Spend it on three things
Somebody to cook, or the food ordered in from somewhere good. The point of a night in is that nobody hosting spends it in the kitchen.
One thing that is clearly not a normal Friday: a cocktail class, a tasting, someone who comes and does something. Two hours, booked, in the middle of the evening.
And the room. One wall, cleared and done properly, is the difference between a party and people in a living room.
The shape of the evening
Arrivals with a drink in hand and something to eat immediately — nobody should stand around waiting for the food to start.
The booked thing an hour and a half in, once everybody has arrived and nobody is still meeting each other.
Food properly after that, not before. Then the part of the night that nobody plans, which is the part everybody remembers.
Food that survives a long evening
Grazing beats a sit-down meal here. A board that stays out, two warm things that come around, and something sweet late.
Quantities for eight over five hours: about six pieces a head of the small things, a pound and a half of cheese and charcuterie across the group, and one warm dish that can be reheated in a batch at eleven o’clock. That last one is what stops the evening ending early.
Games that adults will actually play
Nothing that requires standing in a circle. What works is anything that runs while people talk: a set of questions about the couple, a guessing game with a printed sheet, a bracket for something silly.
One is enough. Two feels like a schedule, and a schedule at a bachelorette is the thing everybody was hoping to avoid.
