Where was the stop destination for Stag and Hen dos last year? And what really happens on one? 
All is revealed in a new survey conducted by Redseven, a company specialising in hen and stag weekends. In a study 2434 people answered questions ranging from how much money was spent on their Hen and Stag do in 2011 to the amount of flirting (or anything else…) that went on…
Top Hen and Stag destinations:
The survey found that London remained the most popular hen destination in 2011 followed by Brighton, Marbella, Bournemouth and Albufeira. Meanwhile, the renowned party town of Bournemouth was voted the most popular destination by stag parties, followed by Brighton, Riga, Newcastle and Nottingham.
Home or away?
Stags are more likely to go abroad than hens, but it’s a popular choice for both. 29% of hens and 36% of stags who took part in the survey partied overseas in 2011.
When do hens and stags book and when do they go?
New Year brings new engagements and is the time to get organised for many brides and grooms. Over a third of all respondents said that they booked their hen or stag weekend between January and March with more respondents stating that they booked in January than any other month. According to the survey, the most popular months for travel are, not surprisingly, the early summer months, with around half of all weekends taken between May – July.
Alcohol…
Stags claimed to spend a massive £168 per person on alcohol during the course of a stag weekend, £100 more than they spent on food! Hens were slightly more restrained, but still spent £91pp on alcohol. Ironically, when asked what people were most concerned about beforehand, 42% of hens and 53% of stags were fairly or very worried about being ill from drinking too much alcohol.
This compared to only 3% of hens and 14% of stags worried about being tempted to cheat, and 34% of hens and 26% of stags worried about losing a member of their party during the weekend.
Who’s in control?
If you think that the bride loves to be in control then you’d be right. 25% of the hens surveyed were reluctant to loosen the reins and said that they organised their own hen weekend. This compares to less than 15% of stags, who go for the stress free option and tend to leave that to the best man.
Who kept it a secret?
In 44% of cases the hen party claimed that the destination was kept a secret from the hen (compared to only 14% of stag weekends), and the girls claimed to have spent much more on gifts (£16.65 per person) and fancy dress (£16.40) than the stags (£5.93 and £8.87 respectively).
What’s important to hen and stag weekend customers?
The survey revealed that hen parties are more concerned with good value for money while stag parties opt for convenience and a stress free stag weekend.
Over 70% of hen party members said that good value for money and individual payments and instalments were very important when choosing a hen weekend. In contrast, 50% of stag party members said that easy to use itineraries and pre-arranged activities were very important, and nearly 60% said that removing the stress and hassle of having to organise their own stag weekend was very important.
Flirting, cheating, lap dancers? What happens on the weekend?
It seems that hen and stag weekends have an unfair reputation when it comes to sexual exploits. Hen and stag weekends are traditional rites of passage and far more about having fun with your friends, than anything else.
Although strip clubs remain popular, these are a bit of fun and also enjoyed by hen parties. 15% of hens claimed to have visited a strip club and even admitted to have spent an average of £4 per person on lapdances and strippers. Unsurprisingly, the figures were much higher amongst the men, with 61% having visited a strip club, and claiming to have spent an average of £49pp in the clubs.
Redseven asked stag and hen parties (including the stag and hen) what they got up to on their weekends. 21% of hens and 39% of stags said they had a harmless flirtation, and only 4.6% of hens and 8.6% of stags admitted to sharing a kiss. None of the hens who took part in the survey and only 3% of stags admitted to ‘going all the way’ with anyone. Considering that 22% of all respondents were single at the time of the weekend, there is nothing alarming in these figures. Of course, although the survey was anonymous, honesty cannot be guaranteed!
Overwhelmingly, though, both hens (74%) and stags (49%) claimed they were most interested in just ‘having fun with my friends’.
Most popular celebrity Hen and Stag weekends:
Wayne and Coleen Rooney may have had their fair share of mishaps but the celebrity couple made no mistakes when it came to celebrating their last nights of freedom. When asked ‘which celebrity hen or stag night do you most wish you had been at?’, an overwhelming 62% of hen parties opted for Coleen’s and 34% of stag parties opted for Wayne’s.
Wayne spent his stag weekend in Ibiza on a luxury yacht at his own VIP party and Coleen jetted off to Miami to soak up the rays with champagne by the pool.
Predictions for 2012:
Redseven makes a number of predictions for 2012 in the report. Having seen a 57% increase in enquiries for London in the last three months of 2011, Redseven predicts that London’s Olympic year will be huge for both hens and stags. TV shows and films set in last century such as Downton Abbey, Call the Midwife, Birdsong and The Great Gatsby, along with the 100th anniversary of the Titanic, will further fuel hens’ demand for vintage makeovers and dance classes. The industry will remain strong, as traditions such as hen and stag weekends continue to be upheld, despite other areas where people are cutting back in response to the economic downtown.
Find out more: www.redsevenleisure.co.uk
PR: KBC PR & Marketing
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My wife to be and I decided that a little harmless fun would be ok.
We both had our outing the night before the wedding.
For my part, we went to a strip club and I got a lap dance.
For my wife’s part, she said nothing happened.
Sadly, the story changed after the itch started and I went to the doctor.
Seems her and her two bridesmaids got sh@tfaced and went back to the flat of the 4 guys they met.
They paired up and she went into one of the bedrooms with one of the guys while her friends entertained the other three.
Seems they hatched a plan with the others to give the bride a night to remember, with the result being that after the first guy finished with her, the second took his place and they all took a turn.
In between her friends reved up the ones who had finished for a second turn.
She says she was “out of it” and didn’t mean for anything to happen let alone what did but each of them had at least two turns with her.
I rtied to get past it, but never did and the marriage fell apart after about 3 months.