So your buddy in the Dallas area is getting married and asked you to be the best man or at least in the wedding party. You are probably flattered and excited and maybe a bit nervous. One of the understood responsibilities for a groomsman is conceiving of, organizing and planning for the bachelor party. Running the bachelor party is not as easy as it looks. You will have to deal with different personalities, budgets, locales and take care of any number of hard-to-anticipate details.
Bachelor parties have evolved through time. What once was commonly referred to as a ‘stag party,’ has changed and is mainly called the more politically correct ‘bachelor party.’
But the name change is only one of the differences between this ritual now and what it was thirty or forty years ago. Today, there are all sorts of variations of bachelor parties, ranging from one extreme of hard-core debauchery and to the other, which can really be downright PG rated.
I have had friends, some of whom I helped plan the party for, who have had more than one party. Not necessarily because they thought they simply had to have two or three because each was so much fun (although hopefully that is part of the equation as well), but more because for different groups of guys, different entertainment and activates might be appropriate. This might be due to geography, cost, and awkwardness involved with some traditional bachelor party rituals.
For example, I recently attended a bachelor party for a friend of mine who invited his future father in law, his future grandfather in law and some bosses from work. While this group was not overly conservative or puritanical in their thinking, he really didn’t want to bring along a number of these people to a strip joint. That said, he really wanted to have the chance to bond with them and celebrate his impending nuptials.
So, he actually had two bachelor parties. One involved paintball in the morning, a baseball game in the afternoon and a steak dinner afterwards. It was an all day affair, and typical “guy fun”, but nobody was embarrassed or put in an awkward position.
But a couple of weeks later, my same friend had another bachelor party. Yes, there was some overlap in the people who attended, but this one was kept off the radar of the others and positioned much more as a group of friends going out for a night on the town. As you might expect, this one involved a good deal more of adult entertainment and fun. I went to both and really had the same amount of fun and enjoyment at each one, albeit a different type of fun.
As somebody who has been in a number of weddings and helped plan for at least six bachelor parities, I offer the following bachelor party planning guide for the Dallas area.
Planning for a bachelor party in any area of the country can be a bit difficult. For those lucky enough to live in the greater Dallas area, the good news is that there is absolutely no shortage of great activities for whatever type of bachelor party, or parties, that you have.
I have organized these Dallas bachelor party ideas and classified them as either PG rated or R rated. There is nothing that says, of course, that you can’t have a little of each; sometimes part of the crowd will go for the beginning, but not the nighttime activities. And, as you might imagine, the opposite is sometimes true as well as some would rather skip out on the ballgame, but will be sure to show up for the strippers.
In addition to the list of suggested Dallas bachelor party activities, I have included some helpful hints that will help make the day and night most enjoyable.
PG Rated Dallas Bachelor Party Activities
1. Golf
The Dallas area has a good number of reasonably priced public golf courses.
One of the potential challenges for having golf as part of the bachelor party experience is that it is quite likely that a number of the bachelor party attendees don’t play golf and/or don’t think they like it. Now, if the groom to be doesn’t golf, then it’s not an option anyway. But if, as I find typical, 50% to 70% of the guys, if not exactly ‘good’, can swing a club reasonably well and would love the opportunity to get out there, it can be a bit difficult when thinking about the rest who might be apprehensive about playing.
The first and most important step is to make the “tournament” best ball format. Best ball format is the best thing to happen to ‘party golf’ ever. To the extent possible, rank each player according to his skill. If there are, for example, twenty guys playing, then rank each one A, B, C, or D and create five foursomes. Put one of each letter on each team to hopefully even the teams as much as possible.
Secondly, work it out ahead of time with the pro shop and see if you can pre-arrange favorable pricing on rental clubs, or even arrange it, given the best ball format, that guys on the same team without their own clubs could share a rental set.
Golf carts are an absolute must, of course. Guys that don’t like to play, or think they don’t like to play, want to make it comfortable and relaxing. If people like to drink, then see if the course has a beer cart that will come around, or will allow for coolers. One recent bachelor party golf outing I arranged to ‘purchase’ the two foursomes behind and ahead of our group, meaning we would feel like we were by ourselves that day, taking the pressure off the non golfers and also allowing us to hoot and holler a bit more than might be appropriate on an actual golf outing.
The point of all of this is don’t try to make the bachelor party golf outing a big, competitive and intimidating event. The most serious golfer who still wants to work on his game certainly can and yet the guys that don’t play will have plenty of fun, and almost inevitably, the guys that you would never expect to play well will miraculously contribute a meaningful shot for their team. If somebody enters into a bachelor party golf game with the thought that they hate golf, and yet pulls out a memorable couple of shots and ends up having a good time, they will have a great memory of the event.
In selecting a course in the Dallas area, try to find the most reasonably priced course that will work with you to help out on some of the extras needed for a large group.
Below is a list of five Dallas area public golf courses to check out for a bachelor party. These were selected based on general availability, proximity to downtown Dallas, cost and willingness to work with larger parties.
To read a review of each of the courses listed below, click here.
Cedar Crest Golf Course
1800 Sutherland Avenue
Dallas, Texas
Keeton Park Golf Course
2323 Jim Miller Road
Dallas, Texas
Tenison Highland Golf Course
3501 Samuell Boulevard
Dallas, Texas
Stevens Park Golf Course
1005 North Montclair
Dallas, Texas
Tenison Glen Golf Course
3501 Samuell Boulevard
Dallas, Texas
2. Paintball
I realized how pampered my life actually was when playing paintball one time at a bachelor party. The adrenaline rush of having paint balls fly over my head and past my leg and eventually hitting me was borderline scary. Before playing it, I had always thought paintball players looked a little bit silly and childish. But the game combines speed, some strategy, tactics and some athleticism. It’s a rush to play and creates a memorable experience that will create funny stories that will be told again and again (and maybe embellished some, let’s be honest), for years to come.
The thing to keep in mind is that Paintball requires either some ability to run around and think fast, or a great sense of humor; preferably both. You and the others will get hit and there will be little mercy shown to one another. Do not go in thinking that you will go easy on the bride’s dad, for example. Unless he’s elderly or unwell (in which case he shouldn’t be out there anyway), he and everybody else is fair game! It will create a lot of laughs and fun and definite bragging rights for the winning team.
The following is a list of five great paintball facilities in the Dallas area that would make a great addition to your Dallas bachelor party. For a review of each of the Dallas paintball fields listed below, click here.
Celebration Station
4040 Town Crossing Boulevard
Mesquite, Texas
Farmers Branch Paintball
3404 Beltline Road
Farmers Branch, Texas
Xdrenalin Zone Paintball Field
2500 Fairway Drive
Grapevine, Texas
Official Paintball Games of Texas
17437 Adams Trail
Forney, Texas
Gat Splat
582 North Texas 121-BR
Lewisville, Texas
3. Ballgame
Dallas has a total of four major league sports franchises, with baseball’s Texas Rangers, the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, the NHL’s Dallas Stars and the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks. A sporting event is a fantastic component of a Dallas bachelor party. My one suggestion, however, is that you avoid football. While that might even sound sacrilege given the NFL’s status as king of the sports landscape, football is a very big effort and doesn’t really do well with groups. Baseball is a distant second to football in general in Dallas, but the game tends to be longer, the crowd more sedate and the coming to and going from easier. Leaving early from a baseball game or arriving late to the game is a bit easier than football.
One thing to bear in mind, however, is that in the hot Texas heat, sitting at a baseball game during the day can zap the energy of even the youngest and fittest bachelor party reveler. The Texas Rangers tend to play night games more than most teams for this reason and if you do go during the day, it might be a good idea to reserve seats under shelter and save up energy for the evening’s festivities.
4. Bowling
Bowling is a fun way to spend at least part of your Dallas bachelor party. With some of the fun bowling alleys in Dallas, you can enjoy a festive atmosphere, with great drinks and food and contemporary music. Bowling used to conjure up images of a rundown alley and down on their luck laborers. No more, though, as bowling is now hip and the alleys and accommodations are well suited for a Dallas bachelor party. Here is a list of the four best bowling alleys in Dallas. For those interested in reviews of each, please click here.
USA Bowl
10920 Composite Drive
Dallas, Texas
Jupiter Lanes
11336 Jupiter Road
Jupiter, Texas
Irving Lanes
3450 Willow Creek Drive
Irving, Texas
Main Event Entertainment Bowling
4801 Citylake Boulevard
Forth Worth, Texas
R-Rated Dallas Bachelor Party Activities
1. Strip clubs
Strip clubs are part of the most popular images of bachelor parties. Dallas certainly doesn’t lack for quality and quantity of strip clubs. Below is a list of the four best Dallas strip clubs for bachelor parties. Reviews for each can be found by clicking here.
Gold Club
10601 Plano Road
Dallas, Texas
Million Dollar Saloon
6848 Greenville Avenue
Dallas, Texas
The Lodge
1530 Spangler Road at Northwest Highway
Dallas, Texas
Baby Dolls
1025 Shady Trail
Dallas, Texas
2. Hotel Strippers
Of course, for a truly personalized Dallas bachelor party, some people will rent a hotel suite for the night, with the main event being a stripper, or strippers, to come and perform. While this might conjure up images of movies from the 1980’s, and/or illegal activity, rest assured that the strippers that come will almost always be escorted by a bodyguard, or bodyguards and any sign of too much rowdiness will be cause for them to leave. But the advantage to this type of arrangement is that for much of the night, your party can eat, play cards, smoke cigars and maybe watch a game on TV. It can ultimately be less expensive as well as the cost of alcohol and food is far less than going to a bar or steak restaurant.
Dallas, Texas is a great city io throw a bachelor party. Enjoy some or all of these bachelor party options and send the groom to be off in style and fun!
