When it’s time to tie the knot and take the dive, you way as well go out on a high! A stag party is the last chance for a man to enjoy his freedom and more importantly enjoy the company of their friends before they are destined for cuddly nights in and ‘couples evenings’.
Many people traditionally would go to a big city in the UK but with cheap travel and accommodation, many are now opting for somewhere further afield. Eastern Europe and the Med are popular destinations but some people are even going as far as Thailand or Las Vegas. But if you are planning one consider the circle of friends you mix with and whether they can all afford what you have planned, the last thing you want is to exclude your best man because he doesn’t work as an investment banker like the rest of you.
The key to the perfect stag do is planning, it’s not something that will just happen and you don’t want to waste something that doesn’t come along very often. You will need to begin planning in advance and if you have a wedding date make sure there is a period of recovery time before the big day, enough time for arguments to settle and eyebrows to grow back.
Once you have your date and destination sorted, come up with a theme, something outrageous that immediately makes all your mates scared of being seen in public. It’s also much easier to find your friends in a club if everyone is wearing fluorescent lime green man-kinis. If you can’t think of a theme good enough then consider charity shop roulette, each person can spend 10 in a charity shop on a full outfit that they may or may not wear, then put each outfit in a black bin bag and hand them out at random, you MUST wear what you are given. This way everyone ends up wit ha horrendous outfit that they had no choice in buying, the outcome will be hilarious.
If you plan on travelling abroad its best to go for a long weekend and unless you just want to recover during the day, it is worth organising some activities to make the weekend memorable. Paintballing ensures teamwork and competition, if you are all on the same side your friends and relations will all get to know each other a lot better, if you are on opposing sides you can take pleasure in turning crippling each other.
When planning and especially returning from a stag weekend, it is important to remember that most of the attendees other halves will probably have issue with them going and probably won’t be greeting them with open arms on their return, so try and make the whole escapade seem a lot less adventurous than it is, make everyone agree that ‘what goes on the stag do, stays on the stag do’, if there is need for a cover story make sure everyone is clear of what it is. Bringing home a gift for your loved one is also a good idea as it might make them forget about the pictures of you with strippers all over facebook!
If you are planning a stag party for the groom, make sure there are a few novelty gifts and unique gifts waiting for him along the way to make things interesting.