Turnabout’s Fair Play–Brainstorming Help Needed!
It’s been a long time since I’ve been young enough to be around people who are planning weddings (and a long time since I’ve been involved in an active singles group where this might happen). So I need help . . .
What might a group of six to eight Christian men in their thirties and forties do for a “bachelor party” on a Friday afternoon/evening (the day before the wedding)? Here are things I know I don’t want:
–golfing
–anything involving girls/drinking
–bowling
–video games
–concert/music venue
This is set in Nashville, so that last one seems like the obvious choice. But y’all know me—I hate going with the obvious. So . . . help me plan Bobby Patterson’s bachelor party! (Once again, everyone who helps will be recognized in the acknowledgments in TFP.)
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KayeDacus.com 
Our precious son-in-law took his groomsmen (all in their 30’s ) to a “Need 2 Speed” indoor race car track. Here’s the website: http://www.n2skarts.com/
All the guys were so competitive that the actual winner, our son, won by only tenths of a second…they had a great time!
Hope it helps! Take care!
Kate
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Okay admittedly I am not a guy – but I think if all these guys are Christian, and it is the bachelor “do” with no “wordly” typical hi-jinks — I would have a pastor pull together a group of longtime married men, and do a special dinner at the church (cooked by the guys!) where the groom and his entourage are given sage advice on successful marriage with biblical foundation. It could be humorous or serious. But I like the idea of the older, mentoring husbands cooking a guy type meal (chili, nachos, dogs etc.) and ministering to the groom and buddies.
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My sons (who were married 2 weeks apart) took a joint bachelors’ outing rafting on the New River in WV. (We live in MI.) My husband and the two girls’ fathers and brothers joined the other groomsmen. Totally memorable! The distance did not bother them.
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a b it cliche but the groom getting dumped in a small body of water.
Automatic dart gun fight
redoing old college pranks (ie dumping laundry soap in a fountain fun with water balloons ect)
getting a large 3 person sling shot with out door bowling pins and seeing if you can them from 100 ft
getting your hands on high caliber weapons, with a great deal of ammo and bring some old house items (couches, mirrors, printers, etc) and “test” how well they withstand impact from said hi caliber weapons
if its around the forth of july fireworks
Not sure of the maturity level you are looking for. Hope this helps
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Given that Bobby is former Army infantry, and that three of the four guys in the wedding party are his coworkers at the Tennessee Criminal Investigations Unit, the high-caliber weapons thing sounds like something they might do.
Or maybe an after-dark paint-ball war game complete with night-vision goggles!
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What about setting out from a boat dock on Old Hickory lake, going through the locks and down the Cumberland River to Broad Street. Docking and going to a resturant on 2nd avenue for lunch or dinner? One boat large enough to carry them all, or several small boats.
I have waterskied from Lock number (which is near Opryland) pass all the downtown bridges and ended up at another boatdock down the river. Forgot the name of it, but it was on the left bank of the Cumberland. If there were several boats, each could have a skier. Course, if they were watersking, they would not be dressed for 2nd Avenue, but boatdocks usually have a resturant to eat “fried catfish” with all the trimming.
If didn’t want to go through Old Hickory Dam (which would be an adventure) could put their boats in at Lock Number Two near Opryland.
There is a place on Old Hickory lake to eat that is on the up side of the dam known as the Cherokee Steak House. Last time I was there they don’t serve lunch but dinner, so in a story it could be reserved just for them for lunch.
When I was courting a group of us with pleasure boats would find a place to picnic on the lakeside, cook hamburgers and water ski. I used to find arrowheads on the shore. Could come back to the dock and play pool. We also used to take our boats and watch the boat races near the dam.
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I like combining several of the ideas above-for instance, having the guys go on a retreat that involves white water rafting, maybe the older guys cooking for the younger and sharing advice and laughter. Personally, I think that would be fun for the girls too! 🙂
I tried thinking if my brother were getting married, what his friends would do for him, and here’s what I came up with:
Foosball tournament
Road trip to visit a favorite old hangout-in my brother’s case it would be In-n-Out in Kingman, Az.
Retreat to a lodge where our church has men’s retreats every year, possibly snow fights, practical jokes, no-talent talent show……
saran-wrapping the pastors car(yeah, my brothers one of the pastors on staff)
I’m not sure how this one would work out, but I kinda like it—maybe have them volunteer somewhere for part of the night and maybe see a couple that has been together forever, and the groom engages them in conversation or just seeing them changes the way he sees his bride-for the better, of course! 🙂 Maybe there is something about his bride that bugs him, like she chews her fingernails or will only eat food in twos-two cheerios, two m&m’s, etc. and this couple is like a mirror of what they will be like in 40 or 50 years and it endears his bride to him……
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While the idea of them getting away for rafting or whatever sounds like fun, this would be limited to what they could do on Friday evening, after they get off work, and the day before the wedding (so no overnight trips).
Thanks for all the ideas so far . . . keep them coming!
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What fun! I love all the ideas listed already!
You could have one of the groomsmen be in the Nashville Rowing Club and set up the use of a couple of rowing boats Sat. morning. They could race down the river or across the lake…wherever it is they do that in Nashville. The club even has a facebook page with tons of pictures of their races. (for research purposes, of course!) http://www.facebook.com/Nashville.Rowing?v=photos&ref=ts
Also, BlueWaterScuba is a big dive center there in Nashville. Of of the groomsmen could work there and set up a treasure hunt in one of their realistic type tanks.
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What about a non-alcoholic Hash Run? (I have never personally been to one, but I have a friend in Florida who is involved. She was talking about it in an email today.) If you look up Hash House Harriers on Wikipedia and scroll down to Events you might find a jumping off place for ideas. They could have embarrassing pictures of him at points on the trail or some of the above ideas. After, they could all eat somewhere for dinner. I can see a bunch of guys getting a kick out of running trails in the dark.
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Just tonight I played laser tag with some friends and one of them told me that’s what they did for his brother-in-law’s bachelor party 🙂
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Fun ideas, but I’m afraid I don’t have any of my own.
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No real ideas myself either, but a couple of thoughts: What’s Bobby into? Anything he won’t be able to do after he’s married? If so, do that; that’s the point of a bachelor party, isn’t it? To rub in what he can’t do once he’s married?
Also, who’s doing the planning? The best man? What’s he like? Is he into anything in particular? What sort of ideas would he come up with?
Are they all close friends who spend time together all the time? If so, a BBQ get-together with the older church men advising the younger ones would work. But if these are guys who maybe haven’t seen one another since college, it would have to be something more generic.
Maybe they have pizza and help Bobby paint his entire house lilac, because it’s the wife-to-be’s favorite color, and tomorrow night after the wedding, he can take her home to a perfectly lilac house. If they’re Christians they might do something slightly worthwhile like that. Is he giving his wife a wedding present? A sail boat? A bicycle for two? They could help him refinish and wrap it.
Basically – and it’s very basic – the theme and execution of the party will have to come out of the personalities and lives and likes and dislikes of the people/characters involved, just like in real life.
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Ooh, I would have SWOONED (love that word) if hubby had painted the house for me… What fun, Bente!
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What about going to a sporting event like baseball or basketball game? Not sure the time of year it would take place in.
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It’s the Friday of Memorial Day weekend, so not a lot of sporting events going on that weekend.
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This sounds like a good chance to bring out some of his back story.
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This is the bachelor party for Bobby, the main character of Love Remains . . . he had a whole book—not sure how much more backstory we need for him. 😉
Jamie, hero of TFP is going to the party, so that’s why I’m trying to plan it.
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As long as it something fun, since he is going to be tortured for the rest of his days with honey do lists.
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Skydiving – one last jump before the big plunge.
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Since Bobby is from a military background, I’m going to share what my Marine friend did the day before his wedding. My friend took his guys to a civilian gun range and made a day of it. Of course they had a side bet going on the markmanship abilities. After a day at the range they continued sports bar for supper and to catch the bowl game. This was a December wedding in North Carolina.
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Rock wall climbing was what some friends of ours did. Otherwise…camping, dirtbike riding…
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A comedy night, to help allay the jitters? Christian comedy, of course. But maybe this is too much like a concert?
Fishing?
If he’s athletic, some type of sports outing, either as spectators, like a baseball game (is there a minor league club in and around Nashville?), or as participants.
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A couple ideas —
Play poker (there are some group tables that you can buy into at casinos). Would this be doable or is gambling out?
Basketball game (they could enter a pick-up tournament)
Men’s movie marathon (think someone’s house with very many movies, pizza, nachos, etc)
Race car driving
4 Wheeling through the mud
My husband say most men bond over group competitive activity.
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What about a water park nearby? We have an indoor water park here, but not sure how warm it would be at that point in Nashville if you only have an outdoor one nearby. 🙂
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Well there is no shortage of things to do around Nashville. The important thing for a bachelor party is to make it memorable! How about water skiing or jet skis on Percy Priest Lake? then retire to a nice boat for an evening cruise and supper? Make sure the guests do something umm…a little embarrassing…to the groom-to-be (it doesn’t have to be naughty, a funny hat, a t-shirt, something out of character for him that they can remember and laugh about in years to come.
Or how about they all go sky diving? Or bungee jumping? (there are places not too far from Nashville to do this) The idea is to make it something exciting, fun, and memorable.
Have fun!
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Exciting, fun, and memorable, yes, but he’d be under strict rules from his mother (and Zarah, but mostly his mother) that he is not to engage in any activity that could cause severe injury and make him miss the wedding the next day!
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indoor rock climbling maybe with pizza or something
or maybe they could go parachuting
here most bucks parties are a week or two before the wedding.
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How does this sound . . .
Bobby and Denney—one of the guys on his team at TCIU, who’s also former military—plan a capture-the-flag style war game, complete with either laser or paintball guns and night-vision goggles in case it runs to after dark (which it will, of course). Bobby’s parents own property out in the hill country outside of Nashville with a hunting cabin to serve as the base of operations. Why this when I originally thought I was against paintballing? Well, I saw this note I’d made a few weeks ago:
Jamie–used to be an avid paintballer, “weekend warrior, rah-rah, hoo-ya, grunt-grunt, macho-man stuff” (according to Flannery). He and his best friend from childhood, Danny, used to do this together in high school and college (“it’s a good workout”).
I already have him wanting to reconnect with Danny, so this will give him even more motivation to get in touch with him, since an outing like this would remind him of all the good times he and Danny had doing it over the years.
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Sound good Kaye the idea fits with Bobby quite well to and giving him a way to connect is good.
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Scavenger Hunt!!!
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LOL–that’s what the girls are doing!
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