6 Drinking Games you can play anywhere.

I firmly believe that you could have an excellent hen do just sitting in a room with your nearest and dearest. I’ve been at hens before when I’ve actually been kind of sad to go out, because I’m having such a good time staying in. If this is the kind of thing you’re after – or maybe you’re just planning one night in, one night out – here is a list of my favourite things to do when staying in – drinking games! Although many of them work for going out, too...

The Tap Game

The Name Game
You've probably played this before - the first person says the name of a celebrity or fictional character such as 'George Clooney' and then the next person says a name that starts with the first letter of the surname - so, C. The game continues in this way - George Clooney, Charlie Brooker, Brian Molko - until someone says an alliterative name that starts with the same letter such as Marilyn Monroe. Then the game changes direction, going back to the person who just spoke. The drinking element - you drink while you think.

The Tap Game
Everyone sits around a table, with their arms overlapping and palms flat on the table. So if your palm is flat on the table, the person on your left would place their arm over or under yours, with their palm on the right of your hand. You basically just take turns to tap on the table - so you tap, then the hand next to yours taps, etc. It's confusing due to the overlapping - you forget whose hand is whose! If you double tap, the direction reverses, which also gets confusing. When it inevitably goes wrong, the people who mess up have to drink.

The Thumb Game
Every so often, someone - anyone in your group - places their thumb quietly on the table and waits for someone to notice. When they do, they put their thumb on the table, and everyone else gradually follows suit. The last person to notice has to drink. It's simple, but a great one to play when you're out and about.

Monkey / Dead Ants
These two games are similar, so I'm lumping them together. When someone shouts 'Monkey' you have to get your feet off the floor. This can mean jumping onto a lamppost or even sitting down and lifting your feet up. Dead Ants is super similar, but you're supposed to lie flat on your back with your feet and arms in the air. If you don't do it, you have to drink but more often than not, everyone ends up on the floor. Not great when you're wearing a skirt. But quite funny.

Apple Roulette
I learnt this in America and it's not for everyone as it, um, involves thumping yourself on the head with an apple. Basically you pass an apple around the table and bang it against your forehead. With each thwack, the apple will start to soften, and eventually it will crack when it hits someone's head. That person is the winner! And either has to drink, or has to make everyone else drink. Downside - kinda gives you a headache.

1, 2, 3... Shot!
This is a fun one to play in a bar. Order a few shots, and place in the middle of the table. Everyone counts to three and then all point at the person of their choice. The person who has the most fingers pointing at them has to do the shot. The only problem with playing this at a hen do is that the bride would probably get chosen every time...

Apple Roulette

20 Perfect Mr & Mrs Questions

Even the super classy hen dos that I’ve been to have had a Mr & Mrs game. For those scratching their heads, Mr & Mrs entails asking the groom a list of questions about the bride beforehand. The bride then has to predict his answers. It's up to you whether the groom answers the questions about the bride, about himself, or both. At the last hen do I organised, we went both which was hilarious. Especially question 8.

It’s an essential part of any hen do, really, and the best part is that it can be completely tailored to suit the bride. It can be risqué or sensible, high or low tech. I’ve been at hens where the groom’s answers have been played on a DVD, and others where it’s just on a piece of paper. It can involve alcohol (e.g. the bride doing a shot every time a question is answered incorrectly, the hens doing one when it’s answered correctly) or it can be more laid back. It's always totally awesome, though.

Here are my top 20 questions for Mr & Mrs...

1. If your partner were a superhero, who would they partner be?

2. If your partner could be a wild animal, what would your partner be?

3. What would your partner grab in a fire?

4. Marmite. Does your partner love or hate it?

5. Would you partner prefer to wade through cold custard or shower in cold baked beans?

6. If your partner could be anyone famous, who would it be?

7. If your partner could have any superpower what would it be & why?

8. What does your partner think your partner bra size is ?

9. Who is more likely to deal with a spider?

10. Who will be the partner most hungover after the wedding?

11. What is your partner’s best joke or impression?

12. Which celebrity does your partner have a crush on?

13. If your partner were a music festival, which one would they be?

14. If your partner were a manufactured pop act, who would they be?

15. If your partner were a Star Wars character, who would they be?

16. Who does most of the cleaning?

17. What would be your partner's dream date?

18. What colour are your partner's eyes?

19. What's your partner's shoe size?

20. What did you do on your first date?


If you've got any more awesome questions, please share in the comments!

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!

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.