The Interesting Evolution of Bachelor Parties

The bachelor party has been around since at least the middle ages when Chaucer first used the term “bachelor” to mean an unmarried gent. In the old days (circa 1800s) it was typically a somber affair full of stern toasts in coattails.

By the Madmen era, things got a bit more debauched. The most legendary tale from this era involves little people popping out of cakes at Jimmy Stewart’s stag party the night before his wedding to Gloria Hatrick McLean.

Like everything else in American culture, things reached a pinnacle of excess in the 1980’s. This is when the trope of the all-out, all-night, marriage-threatening escapade was born. Vegas, strippers, booze, trashed hotel rooms … you get the idea.

Do You Know The “New” Bachelor Party?

These days, people are getting married later in life, friends are more far-flung, and just getting soused isn’t enough proof of a good time. Millennials want everything to be more meaningful and more entertaining than in generations past.

When I got married, I knew exactly what I wanted: go karts (#36), lunch at my favorite sandwich shop (#26), a crawl through my favorite local breweries (#2), and an early bedtime (not on the list, but totally OK if that’s what you want). But more than that, I wanted time with my favorite people. It’s probably the only time my brother-in-law will hang out for an entire day with my best friend from college, and I’ll remember it forever.

Without even realizing it, I had a new, 21st-century style bachelor party. One that focused on a few key things and left a lot of the stereotypical tropes behind.

Which begs the question…