I’ll be honest: I was pretty sure my brother was going to screw this up.
I had my bachelor party on Oct. 4, and it was way better than I thought it was going to be. My brother likes to drink. He’s nowhere near an alcoholic, but it’s not a party for him without a couple of beverages. So when I asked him to be my best man, I figured I wouldn’t have much of a say in how the bachelor party would go.
But, he allowed me to have some input in the matter. He worked together with my future sister-in-law, and they planned out a full day. Half of the day would be spent split up: ladies with ladies, gents with gents. My fiancee -– Jen – and the ladies stayed in Sartell and made soaps and lotions, while the gents went down to a place called EscapeMSP, in Minneapolis.
EscapeMSP is an amazing experience. We entered the building, signed some waivers, and – after a few minutes of waiting – were kindly escorted into a bank vault by masked gunmen, told we had 60 minutes before a bomb on the wall would explode, then handcuffed and locked in.
This was such an amazing experience. Unfortunately, the first rule of EscapeMSP is not to talk about EscapeMSP, so I can’t give you the details of our ‘mission.’ But solving the puzzles, searching for clues and working together was an awesome bonding experience to bring a group of guys together who don’t spend too much time together. And while we ended up losing (if we only had 10 more seconds!), it’s an experience I’ll never forget, and I would love to go back.
Afterward, we grabbed a relaxing dinner at Haute Dish, also in Minneapolis, then headed back up to Sartell to rejoin the ladies for a Prohibition-themed murder mystery. While alcohol was involved, more money was likely spent on costumes. Ladies were dressed up in flapper outfits with those long, 1920s cigarettes, while the men grabbed fedoras, suits and jackets, cigars and fake guns. It was a heck of a party, with liquor, guns, ladies and of course, murder.
Jen and I were given lead roles, which inevitably led to my demise halfway through the night. Even purchasing a gun from a local gun runner early on in the night couldn’t keep me safe. While it was unfortunate, what’s a ‘whodunit’ without a murder? While in the end, no one solved the mystery, we still had a blast. And funnily enough, every single person guessed wrong: it was the Chief of Police all along.
My brother and future sister-in-law did an amazing job hosting a bachelorette/bachelor party that appealed to our interests, and the interests of our varied friend groups. It’s nice to know there are other options out there for bachelor parties than strippers and booze.
