Bachelor Party Group of 12-14, any advice?

[BP123]

hey all -

I've done some reading through the site and found a bunch of good info so I appreciate that. We're planning a bachelor party for a group of 12-14 guys, but it seems our only option in terms of going to a club or pool party is going to be spending 200-300+ a night per person to get a table.

We're planning on heading there on a weekend in late May/June but not on MDW. We'd prefer a trendy spot (eg - good crowd) but don't care too much on seeing the biggest name DJ or fanciest place to be seen. Do you think it'd be possible to get a table for a group that size at either a pool party or a club for less than that per head? Or would getting a smaller table, and then some people buying presale tix be a better option for getting everyone in, still having some space, but saving some money? Any advice would be appreciated!

[maxutilsperusd]

Focusing on pool parties is definitely the way to go for a group that large, especially if you are trying to keep costs down. Tables in Vegas are usually designed for 4-6 people, while Cabanas usually take 8+ people. If you want to do a weekend Vegas bachelor party on a shoestring budget I'd recommend this:

Friday Night: Go to the strip club before 10pm using their transportation. This will usually cost you somewhere near $20-30 per person in drinks or cover charges and if you tip reasonable amounts per stage dance (around $1 per person in your group per dancer), you can hang out there for a pretty long time without getting bored or looking like you guys are super cheap. They might offer you a table with a bottle or 2 for a reasonable price, just think of how much you are thinking you want to drink as a group and if the per drink price is reasonable.

Saturday Day: The best plan would be to pitch in the $200-300 per person for a cabana at EBC, Marquee Dayclub, or Wet Republic depending on what quotes you get. It's steep but you want something really memorable if you can afford it.

Another much cheaper option is going to a hotel pool and getting a cabana there. Most pools will significantly pale in comparison to the tier-1 pool parties but one option that isn't a horrible idea is the MGM Grand Pool Complex. An 8 person cabana there on the weekend costs around ~$750 before taxes and fees so around $1k after. You'll want one located on the lazy river near Wet Republic, then you get the music from there and a river full of people (including attractive girls) floating by. The only issue with this plan is that at least one member of your party must be staying at the MGM Grand.

Saturday Night: Dinner, bar hopping, and perhaps checking out a different strip club are probably cheaper than going to a club. The club scene for guys during the weekend is really there for people who are wanting to spend some money so if the group isn't into that you are going to not have a ton of fun. Also a group filled with newcomers to Vegas are likely going to overdo it and be too tired to party hard on Saturday night. So you have the options of spending the $200-$300 per person for a table, spending $30-$75 per person for pre-sale tickets and buying $12-18 drinks all night for you and anyone you are hitting on, or finding something less expensive to do. No real avoiding that unless you can find an equal number of girls to come in with your group (not an easy task, and a living nightmare to coordinate).

Sunday Day: Same advice as for Saturday morning. If you didn't do the cabana at a tier-1 and your group really doesn't want to spend the money you should probably buy pre-sale tickets to a tier-1 pool party so you get to experience a Vegas pool party. This would cost somewhere between $30-$75 per person along with drinks that are usually if anything slightly more expensive than the clubs.

Sunday Night: Pre-sale tickets to Sunday Nightswim at XS. That's the only right call for Sunday, and really the best thing you can do with a limited budget. Nightswim is always an amazing pool party at night where I don't think having a table or cabana is remotely important to having a blast. Ridiculous pool toys like 3 ft beach balls and rubber duckies that 2 girls could ride on along with a non-VIP hot tub make it an absolute no-brainer. Should be around $30-50 per person depending on when you buy your pre-sale tickets. Nightswim is the one thing I would definitely not skip.

TL;DR: Vegas is expensive for guys, pool parties work better for large groups than clubs, don't feel pressure to do 2 expensive things each day (especially with newbies), and Nightswim on Sunday night is a can't miss event.

[chrisbru]

There are tons of good bottle specials if you don't care about being Tier 1. Tryst Friday (I think you could do 5 bottles for $2k all in, keeping your cost at closer to $150 per guy), 1OAK Saturday (same idea).

My "ideal" bachelor party plan would be:
Friday: Get in, hit the strip club for pre-game, and go late night GA (1am or so) to Tryst after some of the crowd bounces to XS.
Saturday day: Cabana day at Liquid - Great pool party without the EBC/MDC/Daylight cost, probably $100-$150 per guy.
Saturday night: "free" night. For the guys that want to spend a little more money, get a table at Light, Hak, Omnia, etc. The guys that don't can gamble, go to Fremont street, or come in to the club GA.
Sunday day: Make sunday your big spend day. Get a cabana at Encore Beach Club. Then hit XS Sunday night for night swim - get a table for the guys that want it, but GA for night swim is totally fine as well.
Monday: For the guys that aren't flying out until night, get a daybed at Bare. Usually a $500 minimum.

[BP123]

Awesome info, thanks guys. Sucks that you guys both said Sunday night was the don't miss, we're actually thinking Thursday/Friday-Sunday (for some reason flights seem to work better like that). Is it that good that we should change it up?

Seems like this could work:
Thursday: people straggle in, gamble, go out a bit, no big blowout
Friday: Pool party then strip club at night OR hotel pool in the day/ club at night
Saturday: the reverse of what we didn't do the day before

I think doing one big pool party, and one night at a less than top tier club seems doable, spending the rest of the time gambling, hotel pools, or strip clubs. Would you recommend pool party or club over the other for a Friday vs a Saturday? Looking at pictures MDC/Drais I think the group would be willing to spend for something great, just not 5 times in a row over the weekend.

Should we be contacting the hosts for any of these spots to get an idea of pricing/deals?

[ryan850]

If you don't mind not having a table, pre sale tickets are only $40-60 and as long as you get there during the alotted time you'll all get in.

[tdhvGT]

max - thanks for saving me the trouble of typing the EXACT same thing to my crew that I am trying to coach in early April. We are doing Thursday night till Sunday afternoon. I am trying to sell:

Thursday arrive (Strip Club to warm up)
Friday: Tryst (if we can do 150/head all in I think I can sell that)
Saturday Day: EBC Cabana - any idea on price/max capacity?

If I can get that far, I'll call it a raging success.

[maxutilsperusd]

I don't want to over-hype XS Nightswim, but I honestly haven't had a better experience in my 50+ nights of partying in Vegas. I went twice on my last trip, lol. XS in general is one of the best clubs you can go to in Vegas, but a pool party where you don't have to worry about sunscreen and getting dried out in the Vegas heat is an amazing thing especially when you combine it with a high energy DJ, 3 foot beach balls, and a hot tub to get away from the madness.

@BP123: You've got two competing factors when it comes to choosing what day to go to a pool party. Most people come into Vegas Friday night which causes Friday pool parties to be cheaper yet less busy. If you are doing pre-sale tickets the price difference probably won't be too large, but a cabana on Friday will most likely be cheaper by a reasonable amount. So then it comes down to how much cheaper Friday is, and how much better of an experience Saturday would be.

It's a tough call, but usually I'd recommend a pool party Saturday as long as the price isn't totally unreasonable. I would think it's better to have an absolute blast when you are spending the kind of money that a cabana costs compared to trying to save some money and risking the pool party seeming slow and not at capacity. Also it's good to remember that a higher price at a pool party is just a higher minimum spend on food and beverages, so at worst you just have to drink and eat more. So I'd vote hotel pool / club Friday, pool party / strip club Saturday if you are doing one day with a cabana and one night with a table as long as Saturday isn't priced beyond reason. If you end up doing pre-sale tickets a pool party Saturday compared to Friday is a no-brainer.

Usually you want to contact hosts around 3 weeks out. For extremely high demand weekends earlier might be better but until the hosts have an idea of demand any quote you get will be subject to changing. If you choose not to get a table or cabana, pre-sale tickets should be purchased as early as possible as they only get more expensive.

@tdhvGT: EBC on Saturday is going to be pretty expensive in April. Looks like Guetta is DJing the first 3 Saturdays, so he's going to mean it's on the higher end of the spectrum. Otherwise it's too early really to be able to get specific prices.