Posts Tagged ‘Hen Night’

Hen Party Ideas

Are You Planning a Hen Party?

Planning a Hen Party for Your Girlfriend

A hen party is typically a naughty event filled with alcohol and dirty games to celebrate the end of the bride’s bachelorette days. It is usually organized by one of the bride’s closest friends or family members and only women are allowed at these parties. There are a few common mistakes that can be avoided while organizing this special milestone.

Hen Party Common Mistakes

• Failure to plan the Hen Party properly : If you’ve failed to plan in advance, the evening will be a disaster, period. There are a few prerequisites for such an event namely, venue, food, alcohol. So organizing all of this well in advance not only saves you the time but also saves you the stress of having to run around in the last minute scavenging for a good time.

• No In-Laws: No matter how loving or friendly the future in-laws are, it would not be a good idea to invite them. This is a night where the bride gets to go crazy and enjoy herself without any inhibitions and the presence of in-laws would of course put a dampener on that. And you don’t want the future mother-in-law or sister-in-law to judge the bride based on her antics on the night, do you?

• Don’t forget to run the guest list by the bride: It’s her party so the bride should get a say in who gets to come and who doesn’t. Especially while inviting her colleagues from the work place run the list by the bride so that you don’t accidently invite someone she doesn’t want to spend the evening with and end up ruining her night.

It is All About The Hen!

• Everything doesn’t have to be a surprise: It’s a good idea to ask the bride to be what it is that she’s looking forward to doing that night: is it a home party with Zumba DVDs or a wild night out in twon?   This not only saves you time but also helps you plan your other activities keeping in mind what she wants. It would be a rude shock to the hen if she isn’t into having a male stripper walk into her home and that’s the big surprise that you have actually planned for her.

• Don’t forget to reconfirm the guest list: Prior to the party make sure you call up everyone on the guest list and reconfirm on their arrival. There are bound to be some last minute cancellations and you need to ensure that just in case there are additional guests at the last minute you have enough food and drinks and party favors to go around.

• What happens at the hen party stays at the hen party:  To ensure this, you need to make sure that people switch off their phones and are not whipping out cameras to record every second of the event. There are some moments that the bride would not want recorded so avoid capturing such moments so that a stray video or a photograph does not create an issue between her and her fiancé.

Hen Party Details

• Avoid parties the day before D day at all cost: Having the last night of freedom the day before the D day is a bad idea. You don’t want the star of the day to look hung-over during the ceremony and even worse to dread her special day because of the way she feels. And in case you have travelled abroad for the hen party a delayed flight back will mean a struggle to get everything organized on time.

The Hen Party Mistakes Verdict

With a bit of research and common sense you can make a hen party a night to remember and cherish for the birde and all her friends.

Hen Night

Hen Night – Origins of the Concept

Looking at words meaning and origin in Middle English, hen meant the female of any bird.  Therefore, a hen night or hen party is one which is exclusively female.   It is believed that the hen night got its name from the very hen nature that it proliferates, pointing to the female vibrant and bubbly disposition.  It gave rise to the idea that a hen night will be an event where the bride to be can have a blast among girlfriends and enjoy herself.

There are many opinions on the origins of the hen night

One of them takes us back to the Netherlands and the legend of a poor miller who asked to marry a beautiful girl but had nothing to offer as a dowry.  Needless to say, the father of the beautiful girl was not impressed with the poor guy and didn’t give his permission for the wedding.  The girlfriends of the heartbroken beauty then decided to go to her place with gifts and presents and make up the shortfall of what the father expected.  This was enough for him to change his mind and to give his blessings.  This is how some people believe the concept of the hen night began.

Another very different theory is that the expression “hen party” comes from the henna plant.  The henna is part of wedding rituals in India, North Africa and the Middle East. In these rituals, henna tattoos are applied to the hands of the bride on the night before her wedding.  The purpose of the custom is to protect the bride to be from bad luck and spirits.

There are different terms for a hen night around the globe

Irrespective of where the hen night started from, it is nowadays a commercial event enjoyed by girls all over the world.   We have “bachelorette party” in the US, while “hen party” and “hen night” is more common in Australia as well as in UK and Ireland.  In Canada, the term “stagette” is used, while South Africans call it “kitchen tea”.  Businesses sell decorations and novelties for hen parties including things like “piñatas”, fur-lined handcuffs, “willy whistles” and adult toys.  Others sell hen party kits with games and party gear.  There are also many companies that specialise in bachelorette weekend packages, pampering services, pole dancing hen parties, male striptease, etc.  Take full advantage of the variety in the marketplace to create an unforgettable and pleasurable hen night you and your friends will always remember.