Love Will Win Mural - 201 Lavaca St, Austin, TX 78701
Surprise Austin,TX Bachelorette Party
Y'all I went on a bachelorette party to Austin, TX & had ZERO CLUE as to what our itinerary would be, where we were staying, or any details whatsoever! All I knew is what my Maid of Honor told me to wear each day and that I was going on an unforgettable adventure.
Let me tell you.. I absolutely loved it.
If you are newly engaged and plan on having a bachelor or bachelorette party - I highly recommend that you indulge in the mystery & let your team surprise you. As we all know, wedding planning is all consuming. The thought of being in charge of another event can push a bride or groom over the edge. As a wedding planner planning her own wedding and a handful of other weddings, having someone else take the reins was the best gift my ladies could have ever given me.
I am excited to share with you our adventure & itinerary that the girls worked so hard to put together.
Austin, TX
Let me just start with how amazing Austin is as a whole. We traveled to the city in the middle of March, 2021. The weather was a perfect sunny 65-75 degrees. The city was so clean and one of the friendliest places I have ever visited. We had fabulous service nearly everywhere we went and so many people offered to take photos for us when we were out and about touring. I know when I travel, I sometimes feel like a burden to the locals. I hate asking for directions or looking like a total tourist. This was not the case in Austin! I felt like people were genuinely happy to help, were excited to see us, and that they went out of their way to make our trip a good one. The whole city was generally very respectful when it came to Covid guidelines as well and I felt super safe while visiting.
Our Airbnb
Walk to Everything! Downtown East Central House
The house the girls chose was a great location & fit our party of 5 ladies perfectly. We all had our own space, the home was super luxurious & clean, and it had an amazing backyard area with string lights and a ping pong table! The hosts of this Airbnb were super helpful throughout planning and happily answered any questions prior to arrival. We were just a short uber drive away from all the main activities and the place felt like home!
Here is a link to the listing if you are interested: Austin Airbnb
The Theme
For the theme, the girls really embraced my personality and proclaimed the title of the weekend as Janie's Jam. I am an art & music lover, plus I have a strong admiration for the 4th of July. It is my favorite holiday and we are actually getting married on 4th of July weekend. The girls perfectly blended all these interests in the most tasteful way.
Our photo backdrop of the banner that says, "SHE SAID HELL YES" is actually a reference to when my fiance proposed to me. I seriously did say Hell Yes! lol.
Cookies by: Sugar Less Cookies
Instagram: @sugar.less.cookies
These cookies were an absolute hit & really were the cherry on top when it came to the theme. My Maid of Honor transported these on the plane to Austin & they were absolutely delicious! The other favors that we had were light up flower crowns, light up rings, hangover kits with all the essentials, koozies, and sunglasses! I especially loved the kiss-print frame as it is something I will be able to treasure long after the weekend.
Here is a link to purchase the frame if you are interested: Kiss-Print Picture Frame
Bachelorette Weekend Itinerary
Now that you know the destination & theme, here is how the girls made the trip unforgettable. Our itinerary was packed full & with it all being a complete surprise to me, there was no room for apprehension or hesitation on my end. Ready, set, have fun!
Friday - Day 1
Flight day! We arrived in Austin around 10am. All of us girls met up with each other at the airport and headed to the heart of the city in our rental car to start the weekend with brunch.
This is a trendy & modern restaurant that has some of the most intricate light fixtures I have ever seen. We had a reservation prior to arrival and when we were seated the waitress approached us by saying, "I have been so excited to see you guys! Been waiting all day for y'all!" - This was an amazing way to be greeted by the city. If you go here, make sure you order their House-Made Zucchini Cornbread (and maybe a pitcher or two of sangria.)
Self Guided Mural Tour via Lime Scooters
Austin hosts a variety of transportation rentals that are easy to find throughout the city. We chose to use the Lime Scooters, but Bird Scooters are also available as well as rental bikes.
With a simple download of the Lime Scooters ap on our phones, we were ready to set sail on our self guided tour of the city! The main attraction on our tour was to stop and see as many of the murals in town that we could. Austin has grown quite famous for the vast array of public artwork in recent years and the scooters made the artwork hunt even more thrilling. We laughed and laughed as we got used to driving them. It ended up being one of everyone's favorite activities! I believe we were on them for around 2 hours and the total cost for renting the scooter for that long was around $30.
I personally had ridden these scooters before, but it had been well over a year. Thankfully Austin allows scooter drivers to ride on the sidewalk verses the bike lanes/street. Otherwise, this experience would have been a million times scarier to us Kentuckians!
Tip: Make sure your phones are charged prior to going on this tour as the Lime Scooters ap really drains your battery! Also make sure you get a scooter that has a lot of charge as well because we did have one scooter die on us & two girls figured out how to ride tandem on them lol.
Willie Nelson Janis Joplin Mural - 407 E 7th St, Austin, TX 78701
Tau Ceti Mural - E 2nd St &, Brazos St, Austin, TX 78701
Zanzibar hosts a speakeasy vibe that transports you via a private elevator to a tropical vacation scene on a rooftop with full 360 views of the city. You need a reservation at just about every restaurant you go to in Austin due to covid, but you DEFINITELY need one to get in here. This bar also hosts a rooftop pool so bring your swimsuit if you wish! We stayed here and relaxed after our scooter trip for a couple drinks in the shade. Their special cocktails come in this cute cactus cocktail glass!
While this little adventure was brief, it was great to visit the flagship store of Kendra Scott as I am a huge fan of her jewelry & overall business mission. The store has a small cafe that hosts Friday Frozé. I purchased a necklace that I have had my eye on for a while & thought it was a perfect souvenir for the trip. It is featured below:
We ended the night with dinner & drinks at this ranch to table style restaurant. Jacoby's is a family owned establishment where they raise their own cattle & use the meat for the restaurant. The quality of the food was awesome & the brew was equally as good. This is definitely a foodie spot and was the perfect way to end out action packed day.
Saturday - Day 2
Our first full day in Austin! We started the day with mimosas & I still had no clue what my ladies had planned for the days events. All I knew was that someone was coming to our house for something at 9am & I had to be ready by then..
Our 9am obligation was actually to have a drawing class, but this wasn't just an ordinary drawing class! Artful Bachelorette is a company that is based in multiple cities throughout the United States. The girls had signed us up for a 2 hour drawing class with a cheeky twist - we were going to draw a naked man. This class came with an art instructor who guided us through a handful of hilarious drawing exercises. It was an absolute blast & one of the funniest things I have ever been a part of. In art school I actually had to take figure drawing, so this wasn't new to me.. but to see the reactions of my friends and have this memory with them was one of my favorite parts. I highly recommend this experience for any bachelor or bachelorette party! Props to them as this is a very covid friendly experience. All participants are required to wear a mask & the instructor does a great job at making sure the experience is great, not awkward.
We went to brunch shortly after our time with Artful Bachelorette at Geraldine's where we were greeted by a lovely live jazz band playing on stage. Their brunch was impeccable & the restaurant was a very peaceful place to dine. Their Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits with Maple Honey Butter were to die for.
Bar Hopping
When leaving Geraldine's you are in the heart of the Rainy Street Bar District. There are a ton of quirky bars you can visit. Here is a list of the ones we visited!
Rainy Street Bars
After Rainy Street, we took a pedicab to the Dirty Sixth Street Bar District. This section of town hosts some of the best live music in the world. Something we all appreciated is that the city closes the street on Saturday night so pedestrians can walk to & from easily.
Dirty Sixth Bars
Sunday - Day 3
Sunday was definitely our day to relax. We started the day by going to lunch at Bangers Sausage House. They had a delicious dessert called a Snickers Bar in a Jar that is worth trying! The restaurant also hosts tons of beers on tap & had great live music.
After lunch we hopped in an Uber and went to Lady Bird Lake. The lake is shaped more like a river, but doesn't have the strong current that comes with it. You can rent kayaks, canoes, or paddle boards through the Texas Rowing Center and coast up the lake to see the city skyline & float under the many bridges the Austin has. It felt very safe & we noticed that the locals all seemed to enjoy this activity too. This was the perfect way to spend our day & see a new perspective of the city!
Bachelorette Games & Gifts
We went back to our Airbnb after kayaking & enjoyed each others company on our outdoor patio while playing games & sharing laughs. Most bachelorette parties have a game night of sorts and I thought having it on our last night together was a great way to wind down the weekend, but also have a ton of fun!
Here are the games we played:
Draw What?! - super fun, yet a little naughty party game you can buy!
Bachelorette Jenga - this game was home made!
What did the Groom say? - This was really fun. Apparently someone snuck & asked my fiance a bunch of questions & we all had to see who could try to guess what he said. I did win, thankfully lol.
Who bought it? - This is where the girls all got me a present & I had to try to guess who purchased it for me. I thought this was a great way to gift a present as it added a surprise element to the game
Pin the Junk on the Hunk - an absolute classic lol.
True American! Actually, we didn't get to play this.. but I encourage you to try it at your bachelorette party if you have around 4-6 people attending. We were too worn out to get to this game lol.
Final Thoughts
Wow - Austin rocks & I had one hell of a trip! I wanted to share this trip with all the other brides, grooms, & wedding parties out there looking for a badass adventure. Austin was the perfect place to be with my group of girls and I can't thank them enough for all the hard work they put in to planning this weekend. I am one lucky bride.
I can't stress enough how exciting it was to not know any of the plans prior to them happening throughout the trip. I challenge all my type A brides/grooms out there to just let it go & trust your friends with this one. You will not regret it! They do have your best interest at heart & won't let you down. You'll end up trying things out that you never would have planned for yourself. If you take anything from this ginormous blog post, at least take that lesson with you!!!
Feel free to steal from this itinerary as much as you want to help plan your bachelor or bachelorette. You can copy the whole weekend if you wish! Just make sure to let me know how it all went in the comments below!
Stay tuned for more wedding themed content! Happy planning, y'all!
Best,
Janie