While your first thought of a Jersey Shore may give you visual images of Snooki and her crew at the beach, the shore is so much more than MTV reality. This oceanside stretch has so much to offer including beaches, boardwalks, great food and amazing night life.
Being the matron of honor, I had the pleasure of planning my best friends bachelorette party in which we celebrated the bride-to-be three weeks ago in North Wildwood, New Jersey. Let me tell you, growing up in Florida I am used to the shores of the Sunshine State but the Jersey Shore has such a completely different vibe - I experienced The Fudgy Wudgy man and iced coffee carts on the beach for the first time, I highly suggest the vanilla iced coffee with almond milk. Take me back!
PLANNING PROCESS
The five months of planning was SO worth it and the bachelorette weekend was a huge success! Not only did I have an amazing girls weekend celebrating my best friend but I also thoroughly enjoyed planning this bachelorette party. I wanted to give insight on my planning process as well as our weekend itinerary for anyone looking for ideas. Essentially jumping right to it, once the dates were finalized and being that there were 19 girls invited, I took the initiative to design save the dates and mail them to everyone six months prior. I searched my go-to websites of Shutterfly, Minted and Zazzle and came across THE perfect design that matched the theme of the weekend - #tankherbeforetheanchor.
Her favorite color is navy and she loves anchors so I was incorporating both into the decor ensemble for the weekend. I designed the magnet and was able to receive 15% off from a promo code listed on the website in addition to another 20% off coupon that I received in the mail in which I used to purchase the matching invitations. Side note - all three of these websites ALWAYS have sales and coupon codes, be sure to check the home page and a scrolling announcement regarding either free shipping offers or promo codes to use at checkout.
Accommodating 15 girls for the weekend (once we got a final head count) was stressful in the search for a weekend getaway. The bride-to-be had told us areas she would like to go and so we had looked into hotels along the shore as well as some houses. To be honest the hotels were quite pricey as we were planning to stay three nights rather than just one. Majority of the houses just weren't large enough to accommodate all of us or they were too far from the night life. As girls continued to post various options on our group Facebook page, we came across The Shore House in North Wildwood. They had a 3 bedroom apartment that would accommodate 12 comfortably for an amazing price! Only downside was that it had one bathroom BUT it was newly renovated and was opening Summer of 2019. Long story short, we booked the apartment!!
We divided up the decor evenly between all of us but I was most excited about the goodie bags I had put together. The bride wanted everyone to wear matching fanny packs and tanks one night so that was included along with shirt pins, tattoos, a hangover kit from my own Etsy shop The Bridal Binder, a weekend itinerary and personalized beach spikers in everyone's favorite color, thank you MidnightClosetCraft!
All the goodies were from Etsy aside from the tank tops that I ordered from JiffyShirts for $8.00 in BELLA brand and one of the girls mom was able to add the vinyl design for us. I spray painted gold wood anchors to utilize as name tags and tied them on with twine. The fanny packs were also monogrammed, big hit!
FRIDAY
Check-in wasn't until 4pm and so some of the girls enjoyed a beach day to start off the weekend. Upon arrival a few of us decorated the apartment before majority of the girls started to arrive at 5:30pm. Making it easy as everyone was arriving at different times, we decided on a pizza night and ordered from Romeo's Pizzeria. Thankfully they were able to deliver directly to The Shore House - majority of the nearby pizza places did not deliver as they were located at the boardwalk and were pick-up only.
The first night we all wore black and the bride-to-be was in white. That night we wore the t-shirt pins I had bought that were included in the welcome bags, "I Do Crew" or "Bride Tribe" which we wore throughout the weekend. Shout out to Etsy shop owner FrancineandGeorgia for the pins!
Our first stop was at Seaport Pier which was about a 10 minute walk from The Shore House. We arrived around 9:30pm. It wasn't too crowded but although it was only 21 years+ allowed in at that time we arrived, families with young children were finishing up dinner as they had a restaurant in the middle of the pier, a long bar on one side, an inside bar and a live band with a huge dance floor which was definitely our hot spot. Aside from the inside bar, everything was outside on the pier and luckily the weather was nice but humid. A nice highlight at Seaport was the fireworks show at 10pm that the boardwalk has every Friday night and it was a great view from the pier. Everyone had their spotlight on the dance floor but we were pretty bummed when the band was finished playing by 10:45pm. At that time the crowd was leaving and the vibe was slowing down. After a few conversations with other pier goers, we set off on our next step.
We split up into a few Uber's and headed to Keenan's Irish Pub which was a known hot spot and local hangout in North Wildwood and the place definitely didn't disappoint. There was no cover. It was a heavy crowd, a huge outside bar with tables and inside there was a live DJ and two other bars. We ordered at the outside bar and headed inside to the dance floor. The crowd was heavy and everyone was shoulder to shoulder both inside and outside. The dance floor was hot and we spent the rest of the night dancing. I highly recommend Keenan's! It was such a fun time and memorable first night.
SATURDAY
The next day there was no set plans aside from soaking up the sun and enjoying a beach day. A few of the girls made breakfast and we enjoyed coffee and small talk outside in the courtyard of The Shore House. The walk to the beach was only two blocks away which was so convenient, another reason why we chose The Shore House. They also provided complementary beach chairs, beach umbrellas and bicycles that could be utilized throughout the weekend. The weather couldn't have been more perfect the entire weekend. The beach was crowded but we finally all made our way down to the beach and claimed our spot.
A few of the girls spotted the iced coffee cart wheeling down the shore and a few of us grabbed refreshing coffee. This was mind blowing to me as I had never seen an iced coffee cart on the beach and it was literally genius. Like I said before, I highly recommend the vanilla iced coffee with almond milk.
The struggle throughout the weekend was having one bathroom for twelve girls but we made it work and a few would end their beach day early to start getting ready so we all weren't rushed to get ready at the same time. Saturday was our fanny pack and tank top night and the outfits came out great! The Shore House had some photo-op spots as well that we definitely took advantage of for a group picture.
The weather was absolutely amazing and the sky was gorgeous as the sun was setting so we decided to make the 20 minute walk to dinner as a group and enjoyed small talk along the way. We decided on The Salty Mermaid for dinner which was a great atmosphere. They had amazing drinks and the food was delicious. The restaurant didn't take reservations but they were kind enough to accommodate all 15 of us outside in a timely manner. We were split by two tables but we were side by side and made it work.
After dinner we decided on Flip Flopz for our next stop, another hot spot and local hangout that was recommended. We walked 20 minutes back to the house to freshen up and decided to walk the 30 minutes to Flip Flopz. Although it wasn't as close as we would've liked walking wise, the walk wasn't bad at all - the weather was enjoyable and we were able to see all of Wildwood. Let's just say we all got our steps in each day.
Unfortunately there was a $5.00 cover when we arrived around 9:45pm (cash only) but the atmosphere was fun and it had two levels - bar and dance floor downstairs and a bar and music upstairs. We started up stairs to see how the vibe was and ended up ordering and staying upstairs to chat and hang out. A few of the girls headed back downstairs to the dance floor. Around 10:45/11pm there ended up being a noise complaint (due to residents in the area) so the music was turned off for about 30 minutes but then came back on. That was the only downfall but overall the atmosphere was great and we stayed upstairs enjoying the weather outside and more girl talk.
Needless to say we all split and took Ubers back to The Shore House. A few of us stayed up and enjoyed the fire pit in the courtyard. Another successful night at the shore!
SUNDAY
Majority of the girls were leaving and only 6 of us remained for the final night. Breakfast and coffee were consumed before girls started packing and loading the cars. Another beach day was ahead of us and the weather was still absolutely perfect. I experienced my first Fudgy Wudgy Man ice cream as I had watched the cart wheel the shore the days prior. Basically it was a classic ice cream truck in a cooler. The weather was great, atmosphere was great and all around great company as we enjoyed our last beach day.
Our final night together and we decided to do a casual boardwalk night which was exciting as I would experience it for the first time. The boardwalk was in walking distance from The Shore House which was another positive. Highly recommend Morey's Piers as the vibe was amazing, heavy crowd, and such a fun time! We purchased the unlimited wristband for the night and as ALL the rides were a fun time, I listed a few of my favorites below -
Surfside Amusement Pier : IT, ATMOSFEAR, THE GREAT NOR'EASTER
Mariner's Amusement Pier : SEA SERPENT
Adventure Amusement Pier : THE GREAT WHITE
We grabbed pizza from Mack's which is a family owned pizza place along the boardwalk. The pizza did not disappoint. Free samples of fudge and Polish water ice was a highlight of our walk back to the house.
MONDAY
The weekend had come to an end and it was bittersweet packing up the apartment. Check-out was at 11am and we didn't have to do anything except leave all the linens on the floor, place trash bags in the kitchen and lock the apartment on our way out. The rest of the girls loaded up for the ride home and three of us walked the boardwalk one final time. The weather was STILL amazing. We had to take a picture with the iconic WILDWOODS sign. We grabbed another round of Mack's pizza and Auntie Anne's pretzels on our way back down the boardwalk for the ride home.
My best friend's bachelorette weekend was an absolute success. It's been almost a month and we are still talking and reminiscing on the memories made. I honestly cannot wait to go back and enjoy another girls weekend at the shore.
I highly recommend staying at The Shore House - they have one, two and three bedrooms apartments, complimentary bicycles, beach
chairs, umbrellas and beach toys for children. They had guest gatherings in the courtyard throughout the weekend as well and actually left us a cake in the fridge while we were out one night. The check-in and check-out process was super easy. They don't have an office on site and everything was through text message. A 4-digit code is sent to you via text and you use the key code all weekend which was super convenient as the girls would come and go and we didn't have to worry about a key being passed around. A link is also sent to you regarding further details of WiFi information, laundry information if needing to use the onsite washer and dryers, local restaurant recommendations and the steps to check-out. I have linked the website throughout this blog but also below as well. The shore definitely did not disappoint and was a great area for a bachelorette party or just a girls beach weekend!!
