When we started planning our trip to Desire Pearl, I spent an inordinate amount of time worrying about my wardrobe. Especially considering you spend a large part of your day not wearing much at all.

But, if you do a little research, the internet will tell you that dressing for dinner is a thing. And of course, there’s those theme nights. Boy are there ever.

Let’s start with dinner

Guys have it easy. Throw on a nice polo or button down shirt, grab a pair of decent pants, and you’re good to go. They do specify that you have to wear closed toe shoes, I think, but that’s about it.

Ladies, you’re the star of the show here.

You can wear anything you want, of course. Go ahead and throw on the same nice sundress you would wear out to dinner at home if you like. But. You can also go short, tight, sexy, see through… as long as your lady bits are not touching the furniture, you’re good.

This was Bruce’s bucket list vacation. And he does love to see me in short, tight, sexy things. So I bought some.

However, I wasn’t about to spend a ton of money. Suburban mom life doesn’t leave a lot of room for short, tight, and sexy. I had the best luck on Fashion Nova, and Amazon, but other people swear by Yandy, 3Wishes, even Shein.

Long story short, there is no one right way to dress. You do you. But it is an opportunity to wear things you can’t normally get away with.

Theme nights. The main event.

Desire Pearl and Desire Riviera Maya have different theme schedules, but there is one every night.

Now, you don’t have to dress up. You can just wear a nice dress that’s vaguely on theme. Or you can go all in. No matter what you wear, someone else will be wearing something more extreme.

Ladies: keep thinking tight, sexy, see through, or virtually non-existent. Once again, you don’t have to spend tons of money. You’re only wearing these things for an hour or two, so invest accordingly.

I got this dress for seven bucks on Fashion Nova.

Guys: once again, you don’t have to do a damn thing if you don’t want. Plenty of men wore what they wore to dinner. But more than a few dressed to match their partners (mine did). And that was the most fun.

I highly recommend going for it. How often do you get the chance to wear a harness or pleather shorts in public?

The rest of the time

During the daylight hours, no one much cares. You have to put something on to go to the buffet, but if you don’t feel like getting dressed, they make pizzas and burgers out by the pool.

I’d say 75% of the people get dressed to walk around the resort. I tended to throw a sundress on. But some pad back and forth from their room to the pool completely in the nude.

So, in short, your packing list should include: fun dresses, costumes, and a few cover ups and a swimsuit or two. That’s about it. I packed a ton of cute underwear and most came home unworn.