With the wedding dead ahead, the bride needs a chance to let loose, forget about all those lost wedding invitations, wrong-size bridesmaid shoes, and overpriced buffet bids. Give her a bachelorette party so she can relax, be silly, spend time with her girlfriends, and enjoy one last night of being single. Here are some tips to help make the blushing bride blush a little more - at her "Last-Chance Bachelorette Bash."

Pick a Party Theme:

Bachelorette parties come in a variety of themes, from elegant wine-tasting evenings to raucous late-night rages. Ask the bride what type of party she prefers, then brainstorm ideas with her to create the perfect party. Here are some suggestions you might consider:

Condom Blowout!

• Send party invitations written on colored condoms.
• Decorate the party room with condoms, some blown up, others tied together to make streamers, and giant joke condoms as a centerpiece.
• "Rubbergrams," custom-made condom invitations that magically appear in water-filled plastic jars, are available from rubbergrams.com.
• Make corsages from ribbed and colored condoms, tied together with ribbon.
• Ask the guests to bring gifts decorated with condoms.
• Ask them to wear outfits enhanced creatively with condoms.
• Play a game called Condom Pop - the first player to blow up a condom and get it to pop wins a prize.
• Serve a cake in the shape of a condom!

Bridesmaid's Embarrassment!

• Invite the guests using a photocopied picture of your bridesmaids' dresses, or pictures of bridesmaid dresses cut from a magazine.
• Ask the guests to wear an old bridesmaids dress (suggest they go to the thrift shop if they haven't saved their old dresses.) Award a prize for the most hideous dress.
• When the guests arrive, let them embellish their ugly dresses with accessories - mismatched gloves, clunky heels, gaudy costume jewelry, iron-on patches, fabric paints, and so on. Award a prize for the ugliest.
• At game time, have the guests design a wedding dress for the bride out of tissue paper.
• Buy old dyed-to-match shoes at the thrift shop, and award a prize for the first Cinderella who can fit into one of the shoes.

Single Girl's Funeral

• invite the guests to mourn the loss of the bride-to-be's single status by sending out funeral notices or tombstone-shaped cards.
• Ask them to wear black in honor of the occasion - but to be creative with the black outfit they choose. That means anything goes - bathing suits to bridal gowns - as long as it's black!
• Have the guests come prepared to read personalized, humorous eulogies for the bride.
• Ask them to bring along a funny gift related to the theme, such as a little black book with all the pages ripped out, a ball and chain, a hairnet, slippers and bonbons for the future housewife, a maternity blouse.
• Hire a "minister" to surprise the guests as a stripper.

Honeymoon Horizon

• Recreate the honeymoon destination as a pre-party celebration of the couple's romantic week ahead. For example, if the bride is going to a tropical island for her honeymoon:
• Invite the guests with beach postcards.
• Decorate the party room with leis, coconuts, and tiki torches

• Serve pina coladas, pineapple, and roasted pig.
• Do the limbo.
• Give her gifts for her honeymoon, such as beach towels, guidebooks, and sunhats.
• Have the guests dress in costumes that match the destination, such as Hawaiian shirts, muumuus, bikinis, and grass skirts.