Your hen weekend is a once in a lifetime experience, a time to celebrate your final days of singledom, surrounded by your best mates. If done right, there’s nothing better. Which is why we spoke to stag and hen party planning experts, Last Night of Freedom, who’ve given us their top hen night ideas for a weekend in Europe.
Do Your Research
We can’t stress enough how important it is to research your destination before you go; get to know everything from which bars / nightlife areas to check out and where the nearest taxi ranks / public transport depots are, to average prices of essentials and any local customs your group may need to be aware of. A good example of this is in the Spanish destinations like Barcelona and Madrid, where locals tend to eat very late (dinner at 10pm is not uncommon) meaning that the bars and clubs don’t get busy until around midnight – which is worth bearing in mind. It’s worth buying a city guide book or downloading a free guide on your phone, which you can have with you at all time, just in case you need to check something on the move.
Plan an Itinerary for Once You’re There
When it comes to meals out, activities, transfers and other things which are within time constraints, it’s a really good idea to have an itinerary to work from. It sounds obvious, but we’ve seen people show up for their flights a week early or late more times than we can remember. With every little detail of your hen do flying around your head, the most obvious things can slip your mind, so get it all written down in one place to avoid timing mishaps.
Essentials
It may sounds seriously basic, but we recommend preparing a simple tick list of everything you could possibly need to pack in your suitcase or hand luggage. If you’re going abroad, make sure passports, visas, currency, insurance, sun cream and EHIC cards all make the list. You can also use it to ensure you don’t leave anything in the hotel room, when you’re packing up to travel home. We always remind our groups to take appropriate clothing on their hen do, and we don’t just mean not taking a snow suit to Benidorm. We mean taking old clothes that you don’t mind getting dirty, if you’ve got mud buggies or quad biking on the agenda, for example.
What to Pack
Assuming you’re sorted on the clothing front (you’ve had your outfits planned for months, who are you trying to kid?) and you’ve got everything in our ‘essentials’ section covered, there’s some real hen party necessities which you can’t leave out of your suitcases. Fun hen party games are a great way to break the ice between all of the girls in the group, like Mr and Mrs quizzes, for example. If you’re looking to go a bit more X-rated, there’s the hilarious Pin the Junk on the Hunk, the popular Dickhead Hoopla and even the seriously un-PG Jizz Game. More often than not, they double up as drinking games, too…
Of course, it wouldn’t be a hen party without everyone getting matching personalised T-shirts with silly nicknames on, or even a group fancy dress to unify the girls on your night out, so be sure to see that these make the packing list.
For more tips, advice and hen do inspiration, head to https://www.lastnightoffreedom.co.uk/ and let us take all the hassle out of arranging your weekend.