The Sandbar...Home of the Indoor Hurricane!

Tips for a Bachelorette Party

The Sandbar is a popular place for bachelorette parties. The combination of fluffy drinks with umbrellas, brightly colored beads and the cheesy hurricane show that girls can use to embarrass the guest of honor just keeps reeling them in.

Most bachelorette parties are fun for everyone in the bar. A few, not so much. Here are some of our favorite tips for having a successful bachelorette party at The Sandbar.

1.  Get here early.

The Sandbar is small. It's busy. Especially on a Saturday night at 10 p.m., which is when everyone wants to be there. Get there by 8 or 9. Yes, it's early and not very crowded. This is a good time to chill out with your girlfriends, drink some fun tropical drinks and prepare for the night.

2.  Wait patiently

If you didn't follow our advice above and get stuck in a line outside, be patient. Just because you're with a group of dolled-up women doesn't mean you get to cut the line. Everyone waits in line, even the staff. We aren't making you stand in line because we're mean- it's because fire codes limit our legal capacity to 49 people and we don't want a ticket and a fine. And trying to tell the doorguy that you "called ahead" doesn't work. We don't take reservations- we aren't a restaurant.

3.  Have a plan

If you're ordering for a group, it helps to order everything at once. Don't ask for one drink, only to ask for another when the bartender comes back with it, and yet another after that. And on that note, don't order twelve different complicated shots at the same time. It also helps to run a tab instead of asking the bartender to run your credit card after every single drink order.

4. Don't expect free stuff

We love bachelorette parties, but it's against the law to give away free drinks. Be nice, and the bartender might buy you one or even a round. But please don't act like you're entitled to something free.

5. Don't be a diva

The bartender will almost always let your bachelorette be the mermaid if you ask, and if someone else hasn't already called dibs. But don't keep demanding a hurricane *right now* if they're busy. There are other customers in the bar. They'll get to it. Be patient. And nice. 

You might have noticed a theme in these tips- be nice. That's our number one tip for bachelorette parties, or really for anyone!

Friday the 13th at The Sandbar

Here's a guest blog from long-time bartender Heather, works the Friday 5-9 shift. Last Friday was Heather's first shift back after several days off, and it happened to be Friday the 13th. Welcome back, Heather!

Friday the 13th, another Friday night down at The Sandbar- or so I thought walking in the door. That was before five bar crawls, a bachelorette party and a birthday celebration made their way through our doors.  Yes, that’s right: five bar crawls in just four hours. 

One group of bar crawlers got out the super long shotski, one group sang their sorority song, there were matching T-shirts, Dirty Banana shots, Shark Attacks, Bahama Mamas, broken glassware, yelling, hugging, and photo-taking. One group had a guy calling out the remaining time in the bar, which, having been on a bar crawl or two, I thought was awesome. 

Most of our patrons were quite patient with the ruckus and, in fact, seemed amused by all of it. In addition to all of the festivities we had old friends, new friends, a  just-turned-21-year-old and his family, a cute little guy in his stroller, a soon-to-be-married couple out on a date, a potential romance blooming and, of course, some KU Grads. 

Personally, I think the ghost may have even been in attendance as well. We have a handy step stool for those of us who aren't Dave’s height. I was getting down from pulling a couple of T-shirts and missed the bottom step. Instead of crashing to the floor I just kind of… landed. Okay, so it isn’t that far to the ground, but I am a klutz of the highest order.  Which was unfortunate for Phil on this particular night as I did actually stomp on his foot once or twice. 

At the end of it all I can’t help but think that Jimmy Buffet could probably turn this particular night into one heck of a song! 

The night was so full of entertainment that we'll have several more guest blogs from Heather about the evening. Stay tuned!

Sandbar: Bachelorette Party Destination

The Sandbar is a hot spot for bachelorette parties. This is a guest post by Sandbar fan Bailey about a more unusual type of bachelorette party: after work and in the middle of the week.

Two weeks ago I was honored to be in my coworkers wedding. Denise and I started in our jobs within two weeks of each other and, per tradition in our office, during training and worries we weren’t learning fast
enough, we became friends as well. About three weeks before her and Jordan’s wedding, it came up in our office’s staff meeting that she was not going to have a bachelorette party.

*facepalm*

What a horrible bridesmaid I was! Her maid-of-honor lived in Utah and would only be in Lawrence for a few days. Her other bridesmaid lived in North Carolina - I was the only in town to throw it and I had, clearly, dropped the ball. Denise was not one for a crazy night out but a few drinks with the rest of our fabulous coworkers were definitely in order.

Another co-worker and I started scheming. Sam and I weren’t sure we could get Denise to go if she knew we were planning so it had to be a surprise. Denise was taking a few days off before the wedding and I strategically suggested we go get a drink after her last day of work. I had “errands to run” so I told her I would pick her up at 5:45 and we’d head downtown. (This gave everyone at work time to get downtown and not have to leave early and possibly making Denise suspicious).

Obviously, we had to go to my favorite land-locked island bar. In all the planning (and KNOWING we were heading to the Sandbar) I forgot to ask Denise where she wanted to go or tell her where I thought we should go. I just picked her up, parked and started walking to the bar. And as we rounded the corner to
8th Street, I saw a coworker walk into the bar before us! Dangit! Everyone was supposed to be there already! Fortunately, the bride-to-be didn’t notice.

We walked in and I led Denise straight to the back room. It was full of our wonderful coworkers with snacks and balloons. And the surprise bachelorette party was a success: Denise had no idea!

We talked about boyfriends and husbands and weddings, played our favorite songs on the jukebox and even got Andrew to make a wedding shot. I wish I could tell you what was in it but I don’t even think Andrew remembers how he made it. All we know is that it tasted like wedding cake!

This proves that bachelorette parties don't have to be wild and crazy affairs with party buses and anatomy-inspired props! Though we like those parties too. Thanks Bailey and congratulations to Denise!

Wedding Party Fun at the Sandbar

Yesterday, former Sandbartender John married the love of his life Natalie. After a beautiful wedding and fun reception at the Oread, the mostly younger half of the wedding guests moved on to the Sandbar.

Some of the group gathered upstairs on the beach for a few pictures:

And then the party moved back downstairs. John and Natalie danced in the window to the back room while everyone cheered. Their friend Pump convinced the bartenders to pause the music for a few minutes so he could say a few profound words about the newlyweds. Jake, groomsman and another former bartender, was up on the bench in front of them, and Dave quickly joined.

(For those of you who might be familiar with Jake & John, or with the items that deck our walls, you might notice that in the photo above, above the girl in the purple dress' head, there's part of a framed picture. The guy in the middle in the blue shirt is Dave, and Jake and John were on either side of him. Very fitting that they chose this spot to dance last night, huh?)

And then, it was time for Natalie's first ever hurricane.

Yes, she and John dated through most of college, and he tended bar here for at least a year, yet somehow Natalie always dodged the mermaid costume and never actually experienced the indoor attraction. For her hurricane initiation, John donned the mer-man costume and read the poem with her.

You might be surprised that a bride would come to the Sandbar on her wedding night; but you might be more surprised to learn that there were TWO brides in the bar last night. Another bride- who was still dressed in her full length gown- showed up with a small entourage. Congratulations to that couple as well!

We also got to see another former Sandbartender, Drew. He was out on the town with friends celebrating his bachelor party and they stopped by the bar.

'Tis the wedding season, it seems!

Bartender Heather's Bachelorette Party

Long-time Friday afternoon/early evening bartender Heather is getting married next weekend. Her bachelorette party ruckus was last weekend, and I think it's taken all of the party-goers this whole week to recover.

A small group of ladies that included the bridal party met for an early dinner and a quick tour by limo of some of Heather's memorable Lawrence locations- Louise's West, her college sorority house, Lawrence High School, and Jayhawk Boulevard.

The party heated up when the group arrived back at The Sandbar (of course!) and met up with a larger group of women who were ready to give Heather a fun night celebrating the end of the single life. Peach bought the gals a round of drinks, we started our scavenger hunt game (find a bald man! find someone wearing blue toenail polish! find a Clydesdale!), and then we were off.

First stop: the dueling pianos down the street at the Barrel House. Heather and her mom danced on stage while the crowd cheered them on. After several drinks there, the group moved on to the newest Mass Street hotspot, Tonic. Next up was Henry's Upstairs, and finally back to the Sandbar.

It was a fun night of feather boas, tiaras, high heels, and girlfriends.

Heather's fiance, Ken, had his bachelor party the same night. The boys played poker at Ken's house in Shawnee, and word on the street is that someone stole a Girls Gone Wild video.

If you see Heather or Ken this week, be sure to congratulate them and wish them well on their upcoming marriage!