This past weekend was a blast! My girlfriend Brittnee, the one that was on Randy to the Rescue, is getting married in October, so we decided to take a weekend bachelorette trip a few months in advance before all of her wedding planning got down to the nitty-gritty. And good thing we did, because I’ve been home for five days and I’m still trying to get caught up on sleep!
Since I am Britt’s MOH, I had the pleasure of planning the entire trip. (Yessssss, I love planning parties!!!) When I learned that she wanted a destination bachelorette trip, I was a bit hesitant and slightly frightened, yet super excited. I’d never been on a destination bachelorette trip, let alone planned one, so I wasn’t really sure what all would be expected of me. I threw out a few location ideas, including Daytona, Orlando, Tampa and St. Petersburg Beach, and Britt decided on St. Pete. SCORE! I went there with a group of friends a few years ago and remember it being a lot of fun. I also have a friend who lived in Tampa, so I consulted her for places to go and things to do (thanks Steph!). I started planning three months out and couldn’t wait for the weekend to get here. Finally, July 11th arrived and it was time to take off. The girls drove down from Savannah to meet me in Jax, and we made the four-hour drive down to St. Pete Beach, FL.
Thursday:
We arrived Thursday night around 10 p.m. (after what seemed like a seven-hour car ride with all our stops) and checked into the Howard Johnson Beach Resort on Gulf Blvd. The hotel was right on the beach, had large rooms with refrigerators, microwaves and a balcony, and we were even lucky enough to get adjoining rooms. The hotel was in the perfect location, had a large pool with a tiki bar, and was connected to a fun little restaurant called the Toasted Monkey. Once we made it to our rooms, we quickly got ready to go out, and I gave all the girls their goody bags.
Each one included necessities for the weekend: band aids, snacks, pink beads, hot pink lipstick, personalized wine glasses, ring pops (for a photo shoot), custom tank tops that I made, koozies, and tutus that I made for Saturday night. Brittnee’s included those items, as well as a crown with a veil, a “Bride-to-Be” sash, a “Last Fling Before the Ring” cup, and two shirts for two different nights.
We toasted to a great weekend and headed out.
One of the best things about St. Pete Beach? They have free shuttle buses that run until 3 a.m. every day. We piled in one of those bad boys and headed to Sloppy Pelican. Much to our surprise, it was college night, which actually made us all a little excited. What better way to kick off a bachelorette party than reliving our college days together with college-priced drinks and lots of dancing? The DJ gave us shout-outs between every song, Abby had a dance-off with some guy and ended up busting out the worm in a dress, Katie taught us all how to twerk (well, tried), Brittnee got on the microphone and got the entire bar chanting with her in the “Georgia … Southern” chant, and we made friends with the manager who sent us home with a full bottle of dragonberry vodka. Yeah, it was going to be a good weekend.
Friday:
After surviving night number one, we slept in a bit and spent Friday afternoon at the beautiful beach.
And slid down this amazing thing:
We wrapped up the afternoon with a frozen daiquiri at our pool’s tiki bar and headed in to get ready for our little black dress night.
We had a minor disaster trying to find somewhere to eat (long story), but ended up at Crabby Bill’s and took over the bar. The bartender was AMAZING and made our night completely, and the food was good too. After dinner, it was party bus time! Girls, if you’re ever looking for a party bus in the Tampa/St. Pete area, give the folks at Party Bust St. Pete a call. They were super affordable, the driver was great, and the inside of this thing was awesome! And yes, it had a stripper pole in it.
I passed out a Bachelorette Scavenger Hunt to everyone, we sipped on champagne, and a few of the girls decided to test their skills.
We headed to downtown St. Pete and bar hopped. Two of my favorite places we stopped were 260 Main and Push Ultra Lounge – great dance bars.
We also found this Magic Hat bus outside of Jannus Live, which supplied us with lots of goodies and accessories for the rest of the evening.
We headed back toward the beach and called it a night at 3 a.m. Well, I lie. We headed back to the room at 3 a.m., then we stayed up for a good two hours making Vines.
Saturday:
Saturday was a bit overcast, but it didn’t stop us from spending the day at the pool. After we’d all had enough of the 102-degree heat, we headed in to get ready for tutu night! Let me go back a bit. Brittnee sent me a picture she found on Pinterest of two girls in tutus, and said she’d love to have a picture like that. Translation: “I would like to wear tutus at my bachelorette party. Please and thank you.” So I made us some dang tutus! None of us (except Brittnee) were super thrilled about the idea of wearing these out to the bars and in public, but once we put them on we realized how fun it was actually going to be.
Cute, right?! Plus, they made for GREAT outfits for the Ring Pop photo shoot I had in mind.
Brittnee assured us that everyone was going to want to wear tutus after they saw us, and she was right. Cars were honking, people were cheering, random strangers wanted pictures with us, and even some guys wanted to wear them (??). It was fun!
We had a quick bite to eat at Jimmy B’s, then jumped in a shuttle bus and headed out. Our stops included The Undertow, Sloppy Pelican, Daiquiri Shack, and a few others. Some of our stops may or may not have included sparklers ..
tutus on the bar ..
Katie twerking (again) …
… and seriously, a guy wearing Brittnee’s tutu and crown.
Needless to say, it was a pretty epic weekend with an incredible group of girls and a fantastic location. And Sunday’s four-hour ride home was not so fun. Katie, Abby, Adrienne, Jennifer, Amanda and Tiffany, thank you for helping make this an unforgettable weekend and one that Brittnee is sure to always remember. Destination bachelorette weekend success, for sure!
#YouKnowYouWantThisTutu!
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