think about. This was the truth or dare card deck from Party City. Players draw a card with a dare and a point value and decide whether or not they will complete the dare. If you chose to accept, you have 10 minutes to complete the task. If you are successful, you keep the card. Once you've gone through the whole deck, the player with the most points wins. We were at a restaurant rather than a bar, so it was a little difficult to participate. But reading through the cards was enough entertainment on its own, really. We've decided to keep the deck and bring it back out for a future bachelorette party at a bar. This is a great game, particularly for the price.

The last game we purchased from Party City was by far my favorite. We played this at our old-school (except this time there was alcohol...) sleepover. Pin the Bow Tie on the Bachelor was a fun game, and who knew that such a classic would be THAT much more entertaining once you're tipsy?! And at $2.99, you just can't beat it. (Also, you get to decide where on the bachelor the bow tie is "supposed" to go.)

In addition to our fun games from Party City, we also provided some bachelorette wear. We included the obligatory Bach Sash, as well as a fantastic engagement ring headband and veil that the MOH found in Birmingham. We didn't leave the bachelorette alone in the silliness, though: we joined her with Mardi Gras masks (bach party style) and miniature tiaras. Here we are all decked out--and in a packed O'Charley's!

That's Love on the left, then MOH, Bachelorette, Bridesmaid, and Amoré on the right

And here's the bride's model shot

Next up: what the heck is the Fold?

-Amoré