Can I say that I love day drinking and wanted to incorporate that into my 30th birthday since it fell on a Saturday? That’s how the whole idea came about. That, and I did not want to go to a restaurant and then downtown with friends. Boring and too traditional for me.
I thought about a Pub Crawl but my friend had a good point, “How is a Pub Crawl different than going downtown on the weekend and hitting up bars?”
I explained “It’s more intense. There’s an itinerary, sometimes a map or a scavenger hunt. Some times the crowd has matching shirts…it’s just more intense with a concrete plan and schedule.”
Although I explained the difference, she had a good point. I needed to make this “not just bar hopping” but a monumental party since it was my birthday and it fell on a Saturday.
That’s when I thought about renting a bus. My husband and I had used one for our wedding and loved it. They provide an excellent service at a reasonable price. I went online http://www.rrlimobus.com/ to view their different vehicles and how many each one sat. I decided on a 25 PAX mini bus. They rent their buses in 4 hour intervals.
The bus gave us more possibilities. Do we want to do a pub crawl and have the bus take us all over Austin or do we want to BYOB on the bus and drive around Austin
That’s when decided to combine both ideas – Pub Crawl meets Iconic Places in Austin
An ambiguous idea of day drinking and taking pictures was turning into a great idea for an epic birthday bash...
Now I had to think of a guest list and our different destinations.
Guest List:
Guest List is crucial when renting a bus. It’s not like a typical party where you can “accommodate” more people. There are only a certain number of seats and you’re not allowed to go over that number b/c of liability reasons (and well, the law).
You must factor in boyfriend/girlfriends and wives/husbands.
Picking the Destinations:
I went on Facebook and asked people:
- What their favorite
- What their favorite dive bars are
- Best places to take pictures
- I also did a few Google searches on “Bar,
When it came down to it, we had A LOT to choose from but didn’t want to choose too much because time was a factor.
Timing
Now we had to map out the places, allocate how much time would be spent at each place and driving times to each place, including adding an additional 5 minutes to each departure since busses/vans don’t accelerate very good and it may take a few minutes to round up slightly intoxicated people. We also had to factor in 25 people (or 12 since most were couples) paying tabs at each bar.
To help with this, I told everyone to meet at the first bar by 3PM even though the bus wasn’t leaving until 4PM. Everyone was there and we were able to leave by 3:45 – those 15 minutes were extrememly helpful as the day went on.
On the E-vite I also suggested to friends that they bring cash for the bar tabs to get in and out quicker.
We ended up choosing 3 different bars and 3 different locations for pictures. It may not sounds like a lot but it was.
Here’s the schedule:
3:00 Meet at Ginger Man 301 LAVACA http://aus.gingermanpub.com/
They have great new appetizers. But you should eat lunch ahead of time too.
4:00 Leave Ginger Man on bus
(HOPEFULLY we can leave at 3:45 if everyone is there)
4:30 – 5:30 Draught House 4112 Medical Parkway http://www.draughthouse.com
5:45 – 6:30 La La’s 2207 Justin Lane Austin
6:30ish Head back downtown –
Picture in front of the Texas Star at Bob Bullock Museum
7:00 South 1st and Annie’s Street for “Greetings from Austin
SOUTH CONGRESS
Home Slice and S. Congress for some photos
(PRE-ORDERED pizzas from Home Slice and had a picnic outside).
8:00 Shiner Saloon on 5th and Congress http://www.shinerssaloon.com/
Music:
I was born in 1980 which makes my favorite music from the early 90’s. I checked the with the bus company to see if they had I Pod connections. They didn’t. So we made a CD. I had everything from Prince, Paula Abdul, Kris Kross, NKTOB (or New Kids on the Block for those weren’t a crazed fan), MC Hammer, Vanilla Ice, Rob Base and so much more...
Extras:
Being it was my 30th birthday and I was beyond excited it; I wanted to add some extra flare to make the day about me and not just a free pub crawl for everyone. Conceited, I know. I created a personalize crossword puzzle about myself.
A lot of the questions were about. These may sound bizarre but when you know the person it’s easy to guess:
- A dance Laurie does when she’s (even slightly) intoxicated
- Answer: Roger Rabbit – and everyone knew this
- A dance with the same name as landscaping equipment
- Lawnmower
- President in Office the year Laurie was born
- Ronald Reagan
§ Favorite Over-the-Counter medicine she eats like it’s a dessert
- TUMS
§ Favorite “meal” before she caught Swine/H1N1
- Chicken Wings
Party Favors:
Koozies were thought about as a party favor but I immediately dismissed the idea since we did that for our wedding (and we were already using the busses from our wedding) and some of the places we planned to take pictures were the same places Sam and I used for our Engagement Sessions. So I wanted to steer away from all that.
Since we have 2 photographers we said we would distribute CD/DVD’s of all the pictures taken from the day.
The Pro’s for renting a bus and doing this:
- Something new and unique = everyone loved it.
- It was entertainment in itself.
- No set and no clean up.
The Con’s for renting a bus and doing this:
- Numbers. Your Guest List and RSVP number is beyond crucial. It’s imperative. You cannot have “Maybe’s”. You need definite’s…and still a backup plan for last minute flakes or “sincere” cancelations.
- Not everyone liked the idea of being “obligated” to a bus for 4 hours without a way out. In that case, they either drove (or said they had plans).
- Time is of the essence. You want people to have fun and relax but you also have to stay on schedule. Make sure to allow enough time at every bar.
“It’s more intense. There’s an itinerary."
ReplyDeleteThat's it. I'm confiscating all y'all's clipboards.