DEAR SOMEONE ELSE’S MOM: My future daughter-in-law is a sweetheart, but her sisters are absolutely wild. We’ve known the family for years, and those girls have gotten into more trouble than I like to admit.
I have been told I’m going to be invited to the bachelorette party, and for the world, I do not want to insult my son’s sweet fiancée, but I am also not into doing a bar crawl, which is what is currently being proposed by her maid of honor/older sister. How do I gracefully bow out of this one? --- NO NEED TO PARTY WITH THE GIRLS
DEAR NO NEED TO PARTY WITH THE GIRLS: Perhaps one of the best advantages to growing older is that there are instances when we no longer have to feel apologetic for not doing something we especially don’t want to do.
A decent compromise could be joining the ladies at the first bar stop for a quick drink, and then begging off for the rest of the evening’s stopovers. You’ll at least have put in an appearance for the benefit of the bride, who if she doesn’t share her sisters’ idea of a good time may be about as thrilled as you are over a night out centered on hard drinking.
If you still feel that you’d like to do something special to show your support of the bride, you might consider doing a small brunch or other event more suited to your and the bride’s tastes with either just the two of you, or perhaps a small handful of others from each family who are as disinclined as you are to partake in the more wild festivities.