Bachelorette Party Sans Banana Hammocks

I’ve never been accused of being old fashioned. But, when I arrived tardy to a friend’s bachelorette party at a swank San Francisco hotel and found the guest of honor on the floor with a greased-up male stripper kneeling over her and gyrating for $1 bills, I suddenly felt prudish. A classic bachelorette party evening followed: limo rides, bar hopping and enough martinis to give me the confidence to accomplish my assignment for the night—to secure for the bride-to-be a pair of men’s underwear from a random barfly. (Because I’m an overachiever, I got three pairs.)

At the end of the night we were sworn to secrecy, lest any boyfriends or a certain fiancé were to discover that indeed sometimes girls really do just want to have fun. But the bachelorette party got me thinking: What can girls like me—who want to get a little wild sans the strangers in banana hammocks—do with their friends as a last hurrah for a single woman? The answer is, skip the cliché fete and instead create a fabulous and customized bachelorette party that really suits the bride’s style and taste. Here are some ideas for alternative bachelorette parties to get you in the groove.