When to book a shirt bar for a bachelorette: the honest timeline
Working backwards from party day — what to lock early, what can genuinely wait until the week of, and where every planner loses a week for no reason.
8+ weeks out: lock the date
Spring (March–May) and fall (September–October) Saturdays are the crunch — those book 2–4 months ahead, and a Vegas or Palm Springs trip needs extra runway for the travel plan. All we need at this stage is the date, the city, and a rough headcount; the house doesn't have to be final. Summer parties and any-Friday parties breathe easier, but the date is still the only thing we can't conjure later.
4 weeks out: the design menu
This is the fun week. You send raw material — her name, the theme, the jokes that survived the veto — and we return the 4–6 look menu for the chat to vote on. One revision round is normal; three means the chat needs a benevolent dictator, and it's you. Garment picks (tees vs. tanks vs. crewnecks) happen here too, guided by the garment guide.
2 weeks out: headcount & house details
Final crew number (blanks get weighted to your sizes), the address, and any venue quirks — stairs, quiet hours, a pool we should know about. If it's a rental, forward the listing link and we do the logistics reading ourselves, per the rental-house guide.
Week of: almost nothing
You confirm the run-of-show time; we handle the rest. Late additions are genuinely fine — a surprise cousin needs sixty seconds of press time, not a change order. This is the part pre-ordered shirts can't offer, and it's why the week-of is quiet.
The week planners always lose
It's the design week. Menus stall when 14 people are asked "any ideas?" with no deadline. Give the chat 72 hours and two decisions — palette and vibe — then let us draft. Decisiveness, not lead time, is what actually keeps a booking easy. Start with the date and the rest falls into a calendar.