Are you a stag? Are you a hen? Do you like to party? Then have I got news for you!
But I don’t now if I’m a stag or a hen!
A stag is what Anglo types call a bachelor; a hen is a bachelorette. A stag party is therefore the local term for a bachelor party, and a hen party is for the ladies.
Ah yes, I see now. And what do these engagements involve when not within a 2 hour flight of Las Vegas?
What an excellent question! My personal research on the topic (asking Mark and seeing people walking down the street) has taught me a number of key things. First of all, traveling to another city for a night on the town makes things fun and interesting, and where you choose to go would be a reflection of your personal standing in life. Once at your final destination, expect to go out to bars and clubs and consume alcohol. Lots of alcohol.
Let’s say your wardrobe consists of 90% ‘tracky Bs’ (track suit bottoms) and most of your sentences end with ‘innit’, or perhaps you’re 18 and pregnant with your third child and have finally decided to settle down. If this is the case, then I might recommend Blackpool as the destination for you. It’s cheesy and not known for being classy or sophisticated in any way, sort of like yourself!
At the other end of the spectrum, perhaps you’re a 32 year-old investment banker who likes to cruise up and down King’s Road in your Aston Martin on the weekends. Then you and your buds might jet off to a sophisticated European city known for either partying or cheap liquor, such as Ibiza or Prague. The possibilities are extensive, but do not generally include sophisticated cities: Paris and Venice are not common stag and hen party destinations!
Or let’s say you’re somewhere in between these two, like a 30 year-old engineer whose friends range in affluence and you don’t want to force them all to pay for airfare. You and your buds might choose to head to someplace local yet not classless, such as Edinburgh (as I learned over the weekend) or Brighton.
Who decides these things? When should I expect this all to occur?
Apparently you should have the best man or maid of honor to blame for these things. And expect this all to take place a month or two before the wedding.
Let’s say I’ve been invited to a stag or hen party in Edinburgh. What do I wear?
There’s good news and bad news in this regard. The good news is that you probably won’t have to put together your own outfit, the bad news is that you will quite possibly be donning ‘fancy dress’ (especially if you’re domestic!). Our observations of the weekend included a group of girls all dressed up as cops, with the bride to be dressed as a prisoner, a group of guys wearing pink cowboy hats with the lucky groom to be rocking a little pink dress advertising massages and some nice fishnets, school girls is a popular choice (for girls), and as we were in Scotland, perhaps some kilts with matching plaid hats with attached red hair. Aka, girls: be prepared to wear a short skirt. Men: be prepared to wear a silly hat. Of course, all this generally goes towards showing solidarity and support for your poor sucker of a friend who’s getting hitched. It’s sort of cute, really.
What if I don’t want to wear a short skirt or a silly hat?
Then you’re not a good friend! And it seems after a few drinks you won’t mind so much!
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9 comments:
Sounds about right but you only go to Ibiza if you like 20,000 capacity super clubs and like consuming copious amounts of alcohol/party drugs - although that is a sweeping generalisation!
On a separate but similar note I think there are four places in the world I wouldn’t go to even if I was paid - there Ibiza (the party bit), south coast of Spain (Malaga or anywhere where the majority of people speak the English language and you go on an all inclusive package), Florida (or a particular theme park that I went to on my year out where everyone was wearing the full England football kit - never been more embarrassed to be English!), and Blackpool!
This might also sound really posh but Prague is unfortunately attracting lots of hen and stag groups which have totally ruined it – the common consensus is that you have to visit the other eastern European cities quickly before they go the same way! (or air prices rise to a price where they remain safe!)
I think that stag and hen dos are cool but they don’t have to be wondering round a city singing get your tits out to every girl that passes the pubs window! – The vast majority aren’t….although that’s where they get their, I guess, international reputation from!
I don't believe you were out with us the evening in Liverpool when we saw several of these parties. The one I remember most vividly involved a bunch of young women wearing matching shirts that said "if semen was wine we'd swallow every time." We guessed that the one with the giant penis sippy cup was a bride to be.
Judging by the number of parties we saw in that one evening, it seems as if there are a lot of people getting married these days!
liverpool is an interesting one! its european city of culture this year (though not sure why!) its also one of the least affluent areas of the UK - the company i am working for has a big redevelopment job in the suburbs and on their original site visits they wouldnt even get out of the car!
Its quite amusing as the police think they wouldnt need to inforce a no parking zone for non residents as no one would drive there anyway in fear of not seeing their can upon their return!
Interesting point about Liverpool. An issue being talked about in Portland is that planners don't want it to end up like Paris and other European cities where the city centers are populated by the upper classes, and the 'burbs are turning into slums. I guess we didn't see the slums of Paris.
paris is the prime example of how not to plan a city as you end up with mass riots! it looks good for the tourists though!
in the UK they have been trying to get more affluent people back into the centre of cities by building high class city flats and houses. the only thing is that there are not the high class jobs in the city centres to go with it so you end up pricing less afluent people out of living near their more service orientated jobs so they commute in to the city and the people living in the city are driving the other way. not very sustainable!
although taking southampton for example they have built so many flats they cant sell them which then just under values the other flats!
maybe i should write my comments at home so their less serious!
How did talk of stag and hen parties lead to talk of the under valuing of high rise flats in Southampton? Seriously people, eye on the prize!
Are you the prize?
after speaking to someone recently who was going on a hen do this weekend and owing to the topic of this blog i thought i would write what she is doing:
she is going out for a meal on the friday night with the bridesmaid and one close friend who cant make the saturday activities. then on saturday they are going to the races (horse) at glorious goodwood, then going home to a a gathering at someones home and then a stipper is coming that evening!
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