The Duggars’ Bachelor and Bachelorette Parties Range From Fun to Straight-Up Freaky

Josh had more of a bachelor dinner.

And technically, Josh Duggar didn’t even mean to do that. But when then-Anna Keller didn’t want to head out for one last date before their wedding, his sisters joined him for a final hurrah. “It’s one of our last times to go out with Josh,” Jana Duggar shared, finding a restaurant for them.

The nice restaurant kind of freaked them out.

“Jana, you got class!” Josh announced when he saw the restaurant, but once he got inside, it was a different story. The fact that Amelia’s Fine Italian Cuisine served Italian food seemed to throw him, as did all the fancy cloth napkins and glassware.

Jessa seemed straight up mystified by the menu.

They all tried to sound out items and figure out what meant cheese, but Jessa Duggar looked like she’d accidentally entered a parallel universe. Do they not have fettuccini alfredo in Tontitown, Arkansas? It sounds like something right up their alley.

Don’t worry, though. Josh found some kind of spaghetti.

And then he proceeded to tell the waiter that it was “muy bueno,” clarifying that he only knows Spanish. So, you know, he kept things on brand.

But the meal did come with some entertainment.

Back in the day, TLC used to troll the Duggars all the time — and we’d bet money they bribed this waiter to be a total weirdo (or they straight up just cast him for the role).

Jessa was loving him.

She seemed straight-up enthralled as the waiter told them all about how he’s a tantric dancer and free to perform at Josh’s wedding if they’re looking for some last-minute entertainment.

Josh, on the other hand, straight up couldn’t handle it.

But we’re pretty sure that had more to do with the fact that he had at least a vague idea of what tantric dancing is — and he couldn’t believe his bachelor dinner had finally taken a slightly sexy turn after all.

At Jill’s bachelorette party, they did things up right.

While wedding dress shopping in D.C., Jill Duggar got to be princess for a day — or at least a lunch. While eating a snack, she got to listen to all of her sister and mom go around and say nice things about her.

And she was clearly basking in the spotlight.

After all, when was the last time that Jilly Muffin had all eyes on her? With 18 siblings, it’s hardly a jump to think she might be at least sort of attention starved.

Things got so emotional that Joy even cried.

That buddy love is real! Though everyone else read their nice letters to Jill, Joy-Anna Duggar got so choked up that she couldn’t even look at her letter and pretty much just silently handed it to her big sis.

And Jinger cried, too.

Jinger Duggar may have pretty much sped-read her kind words, but when it came time to listen to mama Michelle Duggar give her blessing, even she got weepy.

Derick’s bachelor party was, uh, a little different.

In some sort of weird, macho competition-style move, Jim Bob Duggar decided to drag Derick Dillard and Ben Seewald out into the wilderness to prove that they were up to the task of joining the family. “We’ll see if they are tough enough to be a Duggar,” said Jim Bob. Oh, and John David Duggar also came along for some reason.

The trip was full of masculine wisdom.

Like Ben’s anecdote, “Men always has the final word … And those words are, ‘Yes, ma’am.'”

And male bonding around the fire pit.

“We’ll have some s’mores … and then we’ll have some snores,” Jim Bob joked before deciding that, actually, it was time to bug John David about catching up to the two other guys. “John, you need to kinda start thinking about a girl yourself,” he hassled.

But the s’more talk turned real.

As they discussed what level of charred they wanted their marshmallows to be, Ben compared his ideal cook to a “flame-kissed steak.”

And, of course, Jim Bob jumped in.

“No kissing ’til you’re married,” he teasingly reminded them.

But the next day, it was all about feats of strength.

“These guys think they’re man enough to marry a couple of my daughters, so we’re going to see what they’re made of here,” Jim Bob said while Derick wondered what would happen if he fell on his head during rock climbing and died during his bachelor party.

He looked straight up terrified putting on his helmet.

“When your wedding is quickly approaching, you never want to do anything to risk your life,” he explained.

But they all agreed that it would NBD if John kicked the bucket.

After Jim Bob did a whole, “If I die, take care of my wife and kids,” spiel, and Ben was all, “Jessa told me I’m not allowed to die,” John was like, “What happens if I die?” His dad quipped back, “Well, you don’t have anybody you’re married to.” He was joking, but jeez. Ouch.

In the end, they all faced their fears.

Jim Bob was egging the guys on the whole time, but everyone got through it safely. “Seems like some sort of Duggar marriage boot camp,” Derick said.

But we don’t know of any marriage that makes you jump off the side of a cliff.

At least Derick did it without complaints. As for Jim Bob, not so much.

Jessa and Ben decided to share their bachelor and bachelorette parties.

They decided a family football game would be fun. Jessa even got appropriately dressed up in a “Mrs. Seewald” hoodie to do it.

But it turns out that the girls weren’t actually playing at all.

It was an all guys game — and another excuse for Jim Bob to get weirdly competitive with a future son-in-law. “I thought that this was one last chance to make a statement. He was getting Jessa, but I was gonna win this football game,” the dad said.

Don’t worry about the girls, though.

After all, they got to watch! Isn’t that just as fun?

Instead of playing, they made up the cheering section.

And yet, nobody seemed to be cheering for any particular team. Think they were just really enjoying the game? Ben’s mom did say, “The ladies are having a great time fellowshipping together!”

There was one girl activity.

They all got to sign a pink football for Jessa. How special! Pink, like for girls! And signed, so she can display it! Why would a girl ever need a football she could actually play with?

They presented it to her at the end of the night.

Doesn’t she just look absolutely thrilled to be receiving it?

Of course, there was still plenty of teasing along the way.

Like when Ben’s younger sister made kissy faces at them in the car.

Or when Jim Bob had some useful marital advice for them.

“This advice is for Saturday when you get married… be fruitful and multiply,” he instructed.

Jessa and Ben were both just like, “Sounds good to us!”

That grin is not appropriate before the wedding, Jessa!

Jeremy had the most normal bachelor party.

He even had actual friends fly in to hang out with him instead of just hanging out with Jinger’s 10 brothers and their various in-laws. (And side note, can we talk about how hot this guy is?)

But don’t worry. There was still a shared boy-girl party.

The couples were all thrown together with Jeremy’s couple friend, his one married-but-flying-solo friend, and then Joy to… even out the numbers? Guess Jana was busy babysitting that night.

And, of course, it was a boys versus girls situation.

The boys took their turn at the escape room first, with Jeremy boasting that they had his friend who went to Yale on their side. And yet, they still “died” before they figured it out.

Then the boys got to watch the girls go through it on a little monitor.

And they were actually doing pretty good — even though not a single one of them went to Yale.

Jill covered the camera when she caught on.

Basically just so they could cheat without the boys seeing what they were doing. But is it cheating if there’s no a rule that says “don’t try to just disassemble the safe instead of cracking the code”?

Nobody won — but the girls lost a little bit less.

And yes, Jeremy admitted that his ego was a “little bit” bruised by the whole deal.

After the group activity, they split off into a boy party and girl party.

The boys went golfing — and miraculous Jeremy managed to keep Jim Bob faaaar away from the celebrations.

Oh, and he showed up looking like this.

He figured if he could actually be good at golf, he’d at least look like he’s good at golf, and we think that’s fair.

But his friends still had a good laugh at his expense.

Ben and Derick also got laughed at. Turns out that none of the Mr. Duggars have the skill.

At the house, Jinger and the girls did some jewelry making.

Jeremy’s friend’s wife is an actual jewelry designer, so they decided to exploit her help while she was in town.

They got to work making accessories for the bridal party.

Of course, there was plenty of girl talk going on, too.

Including Jessa trying to explain how to kiss to Jinger.

It was the only kind of sex talk that Jinger got, and it all went completely over her head.

At Joy-Anna and Austin’s party, it was all about camping.

And none of that fancy stuff, either. Joy shut down even the slightest mention of anyone bringing along or sleeping in the RV.

And her husband seemed confused and disgusted by the idea of it.

“Glamping?” It was a totally foreign concept to man-of-the-land Austin Forsyth.

Jana, well, not so much.

She and Kendra Caldwell‘s little sister Lauren seemed pretty hesitant considering there was a chance they might fall into the freezing water.

Don’t worry — everything went great!

Austin is a seasoned pro! He even brought his own kayak!

When they got to the river, they started with kayaking.

Most everyone seemed to be having a fun time, especially that one kid pretending he was riding a bull at the rodeo.

And then disaster struck.

Austin tumbled out of his kayak and into the icy river.

And then disaster struck again.

Joy joined him not long after. It’s just a shame that they were still a few weeks shy of being able to huddle together for warmth.

At least they had a campfire.

Though, TBH, it doesn’t look like it’s throwing off much warmth.

When it got dark, they broke out the s’mores.

And Austin managed to turn his into actual lava. That’s a little more than just “flame-kissed,” wouldn’t you say?

Later on, they played their own version of the dating game.

Jana’s BFF Laura DeMasie played host as they raised either their show or their partner’s to answer each question.

He and Joy shared a cute moment as he fed her a treat.

We just hope it didn’t burn TF out of her mouth.

Fun was had all around!

Especially by Jeremiah Duggar, who thought Joy insinuating that she and Austin would share cooking duties was the funniest GD thing he’d ever seen.

And, okay, they did have another cute moment.

We’re not sure where foot touching falls on the list of acceptable courting caresses, but our hearts melted a little when Austin tried to warm up Joy’s frozen feet.

Then, they all headed off to sleep in hammocks and tents.

Think Joy and Austin dreamt about sharing a hammock together one day? Romantic.

Joseph and Kendra wanted a little bit of adventure for their joint party.

When Joseph Duggar decided to live on the edge during his and Kendra’s bachelor(ette) party, he had no idea just how much trouble he was going to get into.

It was all about those water sports.

No, not those water sports. This is a couple who hasn’t even held hands, remember?

This kid had the time of his life.

He even dabbed while on the inner tube. We feel like the Duggars and they’re friends shouldn’t be online enough to know what dabbing is, but this kid still nailed it.

Some of the family was just hanging around in the boat, relaxing.

Joy was straight up hiding a pregnancy at the time, but everyone else was still like, “Get thrown off an inner tube into cold water at super fast speeds? Pass.”

Then, it was time for the bride and groom to go tubing together.

How sweet! What could go wrong?

Things started out innocently enough.

They were both holding onto the tube for dear life while taking splash after splash to the face, but at least they were only brushing arms.

But after a minute, Joe was pretty much on top of Kendra.

We’re pretty sure that this isn’t kosher — and they took some serious flack from their families. “Where’s your chaperone?!” Austin shouted over at them from the boat where his wife was throwing cheese puffs into her brother’s mouth.

The more he tried to fix things, the more awkward it got.

“It was pretty tough not to break the rules of engagement just for the fact that, I mean, when you’re tubing, you’re closer than you normally would be,” Joe said, embarrassed, desperately trying not to acknowledge the front that he was full-on mounting Kendra.

Josiah and Lauren decided they wanted to face-off at their joint party.

So a little friendly competition was in order. “I was playing to win,” Lauren Swanson insisted as Josiah Duggar shot back, “I was playing to win, too. I didn’t try to go easy at all.”

Next, there was some weird chubby bunny game.

It was like Laura’s newlyweds-style game, but this time they had to stuff a marshmallow into their mouth if they got something wrong. Hilarity might have ensued, but there were only like five questions so nobody had a near-death-marshmallow experience.

And they had a cute moment, too.

Mounting, not okay. But cuddling, well, just a little is fine, right?

The name of the game was human foosball.

There were some fairly complicated schematics involved for designing the court.

But it actually came together pretty nicely.

We’re legit impressed by this feat of Duggar engineering.

And then the game was on.

The players had to keep their hands on the poles, but they were free to kick around as wildly as they wanted.

Josiah and Lauren both played goalie.

You know — so they’d be as far away from each other as they could be. “You don’t want to kick each other in the shin right before you go get married,” Josiah explained. Good point.

But there were still some injuries.

Like this poor girl who got hardcore bonked in the face. “I think the thought that kept going through my mind while we were playing human foosball was, ‘The wedding’s in a little bit. Don’t knock your tooth out. Don’t get in the face. Don’t knock a tooth out,'” Austin said.

But in the end, everybody won.

Just kidding. Blue team dominated. Luckily, Lauren was a good enough sport to congratulate her soon-to-be husband. After all, she still had to marry him the next day. And we all know how that turned out.

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