Hen Party!!

[dee177]

Over in the UK we dont have bridal showers, We do, however,a few weeks befor the wedding, have what is called a hen party or hen weekend, and the guys have a stag party or weekend. Its sort of like a crazy weekend to let your hair down with your girlfriends, its really cliche where dress up silly with a veil and L plates and go to bars and clubs ect. I was just wondering do you do anything similar to that in the USA?

[Valmai]

LOL Dee im trying to avoid mine!! Though we have said we may all go out together men and women as most of our friends are joint anyway xxx

[countrygirl]

Hey Dee, we do have those things going on over here in the crazy states!!

I think ours will turn out to be a jack and jill party in the ends. We have alot of the same friends, and couples as friends, so we may have our evening out and then end up at our 'home' bar and party the night away together. It's fun that way too.

[Jenn060306]

We have them here in canada. But the ones where the girls all go out and do girl things or go to the bar we call bachelorette parties and the guys we call bachelor parties.
We also have Jack and Jills were both the guys and the girls get together for a party, but they usually sell tickets and play games like the toonie toss where you have to try and toss a $2 coin into a bucket. Who ever gets it in wins a prize. The last one i went to they sold tickets and you could put tickets in the the jars infront of different prizes you might want like t-shirts or beer mugs etc that you could win. My FMiL's was just like wedding shower but guys and girls attended. Usually the showers are stricktly women.
I really like the idea of calling it a hen party. thats a good name :)

[Kacie_bride]

Yup a hen party sounds like a bachelorette party. Bachelorette parties can be anything from having a weekend or day with the girls at a spa to going to a male strip club. I've seen them at clubs. The bride a lot of times wears a veil. I've seen them wearing those future Mrs. So in So shirts or it may say bride on them. Some of the bridesmaids I've seen have t-shirts that say bridesmaid or bride's team even. I've seen them wear colored wigs and playing naughty games. My MOH has told me when it comes time for mine we are going to rent a limo and hit the clubs in downtown Houston and then get a hotel down there for the evening.

[WhiskeyGirl]

Hen parties are bacholorette parties!! Only I don't think usually we do a whole weekend thing! Mine sucked to be honest but then I am not a huge partier and I had to have my mom's family there whom I absolutely despise! (due to the horriable $hit they have put me through!!) So yeah, I didn't let loose! But yeah, hen party=bacholorette party.

[CindySue]

Brian and I had talked about a "Jack and Jill" party. Im not sure if we are going to do that or not. Weve got so much other (not wedding related) stuff to do before the wedding that i dont think we will have time. I really would like a bachelorette party though. Brian's idea of a "night out" is invite people over to the house and sit around and drink. I would like to actually go "out" somewhere, away from home.

[brewsells]

Can't say that I blame you, Cindy. Those night outs are far and few between!

[WebLady]

Yeah we call them Bachelor and Bachelorette parties here too. DH and I didn't have one, a couple of his friends tried to get him to go but he didn't, I was glad too. One friend of mine tried to get me to go to a stip club too but that is just not for me.

I didn't have any problems with my DH going out with his friends but I don't like the idea that some guys (and some girls, but not saying any of you ladies feel that way) think of this as 'Your last night of freedom' to me, if you think that way then why are you getting married?

I much prefer the idea of a joint party, like Cindy said, some people call it a 'Jack and Jill' party. But that is just me.

If you want to have a Bachelor/Bachelorette party then by all means don't let me stop you ;) I just think that it shouldn't be some wild and crazy night that you would be afraid to tell your SO about.

As always, Best Wishes to you all!

[CindySue]

I didn't have any problems with my DH going out with his friends but I don't like the idea that some guys (and some girls, but not saying any of you ladies feel that way) think of this as 'Your last night of freedom' to me, if you think that way then why are you getting married?
I agree..........

I much prefer the idea of a joint party, like Cindy said, some people call it a 'Jack and Jill' party. But that is just me.
What I would like is for him to go with the boys, and me with the girls and we meet up at a set time and finish out the night together.

If you want to have a Bachelor/Bachelorette party then by all means don't let me stop you ;) I just think that it shouldn't be some wild and crazy night that you would be afraid to tell your SO about.

Again......I agree.

[WebLady]

I am glad you agree Cindy ... as long as you (or anyone else) are a responsible adult and respectful of your commitment to your FH then I don't see a problem.

[Kacie_bride]

I'm not going to do anything that I wouldn't tell my FH about. I just think it will be fun to be with just the girls because I never do stuff with just the girls. I usually don't get to do much with them at all even when the guys aren't around. Our lives are so hectic it's phone calls and e-mails mostly.

[dee177]

Thanks every one for filling me in, It great to know what you guys across the pond get up to. The Jack and Jill think is just coming in over here. They are called hag parties -like hen and stag combined. I think they are a great idea as Leighton cant decide what to do for his, Ive suggested allsorts like going away to prague or Amsterdam but he just like "oh im not really botherd, mite just go to our local pub with a few of the lads" but going out all together is a smashing idea. xx

[Kacie_bride]

So do you guys just get gifts at the wedding and no gifts otherwise?

[WebLady]

So do you guys just get gifts at the wedding and no gifts otherwise?

I don't think people give gifts at a hen/stag or bachelor/bachelorette party, do they?

[Kacie_bride]

With bachelorette parties I've only heard of people giving gifts when it is a bachelorette/bridal shower type thing.

[dee177]

So do you guys just get gifts at the wedding and no gifts otherwise?

Yeah, we dont usually recieve gifts on our hen weekend, every one just pitches in and buys silly things for the bride like a flashing veil with L plates attached or forfit cards ect, but we only really get prezzies at the wedding

[Kacie_bride]

What are L plates?

[Valmai]

Not sure about over there but here when someone is learning to drive a car we have to display an 'L' plate so that other drives know - some people wear these out on hen nites.
We get a rough deal dont we lol we only get one set of gifts and those are at the wedding itself!! xxx

[Kacie_bride]

The only time you have anything on a car signifying that the person is student driver is when they take a driving course. Then the car says student driver on it. Actually most drivers don't even have to take that course anymore. I did an at home course when I learned to drive and so did most of my friends and my brother. And I know at my school they did offer the class, but their car was unmarked.