If your bride and groom don’t mind sharing pre-wedding adventures with each other, and neither plans to do anything they wouldn’t do around the other, sharing a bachelor party could well save a lot of planning. With one party to plan, you can spend both budgets on it and make it twice as memorable!
With a combined stag and hen party, the best man and maid of honor can work together to plan the ultimate adventure: a trip somewhere exotic, a truly fantastic house party, or a night of debauchery for all involved.
There are a few things you should consider before deciding to combine your stag and hen party, though. Here’s how you can decide whether to combine the stag and hen party into one big bachelor party.
Will everyone be comfortable?
If you’re planning on kicking up a ruckus and having a grand time to celebrate the end of the groom and bride’s single days, make sure everyone will be comfortable. Particularly if you plan to visit a strip club or have penis-shaped straws, some of the ladies might not want their husbands, boyfriends, or the eligible handsome men in the other party to see what they’re up to, and vice versa.
Do you have compatible plans?
One party might be planning on a low-key spa affair, while the other could be looking for a pub crawl. If this is the case, a combined party won’t work out well. Consider starting out at the same place and then going your separate ways, or having separate activities at first and meeting up later to finish off the night together. In any case, don’t drag anyone along to boring activities just because the other party wants to do them.
Can you do something that accommodates everyone?
Sometimes your plans aren’t compatible, but you can still make it work. For example, you could all take an exotic cruise to the Caribbean, where the girls can go rock-climbing on the onboard wall and the guys can check out the dinner theater. A trip is a great way to make sure everyone’s plans can work out while you’re still having one big party.
What’s the budget?
If you already have a budget set for each party, make sure it will work when combined, too. If the guys want to spend their whole budget on Las Vegas slots, don’t make the girls pay for it out of their party. Make sure everyone’s on the same page about how much they expect to spend per person and how much will be spent from the stag and hen party fund.
Are there going to be uneven numbers?
While having a few more in one party than the other isn’t a big deal, if you have a whole lot of girls and only a couple of guys at the event, everyone might feel a little uncomfortable. Another advantage of a roughly even number: you can play party games that require men and women to be paired up.
A joint stag and hen party can mean twice the fun and twice the budget to pull off an extravagant event, but you’ll have to consider carefully whether it’s right for your particular wedding party and make sure everyone’s on the same page with planning. When the party’s done right, everyone attending can have memories for a lifetime!
Author Bio:
Andrea Jones contributed this guest post for ChilliSauce.co.uk, who organise various events such as weekends abroad, team trips, party ideas and the Chillisauce stag weekends throughout the UK and abroad.
Not sure how I feel about having a combined stag and hen party. As you say, the ideas have to be compatible and I think it would be a rare case that the groom and the bride’s parties would completely agree! Doesn’t it kind of defeat the whole idea of stag and hen parties as well? Although you do make a good point about having twice the budget with a combined party!
Ive never really heard of anyone sharing a Hen Night & Stag night, but i suppose it could work out. I think most people would prefer to keep it seperate though as they would see it as their last bit of freedom.