How to Plan a Virtual Bachelorette Party (That’s Actually Really Fun) PART 1/2: Pre-Planning

Are you having to plan a virtual bachelorette party due to pandemic restrictions? You’re not alone. This entire year has been a struggle and a challenge for those who’ve had matrimonial plans. Many have chosen to postpone their plans until the exact vision for their wedding can be realized. And that’s understandable. But others have decided to press on and just get a little creative with some pandemic-proof plans. And we salute you “The show must go on” as the saying goes. And in the true spirit of 2020/2021 that can sometimes simply mean, “The show must go online!”

“But…but…it’s the bachelorette party,” some may (rightfully) object! You’re supposed to get together with all your girls for one last fling with your main girl (the bride!) and celebrate her before the wedding! We know. We understand, and you’re not alone. But because you’re not alone, that means there are lots of tips out there with other bridal parties in your exact shoes (or…slippers, if you’re still planning from home). 

You can do it!

As it turns out, as long as you plan ahead and are organized, there are plenty of ways to plan a virtual bachelorette party that’s actually a lot of fun! You can still cover the basics of celebrating the bride together and making her feel special. And with a little creativity, there are ways of making it feel like you are all together (in a way) and creating memories that will be forever unique to this…special…time! 

We’ve gathered some of our favorite tips to help, and have organized them into 2 parts for easier planning: pre-planning surrounding the event, and planning for the event itself. 

Here are some pre-planning tips for how to plan a virtual bachelorette party that all the girls will love!

1. Designate an organizer and an MC
2. Send invitations, communicate, and create an itinerary
3. Choose a “venue”
4. Spoil the bride ahead of time
5. Pick a theme and match

1. Designate an organizer and an MC

If you’re going to plan a virtual bachelorette party that’s just as fabulous as the real thing, the key is organization and planning ahead. 

Party planner/organizer

To ensure proper planning and organization leading up to the event, you’ll need to designate a party planner. While planning the bachelorette party is usually the time-honored task of the maid of honor, if the virtual aspect is not really her thing, it’s okay for another bridesmaid to take over, or to assist with the technical side of hosting a virtual party.

Party MC

To keep things flowing for the actual party, you will also need to designate an MC to be in charge of moving things along, starting and ending certain activities, and keeping conversations going. Again, this task usually falls on the maid of honor. But if she’s not up to the challenge of the heavy public speaking demand for this role (let’s be honest, most of us are intimidated), just choose a confident, competent speaker from amongst your group to be in charge of moving the party along, sticking to the timeline, and making sure everyone’s entertained.

2. Send invitations, communicate, and create an itinerary

If you’re choosing to plan a virtual bachelorette party, do you still need to send invitations? Definitely. 

Invitations

Planning a virtual bachelorette party takes just as much planning (and maybe even more!) as a regular party, and requires a similar block of time for everyone to be available. So formal invitations are still required to ensure proper planning and availability for both the party planner and the guests. 

Send invitations by mail, or as an evite online to ride the wave of that virtual theme (and save a little cash, too!). Just make sure they get sent with plenty of time for RSVPs, because planning a virtual bachelorette party might require having some things delivered by mail to the bride and guests, or require the guests to have time to mail things and make purchases themselves. 

Communication

Once you have a guest list, start a group chat or some other form of communication channel for your group to help communicate details and updates along the way. This will help the planning process flow more smoothly and make sure everyone is up to date with any changes.

Create an itinerary

To keep the virtual bachelorette party from feeling like just a common video chat, you’ll need to organize a solid itinerary of activities or talking points to make it festive. And we’ll get to those later. But make sure everyone on the guest list has a good idea of what to expect so they can all be prepared enough to join in the fun!

3. Choose a “venue”

The next step to plan a virtual bachelorette party is to choose a “venue.” Obviously, physically everyone’s personal venue will probably be their own living rooms. But what we mean here is which virtual venue you will use to host the event. 2020 brought to the forefront the now ever-popular Zoom. And Zoom works great! 

But there are many other platforms out there like it that might work better for your particular situation and enhance the experience by offering variations on factors such as screen sharing, chat messaging, live and post-meeting screenshots, fun virtual backgrounds, etc. Take a look at the features of some of these Zoom alternatives to use as your “venue” to plan a virtual bachelorette party: 

• RingCentral Office
• Microsoft Teams
• Cisco WebEx
• Google Meet
• 8×8 Meet
• UberConference by Dialpad
• Join.Me
• Fuze Meetings
• GoToMeeting
• BlueJeans
• Jitsi Meet
• Lifesize video meeting solution

4. Spoil the bride ahead of time

If you’re having to adapt and plan a virtual bachelorette party due to the pandemic, it’s the bride and her dream wedding plans that are being most affected. The bachelorette party is all about celebrating the bride and making her feel special. And there’s never been a time that’s more important to make the bride feel special than now. 

To make the bride feel special, begin to spoil her ahead of time in the days leading up to the virtual bachelorette party. Send her care packages of wine or champagne, self-care items like facemasks and lotions, and gorgeous flower arrangements that she can look at and be reminded about how much she is being thought of during this time. 

You can also begin to send (or hand-deliver if you’re in her area) her various party-related items such as sashes, veils, crowns, and other props that she’ll use or wear at the virtual bachelorette party. You can have her open them as she receives them so she can start to get excited, or have her wait in anticipation and open them at the party with everyone as one of the fun activities.

Additionally, when you plan a virtual bachelorette party, this is still a great time to include a lingerie shower element in the event. Have all the guests begin to send her gifts of lingerie or other gifts to open at the party. Receiving all of these packages in the mail in the days leading up to her virtual bachelorette party is sure to make her feel special!

5. Pick a theme and match

One of the most important aspects to plan a virtual bachelorette party so it feels more festive than a simple group chat is to come up with a simple but fun theme everyone can adapt themselves and their surroundings to. 

This theme can be something as simple as a color. Perhaps you could use the bride’s favorite color, keep it on-palette with the bridesmaid dress color(s), or make it something wedding-themed, such as “Something Blue.”

You could also theme the virtual bachelorette party with the bride’s favorite tv show, movie, or trend like a 90s theme. Or something catchy and fun like a sleepover theme in your jammies (you’ll all be at home anyway!), a beach or luau theme (especially if you had planned on going somewhere tropical together), a fiesta theme with sombreros and margarita, a brunch theme with mimosas and pancakes (again, in your jammies at home!), etc. 

This is where you get to be really creative and have fun with it and make the theme reflect the bride’s personality. The theme is what will inform the various props, decorations, and matching attire that will make a virtual bachelorette party especially festive. So just make sure the theme is easy for everyone to replicate in their own homes!

Stay tuned for Part 2 of this guide for how to plan a virtual bachelorette party where we discuss tips for making the actual event really fun!

Love this content and want more wedding planning tips? Check out our blog! 

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