Crowd Funding a Bachelorette Party

 

Amazon.com

Being well on This Side of Fifty, trends among the twenty and thirty somethings are often unknown to me unless brought to my attention by my students.

Here is one, I kinda stumbled upon this one myself.

I went down to Wicker Park to meet with the Director of the University of Chicago Middle Eastern Music Ensemble (MEME) and a couple of other stalwart members to select songs for the next conference.  Our meeting was at 6 pm and my phone’s GPS said it would take 1:15 hours to get there from my home.  So, I left at 4:45 to trek the 23 miles.  The GPS either lied, was ill-informed, or, perhaps, was playing a practical joke on me.  The traffic once I got into Chicago was bumper-to-bumper and stop-and-go the rest of the way.  It took 1:45 to get there. 

Of course, as one might expect in Chicago neighborhood these days.  There was no parking to be found on the block where the Director had rented a studio in old industrial building converted to studios for music professionals.  The place and surrounding residential neighborhood had that cool urban vibe that is so Chicago.  I finally found a spot on North Avenue and used the Park Chicago app on my phone.

When I got back to my car after a most successful meeting and enjoyable time with my MEME friends, I noticed a card in my windshield wiper.  The card was advertising for me to buy a soon to be bride a drink for her bachelorette party.  The card included a small photo of the young lady and a QR code for the Venmo account for the bachelorette party.   Other text on the card included verbiage that said, “I like shots.  Buy me a shot.”

I was surprised but just for a second.  Then, I thought that this makes perfect sense.  Why not?  Given that a card was randomly put on my car, I am guessing a fair number of these cards were passed out.  They might be able to fund the bachelorette party in part or entirely this way.  On a pleasant evening as it was, the bachelorette party might have even turned a profit.

Then two other thoughts crossed my mind.

First, you could get guys to buy you drinks anonymously and not even have them being in the same bar or restaurant.  An advantage would be their funding of your special night out without having to deal with them, um, how do I say it?  Oh yeah, hitting on you.  This same phenomenon could be a disadvantage was well… no guys hitting on you which I am sure is part of what some ladies look for to some degree at a bachelorette party.  It is all a matter of perspective.

The second thought that crossed my mind?  Maybe there was bachelorette party at all.  Maybe it was just a scam to get people to Venmo them $5, $10, $20, or even more.  Maybe you print a couple thousand cards and go out every Friday and Saturday evening to a different part of the city and put them on cars parked around areas with teeming restaurants and bars.  People in a good mood find the card and think how cool and buy the bride to be a drink or six.  I could any number of my tipsy friends saying, “Dude!  I am going Venmo this bride $20!”  I would imagine if done with enthusiasm, you could next a couple to several hundred dollars on a good night.

Is it a scam or a real thing?

You can buy these cards are Amazon, Etsy, Zazzle, and other sites.  There are also stickers and buttons.  So, it must be a real thing.  While there was nothing about it being a scam on Google, it sounds too easy to do for the less than honest amongst us to take advantage of it.

Did I Venmo the bride to be any money?  Nope.  I don’t have Venmo.