The Sandbar is a hot spot for bachelorette parties. This is a guest post by Sandbar fan Bailey about a more unusual type of bachelorette party: after work and in the middle of the week.

Two weeks ago I was honored to be in my coworkers wedding. Denise and I started in our jobs within two weeks of each other and, per tradition in our office, during training and worries we weren’t learning fast
enough, we became friends as well. About three weeks before her and Jordan’s wedding, it came up in our office’s staff meeting that she was not going to have a bachelorette party.

*facepalm*

What a horrible bridesmaid I was! Her maid-of-honor lived in Utah and would only be in Lawrence for a few days. Her other bridesmaid lived in North Carolina – I was the only in town to throw it and I had, clearly, dropped the ball. Denise was not one for a crazy night out but a few drinks with the rest of our fabulous coworkers were definitely in order.

Another co-worker and I started scheming. Sam and I weren’t sure we could get Denise to go if she knew we were planning so it had to be a surprise. Denise was taking a few days off before the wedding and I strategically suggested we go get a drink after her last day of work. I had “errands to run” so I told her I would pick her up at 5:45 and we’d head downtown. (This gave everyone at work time to get downtown and not have to leave early and possibly making Denise suspicious).

Obviously, we had to go to my favorite land-locked island bar. In all the planning (and KNOWING we were heading to the Sandbar) I forgot to ask Denise where she wanted to go or tell her where I thought we should go. I just picked her up, parked and started walking to the bar. And as we rounded the corner to
8th Street, I saw a coworker walk into the bar before us! Dangit! Everyone was supposed to be there already! Fortunately, the bride-to-be didn’t notice.

We walked in and I led Denise straight to the back room. It was full of our wonderful coworkers with snacks and balloons. And the surprise bachelorette party was a success: Denise had no idea!

We talked about boyfriends and husbands and weddings, played our favorite songs on the jukebox and even got Andrew to make a wedding shot. I wish I could tell you what was in it but I don’t even think Andrew remembers how he made it. All we know is that it tasted like wedding cake!

This proves that bachelorette parties don't have to be wild and crazy affairs with party buses and anatomy-inspired props! Though we like those parties too. Thanks Bailey and congratulations to Denise!