Goodbye to Gray 2013

The Dirty Dozen Take Las Vegas

So one of the things that kept me busy most of last year was being Maid of Honor in my BFF Sam's wedding.  I have never been an MOH and likely won't have the opportunity again.  It was such an honor to be asked and I wanted to give it and her as much attention as I could so I took the title and ran with it, especially when it came to the bachelorette party in LAS VEGAS (where else?).  

We stayed at THEhotel at Mandalay Bay, all the rooms are suites with a separate living room and an extra bathroom!  I most definitely recommend staying there if you are hosting a party, having the living room area so people can visit while others get ready is fantastic!  Also, with lots of girls trying to get ready the extra bathroom comes in quite handy.  We went during August when it was HOT and CROWDED so we of course got a cabana at the pool.  I drove in so I could bring a full bar for all 12 guests to enjoy as well as all decor without restrictions of FAA regulations.

-PREP-

First the props:

Full size inflatable man

Midgit sized inflatable man

COCKtail shaker

Boas

Photo booth backdrop & props

Penis: straws, appetizer picks, confetti, silly bands, napkins, cups, plates

The food:

Caprese with salami

Fruit Salad for morning

Chips & Little Debbie Cakes

Margarita jello shots in syringes

The rooms:

Each room included a "Goodbye to Gray minibar" for each girl.  It consisted of: aspirin, pepto tablets, gum, bandaids, cheese-its, pretzels, emergen-C, and the ingredients for one get ready cocktail of their choice.  

( I ALMOST went nuts and bought little jars so I could pre measure the ingredients for, like, a manhattan.  I had to let that go and stick to simple whiskey coke type cocktails)

BRIDAL SUITE: 

Goodbye to Grey mini bar, full bar with mixers, streamers, Photo Booth backdrop with penis props, and well.....just lots of penis everywhere.

The games:

Spouse Questionnaire: We assembled a list of questions for the groom to answer then asked the bride the same questions, if she answered the same we all drank, if she was wrong she drank.  Luckily we were able to have his answers on iPhone video so we could all watch as he asked the question then answered it, which was a super fun twist.

Ribbon drinks: Every guest gets a ribbon on her wrist, when the bride wants a drink she takes the ribbon.  Words of advice, maybe use glow bracelets or silly bands instead as the ribbons kept falling off. And if you double knot them the bride can't untie it.  Its fun for her to then wear the bracelet she took.  

Bridal dares with a twist: Pretty basic game, with a couple little twists that made it easier for us.  After we had the dares all set I created dare cards the size of biz cards and hole punched the corners.  Each guest got a 3-4 dare cards that SHE/HE had to make sure the bride completed and get documentation of it. (Originally the bride held all the cards, but clubs are really not the place for these types of games so we had to step it up night two)  Bride was allowed to veto one dare per guest and have her/him complete it instead.   This is a good way to mix it up and keep the bride having fun, also a great way to avoid drama incase the bride gets a dare she isn't into or is too shy to do. After each dare was completed whoever did it got a glow bracelet.  This was a fun way to track it.  

Here is how it all played out....

Everyone arrived on Friday by 2pm and we all did our own thing most of the afternoon, some to the pool, others to gamble until we met in the brides suite at 6pm to have some pre-party drinks, play a couple get to know you games, and take our "before" picture.

Friday night we went to ...  where else ... the THUNDER from down UNDER

-I know it seems cheesy, I thought that too before my first show...but then i went nuts.  Before my second time going i thought "been there, done that" and I was wrong! Went nuts again!  So this time around, I stopped being cool and gave in to the fact that I LOVE IT!!! 

Friday after the show we went out to XXXX and tried to play some bridal dare, but as I mentioned above, clubs really aren't the place for his type of game.  Maybe if I had the bright idea to divide up the dares Friday it would have been better.

Saturday we got a cabana which was well worth every penny!

Saturday night Spouse Questionnaire, gifts, photos then we walked the strip and played bridal dares!

Sunday, party ends....everyone goes back to real life.

Photos!

This is my friend Elissa who foolishly came to "keep me company" while i made fruit salad.  She of course was promptly put to work, here she is making caprese sticks.  Thanks Elissa!

This is the photo booth backdrop I made out of poster board, an ASS load of streamers, and a million staples.  The photo booth props I made from left over game of pin the cock on the jock from a bachelorette I attended in Vegas over Easter. 

TO MAKE YOUR OWN...

BACKDROP:  I bought three large roles of streamers from Party City and stapled them to strips of poster board ( I made 4 strips from one piece), using poster kept it light weight and easily held up by tape.  The streamers were stapled in layers to created a solid look, I believe there are 5 layers.

PROPS: I glued the props to poster board so they would be stiffer (pun intended) then glued them to sticks from Michaels that I had covered in colored duct tape. Fairly easy, but time consuming.  

This is the bridal suite! 

This is Sam's princess closet, I set up with her 3 sashes, a boa, garter, and 2 veils

Goodbye to Gray mini-bar

 Notice the details, I had "goodbye to gray" stickers made and used them in the mini-bar.  Also the mini Jack bottles say "Gray to Tattan" across the top.  The personalized flasks were a fun gift from one of the guests.

Thanks for letting me share.