Like many of us, 2020 threw a big wrench into a lot of our plans. From bachelorettes to weddings to vacations and more, things were canceled with no reschedule in sight including my best friend’s wedding. Like many others, her wedding was supposed to be June 2020 but has now been rescheduled to September 2021. Can you guess when her bachelorette was supposed to be? ….That’s right – March 2020 in Key West! So we pivoted and held her bachelorette in Ocean City, New Jersey in July 2021! It was the best thing we could have done!

Ocean City, NJ

A lot of factors go into picking where you host your bachelorette but our main factor was proximity. The majority of the girls attending were from Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey which made picking Ocean City, New Jersey for the bachelorette an ideal location everyone could drive to. Plus the bride grew up going on vacation there.

We stayed at one of the girls beach houses which saved us a lot BUT there are a bunch of houses to rent on AirBnB & VRBO.

Decorations

I ordered most of the decorations in advance from Amazon linked what I could below:

Another amazing resource for me for ALL of the bachelorette’s I’ve planned has been Stag & Hen. They have EVERYTHING. Seriously, you can search by your theme, type of destination, or the type of product you are looking for. They are a one-stop-shop for all your decoration needs.

Before building the itinerary, I always send out a Google Survey or text the girls what snacks, meals, and drinks they want. This way I know of any and all dietary restrictions which help in grocery shopping and picking restaurants. By doing this, I also can create a budget in my head to let the girls know roughly how much this is all going to cost so no one is sticker shocked when I ask for venmos.

Itinerary:

Friday

12pm: Decorate the house
3pm: Bachelorette guests arrive
4-6pm: Happy hour on the beach
8pm: Dinner reservations at The Deauville & stay for live music
- Pro Tip: They don’t take outdoor seating reservations and you will want to sit outside but call ahead and see what the wait looks like. Once you arrive, grab drinks at the outdoor bar and they will text you when your table is ready!

Saturday

8am: Breakfast at the house
- I made a coffee cake and blueberry muffin cake plus also brought fresh fruit to get the day started off right.
9-11am: Casually make your way to the beach
1-3pm: Head back to the house for lunch at your leisure.
- I made chicken salad that everyone could make sandwiches when they wanted plus we had chips and salsa, veggies and dip, and many other snacks to pick at.
3-6pm: Finish the day on the beach before heading back to the house to get ready.
5pm: Ordered pizza from Manco & Manco for delivery to get there around 6pm.
8pm: Head out to Avalon to go to bars. It was a 15 minute car ride as the two beaches are close to eachother. One thing to note is Ocean City is a “Dry Island” so there are no liquor stores or bars nearby but the nearby beaches in Avalon or Sea Isle City have plenty!
- We spent majority of the evening at The Princeton but there are a bunch of other bars that are also some fun spots in Avalon: Whitebrier, Shenanigans, Circle Tavern, Dead Dog Saloon, and more!

Sunday

Wake up at your leisure
10am: Breakfast from Dead End Bagels
- Pro Tip: Order online in advance to skip the line
12pm: Clean up the house & head home!

For other bachelorette guides, check out this post on our FRIENDS Themed Bachelorette in NYC!