Top 5 games to play on hen parties

It's not a hen do without games. Even if you're having a quiet, non tacky hen do, you'd be surprised at how much a few silly games can break the ice. One of the aims of hen dos is for the bride's besties to get to know each other, and it means that at the wedding, you'll all be a bit more bonded. A bit of healthy competition will do wonders for that.

Here are my favourite top 5 games that will be completely at home at tacky or non tacky hen dos. The great thing with all of these is that they're as naughty or clean as you want to make them - so can be tailored to the bride, or the hens - ideal if the bride's mum is in attendance!

1. The wedding dress game
In teams, hens have to make a wedding dress (modelled by one of them) out of toilet roll and anything else they can find lying around. You can also supply coloured tissue paper, foil, bedsheets etc. The bride picks the winner. I recommend putting hens in teams with people they don't know well - this one really brings the competitiveness out!

We were robbed.

2. Mr & Mrs
A classic! Beforehand, get the groom to answer some questions about the bride. She then has to guess his answers. If she gets them wrong, you could always have her do a shot. If you've got anyone technical amongst your hens, you can always get them to film the groom and play his answers on a DVD, but good old paper works well too. Here's a link to some good questions (but at some point I'll compile my favourites on here!)

3. Memory game
This was a really lovely one, and can be as rude or as clean as you want. Every hen brings an item - wrapped up - that relates to a story about them and the bride. She then has to open them all in front of everyone, guess who it's from and tell the story. You can go emotional, funny or rude (the rude ones were the funniest, obvs).

4. The play dough game
This is a great one to bring out when waiting for food at a restaurant or over drinks. Pick three or four hens to wear blindfolds and sculpt something out of playdough in 2 minutes. What to sculpt? The possibilities are endless, but male and female parts are always a winner...

Not my handiwork!

5. Pass the Parcel
Any kids party games will work a treat, actually - drunken musical chairs, anyone? For pass the parcel, include dares in between each layer and you can even make the person doing the opening do a shot. The present inside can be anything you want - booze, chocolates or even something more risque like a sex toy!

There will be more posts on games coming in the future - please let me know if I've missed your faves in the comments!

8 things you should do first when planning a hen do

So, one of your besties is getting married and you don’t know where to start on the hen do. Don’t worry, love – I’ve been there. Here’s what you need to do.

1. Talk to the bride
I firmly believe that most of the hen do details should be a surprise, even if you’re not planning anything dramatic. But you firstly need to have a chat to your bride-to-be and get an idea of what she wants. Hen dos can be so different. Does she want a tacky hen? Pink cowboy hats and willy-shaped everything? Or does she want something low key? Does she want to go out? Does she want a stripper? Does she want a weekend away or just a night? You don’t have to tell her everything, but get an idea.

2. Run the guestlist past the bride
Most brides will actually give you a list of people to invite, but if not, just make sure you haven’t missed anyone off. Most people have a big group of friends and then a few extras – work buddies, people from uni or school – the last thing you want is to forget someone crucial! Or, worse - invite someone that you really shouldn't have.

3. Decide on a date
Ask the bride for some possibilities, then email all your other hens to find out what everyone can do. Book them in EARLY, before you commit to anything else. The last thing you want is to have to cover someone else’s costs if they can’t make it. Doodle is a great website for getting everyone's dates together.

4. Communicate with the bridesmaids
Assuming that the bridesmaids are doing the planning (although it’s not always the case), you need to make sure you communicate regularly. Make sure you’re all doing your bit, make sure one person isn’t paying for everything, make sure you’re all in this together.

5. Don’t turn down help
If one of the hens attending wants to help, but isn't part of the bridal party – let them help. You’ll be glad of it! And you might get some good insight, especially if you’re going away to somewhere one of them has been before.

6. Work out a budget
It’s incredibly easy to get carried away when planning a hen do, especially if you’re going away. £100 accommodation for a weekend may not sound too bad, but when you add activities and food and drink onto that, you’re looking at a lot more. Plus transport. Try and keep everything, minus spending money, under £150. Obviously it depends what you do, but use that as a guide and make sure all your hens are happy with it. If you let them all know early, you can also get their money in instalments – much friendlier on everyone’s wallet. You may even be able to take their spending money that way too, meaning no one incurs any extra costs when they’re there.

7. Don’t change your plans for one person
Sometimes one person can’t make the hen do, and that’s gutting. But if ten other people can make it, unfortunately you have to go with the majority. If you let one person change your plans, then you’ll keep changing your plans and won’t get anywhere. Unless that one person is the bride, obviously.

8. Don’t overplan
I know, this kind of contradicts point 1-7. But what I mean is, don’t schedule in something to do for every minute of the day. Allow time just to chat, or chill. Or sleep! Nobody wants a weekend that’s go-go-go all the time – people want to rest, too. My favourite part of all the hen dos I’ve been to is when all the hens have just sat together and gossiped and cackled. (If I ever get married, I’m pretty sure that’s all I want to do. Big house + wine = awesome.)

Also, if you’re organising a night out then allow a good two or three hours to get ready, too. It sounds like a lot, but you’ll need them!

Hello!

One of the things I’ve realised as I’ve got older is that I’ve got a lot of friends. Like a LOT. I’ve realised this because suddenly I spend almost every weekend going to weddings or hen dos. Well, that’s an exaggeration – but this year I’ve got five weddings on the cards. It’s not becoming uncommon to go to four or five a year… plus the hen dos.

I’m not complaining though – I actually really love weddings, and I really love hen dos. But I’ve gone to so many hens, and I’ve organised a fair few of them, that I thought it might be worthwhile compiling my experiences somewhere. A big reason why I blog is to share things and provide a resource for people, and with so many more people planning weddings right now, I feel like there’s no time like the present.

 So this is my new blog project – primarily about hen dos, but with a few wedding titbits in there too. I’m not an expert by any means – nor am I married! But hopefully this blog might help you if you’re planning a hen do.

Every month I'll be featuring stories from real life hens, inspiration for activities, games, dares, location spotlights, etc. I haven't been everywhere and I haven't done everything so if you want to contribute, please get in touch! If you're at all interested, I'd love for you to get involved.