I don’t know if it’s because people know I love planning things or that I always have to have a project, or simply because the wedding is only 9 months away now but this is becoming a common question.
Gone are the days when I got asked
How are the plans going?
I am now asked
How’s the planning going and what are you doing for your hen???!?!?!
Honest answer? I don’t know.
Just the thought of a hen party conjures this image in my head……………..
Do I want to drag my Mum and Aunts around a seaside town dressed in feather boas? Not really.
Do I want to please absolutely every body by doing a little bit of something that every body wants to do and nothing that I’ll really enjoy? Not really.
Gone are the days when a hen party would involve a nice meal and a few drinks on the town. We’ve all seen the girls staggering in town on a Friday or Saturday night covered in L Plates and drinking their WKD’s through penis straws. I distinctly remember a day earlier this year where I took my Mum out to lunch. Lo and behold, at around 3pm on a Saturday afternoon there was a girl, sat at Oxford Circus station – on her own – accompanied only by a 6ft tall inflatable penis. Yup. That is when I made my mind up that the people who I’m trusting with my hen party know well enough to not involve inflatable penises, L Plates, veils, fancy dress or anything to do with a stripper at my hen.
Hen parties are becoming more and more outlandish and as they become more X rated and more pub crawling there ends up being more planning. People I know who have got married have had 3 or even 4 different hen parties. One for close friends, one for work colleagues and one for their older female relatives.
When we think that most girls spend a lot of the weekend blind drunk anyway this must be why activities are becoming more common and then guess what happens? Costs spiral. For a lot of people, when you’re invited to a hen party, originally there’s excitement at being invited (it is an honour after all), but then the costs spiral.
And then there is the knowing that a big group of girls confined together in a small space for a long period of time has the potential to cause disaster. Type Hen Party in to Google and you will be over thrown by horror stories. Brides crying, people storming out etc.
But, whilst the feeling of dread may come when you receive email after email from someone you don’t necessarily know telling you the theme is 80’s disco pants. Spare a thought for the person organising the party. The endless emails, the chasing people for deposits, the bookings, the moans, the drop outs, the handling of drunk women.
Guests, if it costs the earth, instead of moaning about how much it costs, suggest splitting the day in to parts. I went to a hen last year which was an all day event and split in to things like a posh breakfast, then a spa, then lunch, then a bar, then dinner and you could choose which parts of the day you wanted to attend. If you can’t fly out to Marbella for a week, mention that you’ll fly in for the weekend.
Hen parties are meant to be a special time. All of the girls getting together and sharing stories, getting drunk (probably) and basically signing off from the single life. Whether you do it in a puff of veils and fancy dress outfits, or a sedate spa day it’s all about you and how you want to do it!
Writing this has made me realise that I still have no idea of what I want, but I definitely have an idea of what I don’t want!!
- No penises of any kind. Inflatables, straws, strippers – NO NO NO NO
- Forced frivolity. Oh really? Cocktail making at 11am and on to a Dirty Dancing dance lesson. No thanks.
- Having my friends spend a shit load of money on something they won’t enjoy? No thanks.
- Insisting that everyone has to be there the whole time? No thanks.
- Veils and L Plates? No thanks.
- Drinks and giggles with my closest friends and family? YES PLEASE!!
MrsA2b xx
Disclaimer, I totally realise I mentioned going to Croatia for part of my hen on yesterday’s post. This was suggested by a group of friends who were thinking of booking a week away and asked if me and any of my bridesmaid’s fancied coming along for a bit of a send off. No military precision emails were sent in the planning of this trip 🙂
Not your average fairy tale 