Your friend called you late last night and told you the great news – He’s engaged!  He’s ready to wear the proverbial “ball-and-chain” and turn his girlfriend of four years into his wife and you couldn’t be happier for him.  What’s more is that your buddy has asked you to be the best man.  Should you accept your new title, a whole slew of responsibilities are expected of you.  One of the many responsibilities of being crowned, “The Best Man” is to plan the bachelor party of a lifetime.  Remember, the bachelor party is not just for your engaged buddy, but also a night of entertainment for friends and colleagues.  We’ve broken down every major part of the bachelor party planning to help you.  Bust out your calendar and start jotting down these important dates:

You Were Just Appointed The Best Man:

You’re probably not sure what you want to do yet, so you might want to start doing some research.  Ask your friends, male family members, colleagues and even the groom-to-be what would work best for a bachelor party.  By the following week, you should have some concrete ideas.

Setting The Date:

Does the groom have the wedding date set?  Even if it’s not till next year, plan the bachelor party ideally one to two weeks before the wedding day.  This is mostly because the bride and groom will be extremely busy within the last few days leading up to their wedding day and they will need all the time they can to finalize details (and rest, too!). 

Ten Weeks Before The Bachelor Party:

A club? A concert? You should have a concrete party idea set by now. Speak with an event consultant on specific party features.  Budget yourself, too – keep a spreadsheet of all the costs you will incur. 

Eight Weeks Before The Bachelor Party:

Your bachelor party tickets should be designed and printed by now.  Decide with the groom on an agreeable price to charge guests for each ticket.  Remember, a portion of the ticket price will go to support the groom once he’s married.  Facebook or e-mail invites won’t work because you’ll never know who’s actually interested in coming and you will end up making your rounds calling everyone to confirm. 

Six Weeks Before The Bachelor Party:

Round up the male members of the bridal party to start selling tickets with you.  Tickets should be given to friends, family members, colleagues and basically anyone who wants to party and support the groom-to-be. 

Two To Three Weeks Before The Bachelor Party:

Once tickets have begun selling, you’ll get a rough estimate of guest numbers.  This is when you will begin arranging for a type of transportation – either by limo or you could get a hotel room near the venue.  Who ever wants in on the limo or a hotel room has to pay their fair share this week so you can book the necessary arrangements.  A hotel or limo eliminates having your friends show up at different times, worry about parking and/or choose a designated driver.

The Week Of The Bachelor Party:

Finalize transportation arrangements or hotel room, VIP booth and so on.  Pay any outstanding fees. If you’re getting a hotel room, make sure a cold pack of beer is waiting for you all in the mini fridge!

It seems realistic enough: you and your friends decide to go to the casino one night for your buddy’s bachelor party.  As you’re making your rounds; rolling dice, pulling the side bar on slot machines and putting on your best poker face, the unthinkable happens – you win at the casino.  And we mean big time.  Who would have thought that one of the major prizes at a casino becomes awarded to you?  Once you collect your earnings, you turn to your buddies and they look at you in amazement, wondering what you will plan to do next.  Of course, you know what the plan will be:  Spoil yourself and your friends rotten.  Here are some suggestions on how to spend your winnings with your friends:

Rent The Penthouse Suite

Don’t settle for less.  You’re tired of renting out budget rooms for you and the guys whenever you go out and now that you’ve got a few extra dollars to spend, you might as well live your dream.  You’re ready to take on an executive-level suite and order all the room service your heart desires.  And by room service, we don’t just mean food.  Hire exotic dancers to come to your room, purchase the best booze in town and make sure you’ve got all your executive-level perks.  Who says your boss is the only one who deserves these perks?  Live it up!

 The Best Night Out Ever

Rent a limousine to take you guys out, buy a fancy suit for the evening, eat at one of the city’s most upscale restaurants and order bottle service and a VIP booth.  This night just got amazing because you won at the casino!  Don’t forget to lavish yourself and your friends with the best accessories, too: gold jewelry, a Mont Blanc watch and other stylish designer items.  It’s time to start living a lavish lifestyle.  See if you can rent a Ferrari or your dream car the next day.  Don’t forget to purchase valet parking at your hotel!

Take A Vacation

After winning a ton of money, you don’t want that night to end.  You may consider taking another vacation, especially since your one night out ended with you winning a lot of money.  That one night out could now turn into a week or two of fun.  If you won at a local casino, book a trip for you and the guys to Las Vegas for more gambling or head to Miami for a week of partying and relaxation on the beach.  The groom would love you for it, too.  Just make sure you don’t plan the trip a week before the wedding!

 Quit Your Job And Keep Gambling

Of course, if your winnings are in the millions you may be eligible to retire at a very young age or at least take a good ten years off from work.  But what will you do with all your free time, while your buddies continue on with their regular nine-to-five jobs?  If you plan on doing the early retirement route, you might want to continue playing at the casino to see if you can win another few million dollars so that all your friends can end up retiring early with you! 

**If your future plans include visiting a casino, please play responsibly.  This blog post was solely for entertainment purposes**