A Bachelorette Party to Remember: 1 Van, 2 Days, 5 Nationalities, 7 Women, 12 Dutch Provinces
How do you go about organizing a bachelorette party for someone who has already seen the world? Show her around her own backyard. Throw in a few animals, cute costumes, a scavenger hunt, fun games, as well as family and friends, and you have a party.
This past weekend, I helped organize Savannah Grace’s bachelorette party. I was honored to be a part of the celebration as she enjoys her last days of singlehood. Savannah is originally from Vancouver, Canada, but has been living in the Netherlands for the past 7.5 years. Combined with the fact she’s already been to 108 countries, we decided to put together a different type of bachelorette party: a road trip (Sensing a pattern? You may remember the trip we did for her birthday this year – five countries in one day).
Over the course of the weekend, we covered 1120 kilometers (696 miles) and visited all 12 Dutch provinces. It was truly a trip of a lifetime! Seven women from five different countries (Canada, Netherlands, Poland, South Africa, and United States of America) piled into one van. Our goal was to travel around the country and experience typical Dutch things, as well as complete a scavenger hunt and play games together. We encountered sly glances, hearty laughs, and big smiles as we traipsed around the country in our colorful animal onesies (I’m in the penguin constume). It was almost like a bunch of animals escaped from a zoo and were running wild!
The two days were completely action packed. Here’s a recap of what we did:
- Start Point: Alkmaar
- Afsluitdijk, where we met a couple from Michigan who has been married for 47 years! They told us the key to a happy marriage is, “A happy wife is a happy life”
- Marum, where we came across a private farm with CAMELS (!!), zebras, donkeys, horses, parrots, dogs, cats, and more!
- Savannah made a few cow friends…
- Pieterburen. We had lunch in front of a windmill, took a few photos, and visited a seal sanctuary
- Diever, where we saw a 5000-year-old prehistoric megalithic burial chamber in the province of Drente. We also crossed off one of the dares – find a creative ring in a hardware store (that was about to close in five minutes, but they let us run through quickly; guess they couldn’t resist us in our animal onesies) – and even ran into a bachelor party!
- Flevoland, where we had dinner at a picnic table overlooking farmland and played pick-up sticks
- Utrecht, where we took Savannah to a “chapel” a.k.a. Belgian beer café Olivier, which is housed in an old church. We ran into our second bachelor party of the trip here, too!
- Slumber party in Twente
- Klarenbeek, near Apeldoorn, where we stopped at a wallaby farm
- A McDonalds in Gelderland (bathroom break), where we found a Dutch man over 2 meters tall
- Venlo, where we found the perfect stone for the ring of Kees, her fiancé
- Baarle-Nassau, where we stood in two countries at once. Baarle is a city divided between Belgium (Baarle-Hertog) and the Netherlands (Baarle-Nassau). Lines throughout the city indicate the border. We also enjoyed fries with mayonnaise
- Bruinisse in Zeeland, where we watched the wind and kite surfers and took a few photos
- Scheveningen, where we tossed the bouquet, ate herring by the tail (Rotterdam style), and watched the sunset over the water from the bungy tower
- End Point: Alkmaar, where Savannah got down on one knee and proposed to Kees
All in all, a trip we will remember forever. We shared so many laughs and our faces hurt from smiling by the end of the trip. We were completely exhausted, but loved every single minute. Thank you for allowing us to be a part of this incredible trip. Congratulations, Savannah! Wishing you and Kees a lifetime of happiness together.
Next time you are organizing a bachelorette party, dare to be different! Think outside the box, or in this case, outside a bar, café, or strip club.
What’s the best bachelor or bachelorette party you’ve been to? Share it in the comments below!
Seriously the best bachelorette party I ever could’ve dreamed of!!! Thank you SOOO much for sharing this MEMORABLE experience with me and making it happen. The entire animal/road trip theme was PERFECT! You made me feel so loved!!!
We love you, Savannah!
Good work. Savannah is lucky to have such devoted friends. One thing puzzles me, however. Penguin, chicken, giraffe… and what? I have no idea.
Awww shucks, thank you! We had a blast and everyone certainly did their part. We were with a magical dragon, bunny rabbit, pig, chicken, penguin, bear, and giraffe.
Love the herring pic 😉 Great you found that stone in Venlo of all places. You know it’s my town of birth 🙂
Thanks, Marcel! The herring was so much fun! Neither of us had eaten it by the tail before, and it was great fun.
Omg this looks crazy busy. I don’t think I’d have the stamina to keep up but you really are awesome friends for putting in all that effort. As for the couple who gave been married 47 years, I really must pass on that advice to my husband of 8.5 years lol. I suspect he already knows it as he does a pretty darn good job. Congratulations
We were pretty tired by the end of it, but wouldn’t have it any other way! It was a blast. So much variety. Everyone did an amazing job and contributed in various ways. And great advice, huh? 😉 hehe