In May I planned and hosted my dear friend Livie’s bachelorette party in Bentonville, Arkansas. We had a group of 8 girls, some over and some under 21. The things our bride really wanted were coffee, brunch, and lots of opportunities for fun pictures. When planning I prioritized maximizing experience for cost, proximity to our Airbnb, and photo opportunities. I also heavily considered picking activities that everyone in the group could partake in regardless of age. We chose not to go with a typical bachelorette theme and instead picked a color scheme to guide our decor and outfits.
Here is the link to the Airbnb we stayed at: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/582014809131518368?source_impression_id=p3_1648750108_jdnF1OQvPQC%2B1efq
It was just a few minutes from downtown Bentonville and accommodated our group of 8 pretty easily. The host was fabulous, and we had plenty of room for all our activities at the house. I couldn’t recommend this stay enough.
Friday, we started out our weekend with a private bungee fitness class with Elevate Bungee Fitness in Fayetteville. It was $150 for a 90-minute class. Our group had so much fun. It was a great active way to kick off our weekend. Our whole group met at the studio which made the transition to our Airbnb in Bentonville easy!
We quickly went to our Airbnb and settled in. Our dinner reservations were at 5 p.m. at Bentonville Taco & Tamale Co.. You can make reservations online for groups of 6-8 people. You get seated in “The Vault” which is a fabulous giant pink private booth. You are tucked away in our own private room and the vibes are perfect for a bachelorette. Plus, downtown Bentonville is perfect for pictures.
After we went to crumble cookies to get a party box of cookies to share at home.
Once we returned to the Airbnb, we had a cocktail/mocktail contest. We paired up into teams of two and using a stocked mini bar each team made a cocktail/mocktail of their choice. This helped accommodate everyone and was a fun but lowkey competitive activity.
After our contest we went downstairs to the game room for a lingerie party. Each bridesmaid brought a gift, and we did a “drop your panties” bowl which was so much fun! Some gifts were gag gifts and others were regular sets or satin sleepwear. Overall, this was so much fun and really made the weekend feel like a bachelorette trip.
Our last phase of the evening was a romantic comedy PowerPoint night. So, half of the girls made PowerPoints about what the best romcom movie was and then we voted on a winner. Then we piled up on the couch with popcorn and watched the winning movie.
Saturday morning, we started off with a brunch at home. My sweet mom and sister came in to help me transform the dining area into a full spread Bridgeton inspired brunch. I asked all the girls to come downstairs fully dressed in either a blue or tan romper or dress. We ate at the Airbnb, took group pictures in our color coordinating outfits, and then headed out for the morning.
Our first stop was The Momentary. I love The Momentary for groups like this because it has a fabulous all pink Onyx location inside. It’s completely free to browse the art and to take pictures on the grounds. We all got coffee, browsed, and took pictures still dressed in our matching colors. This is a great 1–2-hour free activity.
After we headed home to eat a quick sandwich and charcuterie lunch spread and changed into swimsuits. I rented an individual's pool online through Swimply. It works just like Airbnb, only you can rent people's home pools by the hour. We rented a beautiful pool for an hour and a half for less than $100. For this activity everyone wore black swimsuits, and the bride was in white. I brought some inflatable beach balls and a giant ring floatie of course! This was a cost-efficient way to get in a little water time and allowed us to do other activities throughout the day. The host was great, and I would recommend renting a pool this way easily.
Following the pool, we went home to get ready for dinner and another full night of activities. Everyone got dressed in “party dresses” that were black or bold in color or print.
We first went to Crystal Bridges and did a quick browsing of the art and took lots of pictures. I love crystal bridges for groups who want to take photos because there are a million options for backgrounds/locations and again admission is free. The art is world class and feels like it belongs in a huge metropolis. Since this is a public place and we were very overdressed, we did get some strange looks but we got great photos, so it was totally worth it.
Dinner was next! We ate a LOUISE at Thaden Fieldhouse. This location is 10/10 you can watch airplanes take off and land and the outdoor seating is so cool. Our food was yummy; however we didn’t have a great service experience. Even though we were disappointed with our service, the food and view helped make up for it.
Then we returned to the Airbnb for a quick outfit change. Everyone changed into fun jean short outfits with cowboy boots because we were headed to Whiskey 101 in Fayetteville. Whiskey was the perfect option for our crew because it gave those under 21 a chance to come dance and have fun while still giving those over 21 an opportunity to enjoy a drink if they wanted. There is a small cover fee, but we stayed for almost two hours and had so much fun!
Once we got back home, we enjoyed some giggles over our evening before heading to bed.
Sunday morning, we woke up, got packed up and left the Airbnb. We went to my favorite brunch place, The Buttered Biscuit and enjoyed a little farewell brunch and each went our own way from there.
Each bridesmaid paid $150 which covered the cost of the Airbnb, house gifts, decorations, our private fitness class, and house food/drinks for the weekend. Then each girl covered their individual meals/coffee/etc.
For anyone looking to stay local for their bach trip, I highly recommend doing a fun staycation in NWA. For not a ton of money we were able to do tons of activities and most importantly celebrate our bride to be.
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