SYDNEY, Australia – Taking advantage of the growing trend in bachelorette parties, Australian business owners have developed ways to cater to crowds of fun-loving women willing to cut loose for a night.
Sydney's telephone listings yield 137 venues, tours, and entertainment agencies specializing in bachelorette shindigs, providing everything from party hats to strippers.
Adult store owners report that providing a night out for the bride-to-be is popular as a wedding gift-and, of course, providing the favors for such events is an opportunity that can't be ignored. Rebecca Grech, owner of retailer store Sexyland, told the Sydney Morning Herald, "People find more value that way; you see an instant reward and it's more memorable than a toaster. They can get quite big-veils and party games and bags are our biggest sellers."
Another business capitalizing on the trend is Go Get Around Tours, which organizes evenings out for bridal parties, ferrying them from bar to bar in luxury buses. "Most women are stay-at-home mums and they don't get a chance to get out much, so when they do, it gets a bit loose," says one bus driver, a blow-up doll sitting abandoned beside him.
"The fact that you move in between venues every hour helps slow the alcohol process," Peter Maloney, the owner of Go Get Around Tours, told the Herald. "And having a host to move you along takes away any anxiety-there's no negotiation, with 20 people going 'I want to stay, no, I want to go.'"
Of course, alleviating anxiety doesn't do much to calm down a crowd intent on bucking convention. Go Get Around driver Daniel laments: "You're ready for anything in this job. Last week the girls crowd-surfed me to the back of the bus, then ripped my shirt to pieces. I ended up paying a guy 25 bucks to give me his T-shirt."
Source: Sydney Morning Herald