My best friend is getting married in July, and myself and our other friend, Morgan, were in charge of the party before the party! Aka the Bachelorette Party. Aka my favorite part of my friends’ marriage festivities. lol 

Our bride had just a few requests for Bachelorette Party locations: That it was by water/on water, there would be more activities than just drinking (but plenty of that, too), and that it was driving distance or affordable flight-wise. 

We gave her some choices that checked those boxes, and she landed on Lake of the Ozarks. Once we selected the spot, we chose our camp theme for the Bachelorette Party, which seemed fitting for the lake/woods scenery. None of us had been to the Ozarks before, so planning was a bit of a challenge, but we ended up with a great itinerary! Sharing all of the details below. 

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DAY 1: THURSDAY

We left around 10 AM from Indianapolis and had about a 6.5 hour drive. We wanted to get there early to set up the Bachelorette Party vibe before the bride and other guests arrived, so she left a little later than us and made a couple of stops. Once we got into town, we found a grocery store to stock the lake house. Woods ended up being the closest store to us and had everything we’d need. One thing about this area is it’s huge! So everything I am going to list is in proximity to where we were (near Shady Gators) but might be further from other areas.

After we were all decorated, we alerted the bride so she could come for the reveal! Then we spent the rest of the night swimming in the lake, devouring a cheese board on the dock, playing games and chatting. For dinner, we had a hot dog/veggie dog bar (the bride is vegetarian) and some easy sides. We also planned a drink of the day for each day we were there, so I’ll share those, too. 

Drink of the Day: Drunk in Love Mules (served in these cute glasses)

• The Lake House: We lucked out finding this amazing spot! We had actually booked a different property before and they cancelled us because they don’t host Bachelorette parties. That led us to this listing, and it was the perfect place to spend a few days! The views and outdoor areas were incredible.
• Decor: I rounded up everything we used for the Bachelorette Party, from decor to gifts for the bride and hangover kits HERE. I did DIY the fringe backdrop using plastic tablecloths from Dollar Tree. I followed THIS tutorial to make it.
• Itinerary: We also make digital itineraries and packing lists for the girls so they could have those handy on their phones to know the schedule each day.

DAY 2: FRIDAY

We’re a group that generally likes to sleep in, so we didn’t plan anything until brunch on Friday. We went to Rusty Rooster’s Cafe, and it was delicious. Highly recommend it! Our waitress was so friendly and gave us some pointers for our day/night activities. 

Next, we explored the Bridal Cave. There’s a funny story behind this, but basically the bride LOVES caves, so when we saw there was one that offered tours AND it was called Bridal Cave, we had to add it to our list. They do tours on the hour, and you don’t need a reservation. 

It was a gloomy, rainy day, so we opted to go back to the house for some downtime after the cave tour. We were hoping the rain would pass so we could get in the lake or hot tub, but it never did. That’s ok, though, we passed the time by watching old music videos, playing games and have a little photo shoot before we headed out for the night. 

In traditional Hindu weddings, the bride wears red. So, that’s how we got our theme for the night. She wore red and we all wore different shades of pink (also her favorite color). I loved this and how much we stood out from all the traditional black/white groups. 

Our first stop out was Neon Taco for dinner, and they happened to have an amazing country singer playing live music. Next, we walked down the strip to a newly-opened bar, Cuddy Cabin. The DJ wasn’t great, but before that they were playing music videos, which was fun! Another thing we all noticed is how cheap drinks were everywhere! So, that’s a plus. 

We ended our night further down the strip at Marty Byrde’s (hello Ozark fans) and then hopped across the street to Roxie’s. The DJ and vibes were the best at Roxie’s, so I’d recommend that for a good club scene. 

Drinks of the Day: The Blushing Bride (in these cute glasses) and Tying the Knot Shots (we subbed raspberry jell-o for the starburst kind since it’s all we could find)

DAY 3: SATURDAY

Again, we all slept in the next day. A couple of us dashed into town to grab bagels and coffee. It was nice to not have to get up and go anywhere by a certain time.

We had a boozy boat tour scheduled for noon, so we left around 11:45 to get there a bit early. We met the captain of the big, covered pontoon near Shady Gators to load on. From there, he drove us to three different bars: Boathouse Lakeside Bar & Grill, Jolly Rogers Grub and Grog, and Coconuts. We’d all get off and have a set amount of time at each stop before the boat left again.

Boathouse (left) and Coconuts (right) both had pools. The one at Boathouse was small — but also heated — and they had great food. Coconuts is definitely more of a party scene with a large pool, swim-up bars, drinking games, etc. We would have loved to come here when we had more time. That lasted from 12-5:30, and we got dropped back off at Shady Gators. This would have been a good spot for dinner, but we wanted to order in. 

We decided on Rizzo’s, which was delicious. It was fast to pick up and they had lots of pizza and pasta options. We ended up taking our food down to the cocktail deck by the lake and watching the sun go down. Then, we finally enjoyed our hot tub for a bit. At this point, a few of us went back out to the bars on the strip (Roxie’s for round two, if that tells you anything) and others headed to bed for the night.

Drink of the Day: Felicia’s Signature Cocktail (aka Pineapple Upside Down Cake)

DAY 4: SUNDAY

We had to be out of the AirBnb by 10 AM, so it was an early morning. After we hurried to pack, load the car, take down decorations, and clean out the fridge, we had just enough time for some photos on the dock in our matching cover-ups. As always, the weekend went by way too fast, but it was nearly perfect!