Step 4-Keep the Debauchery Local

Plan bachelor and bachelorette parties that will keep the green theme going:

~Stay local (and spend more time with your friends, and less dealing with travel stress).

Or you can skip the whole thing. I have always thought the "Bachelor and Bachelorette Parties" are the silliest game in town. For so many reasons...(See Left) First of all, why is this the last fun night of my life? If I am marrying the right person, shouldn't the fun be ahead of me? Also-Let's just say for arguments sake that this is the last fun night of my life, I am totally miffed at the inequality of the expected ideas of a "good time." Men get strippers, steak dinners, and cigars...Women get salad, a cake in the shape of a penis, and a tee shirt covered in life savers with the words, "A Buck A Suck" written across the front! How is that fun? How is this fair? They get women covered in glitter that smell like Malibu Barbie, and I get a baseball hat with a white veil coming out the back like a red neck mullet,dirty scavenger hunt? No no no...this is not my idea of fun.

Jimmy can do what he wants, and I am pretty sure that it will be ugly. (lol) I only have one rule about it: Whoever plans the party, gets to clean up the puke.

All of this said, I do want to have a night of fun with my girlfriends. I will be giving them a secret gift (which is part of a secret outing...sneaky me! I will post about it when we do it this summer. :-) And then there will be a night on the town with those who can make it as planned by a few friends.

We are doing this in NYC...there will be a few travelers, and they will most likely bus or train. :-)

So-as per my cosmo quiz theme: CHECK! Keeping it local! Same for Jimbo-when you live in NYC, you don't go upstate for the naked ladies.

~Offset your trip if you choose a "destination" party.

They mention this a lot on green webistes, but do you know how to do it? I didn't. I found this webpage on the Travelocity site. It allows you to offset miles by donating to have trees planted.

~Travel by train (and start the party early in the bar car).

~Indulge in organic wine (or beer) tasting or an organic spa treatment.

I am always happy to do any of these. Most places are starting to have local beers and wines these days. Where I live there are so many fun ways to keep it local. In Brooklyn, we have:

The Brooklyn Brewery (start your party with a tour of the brewery in Red Hook. How cool is that?)

We even have a winery! Try Bridge Vinyards Urban Winery...I haven't been there, so I can't tell you if the wine is good, but it is certainly worth a look see, no? Check out their site:http://www.bridgevineyards.com They don't take reservations, but they do have Jazz music. Hmmm...Ok, I will take one for the team, and go here with Jimmy in the near future, and will give a full report.

And um, hi, organic spa? I am not usually cool enough to hang out in Williamsburg, but I will go there for the delightful green spa. http://www.greenspanewyork.com/

If you aren't sure where to find a spa in your area, check out spa finder...it is a super cool site where you can search for the spa that is the perfect fit for you.

~Take a class and learn to make your own wedding flowers or jewelry.

This is a cool idea, and it would save you money on your flowers, or jewelry....I dig this one.

~Do something low-impact and outdoorsy like a camping, surfing, sailing, kayaking, or fishing trip.

um, yeah...have fun with that. I will see you when you get back to Brooklyn.