Right ladies… we have a treat for you. 
It might seem that hen do season has passed somewhat, however, we know there are tons of you who may either be a little lastminute.com (like our very own Mrs O’Shea,) or like me, a bit of a planner extraordinaire, (Monica Styl-ee). So for those of you scouring for something to do we have some coming-up-soon ideas and for those of you whom your hen do is a distant dream as yet, there’s plenty of food for thought.
And you know what? I have neither a hen do to plan or go to, but I’d LOVE to go on a few of these days out. Following a flurry of weddings and hens this year, my friends and I have made a pact to plan some more fun, girls-only (or even bringing the hubbys/boyfriends/significant others along) weekends and there’s some super-cool ideas in amongst these. Bestival anyone?
Laura Jaansen from ooh.com got in touch with me a while ago now and has kindly put this article together, based on one she wrote for the site. Make sure you head on over and check out the site for other fun ideas and things to do!
Hand over to Ooh…
It’s that time of year again… time to think about the Hen party. Which could mean it’s time to steer clear of the local street on a Friday night for fear of being trampled by L plated, winged, cow girls and she-devils as they sip vodka jelly and stuff fivers in passing boxer shorts.
But what’s this? NO NEED to fear the high street anymore?
It’s true; there are plenty of ways to bond with fellow bridesmaids without resorting to re-creating a bad early 90’s Halloween party. Here are some top ideas:
Action Girls:
Discover Polo day and night in with the girls, Windsor, Surrey.
No experience necessary. Spend the day learning how to ride a polo pony, enjoy a two hour lesson taught by an Argentinean pro. Afterwards, relax and unwind over an Argentine BBQ and the chance to watch a pro polo game. It all costs £130 for a full day out including food and pick-up and drop off from London.
(and ladies, if you’ve ever met Argentinean men, you’ll understand why this is such a good idea for a hen party… )
After a full day of fresh air, horse hair, and Argentinair, why not all get dropped back at a nominated flat, freshen up and enjoy a girl’s night in of gossip, DVD’s, homemade manicures, champagne and chocolate.
Crafty hen party:
Craft afternoon at What Katy Did with a night out on the town, South/ West London.
Get crafty with your girlfriends during an afternoon in a vintage lingerie shop What Katy Did. Get the gossip going and the toes tapping to some retro tunes while you try your hand at and creating your own fascinators or get a little more racy and make your own pasties (commonly known as a nipple tassels!)
Make a night of it in the big smoke later that evening. Why not enjoy a good old girls night out in Clapham, South London starting with drinks on the roof terrace and then dancing till 5am at The White House.
Or head out in Notting Hill for slinky cocktails at Beach Blanket Babylon and dancing at the famous Notting Hill Arts Club.
Foodie Heaven:
Fresh and Wild gourmet food weekend, Penzance, Cornwall.
Fresh and wild food and dramatic countryside – this Gourmet wild food weekend would be a real treat for a group of foodie girlfriends. Experience real foraging; learn to cook with professional and passionate chefs, and in the evening, feast on the freshest, most seasonal wild food in a warm and beautiful environment!
Stay at the beautiful Trezelah Farmhouse – which sleeps up to 6 people and costs £42.50 per person per night.
City on a budget:
A Sunday day out itinerary in East London.
11:00 a.m. ish – Meet for elevenses at Treacle, 110 – 112 Columbia Road.
12:00 p.m. ish – Wander the market, buy flowers and browse the shops at Columbia Road Market
2:00 p.m. ish – Visit the Powderpuff Girls for a 30 minute manicure for £25
3:00p.m. ish – Indulge in a late lunch at the Goodlife Diner in Shoreditch and chair dance to the hot tunes while enjoying a devilish yee haa of a burger and milkshake.
Or, for a flavour of trendy East End dining head to Smiths of Smithfield where you can choose from 5 floors of dining experience, from the relaxed brasserie on the ground floor, wine tasting in the wine rooms or a slap up Sunday lunch in the dining rooms on the 2nd and 3rd floors.
The Treat Retreat:
A complete relaxation and pampering weekend, West Devon.
Hen party retreat weekend for up to 7 people. This is a real treat for the bride and her chickens in need of proper break in advance of the big day. Staying in a beautiful thatched cottage, enjoy fluffy towels, comfy beds, a local pub, unlimited chocolate, beauty treatments and all the home cooked food you can manage, and when we say it is all inclusive, we really mean it.
The weekend package will cost you £250 and includes accommodation, all home cooked meals, tea in bed in the morning, a treatment from a visiting beauty therapist, Sunday papers of your choice and all the chocolate you need.
A Cosmopolitan Party:
Cocktail clinics for the girls – Bristol, Sheffield or Brighton
A great party piece for a group of up to 25 people and it can be arranged at your house or in a bar. In a two hour session, a lovely friendly and experienced bartender will take you through all the need-to-know tips and techniques of cocktail making but leaving you to make up your own mind about the cocktail drinking bit; you can do that bit any old way you like.
The clinic costs £32 per person and including three cocktails each. Click here (use link from above) to find out more or to book.
Combine this with playing classic hen party games, ’Mr and Mrs’ or ‘Guess who brought the pants’ – very mature, very funny, very ‘have to be played or it’s not a hen night.’
Festivals: Green Man and Bestival
Rock out at a ready made party – boutique festivals such as the Green Man Festival, Brecon Beacons, 20-22 August 2010 or Bestival, Isle of Wight are the perfect place to party with your girlfriends over a cider or two, enjoy great live music, mad fancy dress, sunshine (if you’re lucky) and dancing.
Green Man Festival, Glanusk Park, Brecon Beacons, 20-22 August 2010: Enjoy acts such as Laura Marling and Mumford and Sons in a really quite beautiful location. “Of all the festivals in all the fields in Britain, probably the best field of all has been bagged by the Green Man Festival” (The Times)
Bestival, Robin Hood park, Isle of Wight, 9th – 12th September go for more than just the music. Dress up in the ‘Fantasy’ fancy dress theme, enjoy a dance to the Dizzee Rascal and then head off to the heavenly healing Lounge for a massage – don’t forget to pre book!
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Basically girls, with all this to choose from, if we see you at All Bar One this Friday night, there will be trouble…
ENJOY!
I love that there is such a variety of things to see and do here and there’s loads of focus on actually spending quality time with each other, as lets face it, not everyone wants to wear their knickers on their head whilst licking cream off an over-oiled Adonis wanna-be’s torso! Thanks to Louisa and Ooh.com for getting in touch – I know I’ll be keeping the site bookmarked for future inspiration.
Have you gotten any inspiration from these and do tell, what are you doing/did you do for your hen do?
Yours Truly,
Rebecca
xoxo
I think these are great ideas – I especially like the sound of the foodie one, which has a lot to do with that picture of the kitchen. I went to a hen party recently where the day kicked off with a few hours of jewellery making – it was brilliant fun and such a nice change from the more traditional hen party (though there was still plenty of booze and late-night karaoke!).
There are some cracking ideas here! I do enjoy a slightly “different” hen…one of my favourites included 15 girls renting out an old YHA cottage in the middle of the Peak District and spending the day in fields and in local village pubs!
I was lucky as most of my friends live in London; we dressed up to the max in burlesque (and I discovered my love affair with corsets) and did a burlesque dance lesson; we then had relatively civilised dinner and drinks (apart from my cousin who thought the opera singer was a stripper and er….fondled him) and went on to a club…all in for a very reasonable £60 per head!
Some of these ideas are fab! I have handed my hen to my bridesmaids but am also planning a hen for one of my bridesmaids who is my sister-in-law to be……confused you will be!!
Would love to see if any of these transfer to Scotland, maybe combine the nipple tassles with a touch of polo!
Any suggestions??!!
oo they all sound great. i have just had my hen and it was brilliant. We booked a private box with lunch & unlimited bar (!) at Sandown Race Course – all the chicks looked gorgeous and so sophisticated in their frocks and hats – it was lovely!!
I’ve just had my hen weekend in Leeds with 3 of my fabulous friends. My bridesmaid organised a brilliant weekend and I must say the cocktail making was great fun even though it was something I wasn’t looking forward to.
I have uploaded all the pics onto my blog journal thing about my wedding plans if you fancy taking a look
oh what a lovely Tuesday afternoon post. It’s made me want to get all dressed up and go out with my best girls instead of be at work. Off to day dream..
err, yes please on the polo lesson!
The first anniversary of my hen is fast approaching (it was so great I want to celebrate the anniversaries like I will with the wedding) and I’m hoping to get together with the girls to reminisce about the great weekend we had… maybe a few bevvies in Beach Blanket Babylon are in order, thanks for this!
Some brilliant ideas. My sister gets married next year and we are having a company come in that brings lots of vintage crockery and all the tea and cakes for a sweet little tea party. (they are called something like nips and crumpets but I think they are only local) We are spending the weekend in a barn so I’ll talk to her to see if she would like to do something like the cokctail making. Could be brilliant fun.
Oh crikey. I feel like a right chav. “Must open mind to new and cultured things, must open mind to new and cultured things.” Although don’t undersell the vodka jelly, it’s got its place! I’m the only bride in the world not having a Hen Night *cue violins* so Rebecca, I think some of these ideas might be right up my (Friday night High)street next year for ‘just for the hell of it’ girlie day!Great post!
Brilliant post! And not a dodgy Ann Summers purchase in sight. I’ve got three hen dos to help out with next year and some of these ideas will be just perfect. More please!!! x x
Love it, so many amazing ideas. I love the idea of everyone doing some practical.
Damn it why is Devon so far away?!
Victoria- we said we’d do this too, we coined a new phrase “henanniversaries” in honour of this new yearly event!! I was tres lucky to have a four night jaunt in Marbella so if we have to repeat this once a year I won’t be too disappointed :0)
Mr c and I both concluded that festivals are actually great hen or stag do options (or hag do’s for couples?) whilst at v festival and are keeping it in mind for any up coming nuptials!
X
Hi Teresa, I am going to Leeds this weekend for my Hen do! Got a dancing lesson planned ( burlesque) and lunch in Jamies Italian!
Any recommendations for some good bars/clubs?
x
am now even more excited about spending the weekend with my best girls, and its still 6 blinkin’ months away!
Will definitely be sending this to my chief hen though she has sworn that I’m not to know a thing til the day, she’s sworn all my girls to secrecy as well which is a herculean task in itself!
More ‘wedding-related-but-maybe-not-specifically-an-actual-wedding’ stuff please!
r.now
‘cluck’
Hi Jills
Go to the Electric Press, Epernay champagne bar is fab and then pop into Revolution to strut your stuff on the dancefloor.
Electric Press is a great place with a courtyard in the middle which is undercover. I loved it and didn’t leave til 3am.
I’ve banned L plate and wings from my hen do as well. We are having a fun pampering day at a hotel in London, followed by a girls night in (as opposed to out) pj party at a hotel suite with ice cream, chocolate, midnight pizzas, our fav sloppy chick flicks and plenty of champers. As if that isnt enough eating we are also doing a choc making class the next day…CAN’T WAIT!!
Sounds great fun! I also made it very clear to my bridesmaid who planned our girlie weekend away that there was to be no feather boas, willy straws, etc. I didn’t want to be sticking out like a sore thumb in a terribly accessorised outfit, it’s just not me
I’ve just had my hen weekend – it was amazing. My best friend did a brilliant job – she knows I’m not one for tacky themes, so handmade everybody a felt brooch shaped like a rose (because I’m having pink roses as my bouquet) which we all wore with all our different outfits over the weekend – it was perfect – we were linked but in a classy way! We went pottery painting first of all, with champagne, cupcakes and a Mr&Mrs quiz. We then went out for dinner, then back to our hotel to get ready to go out, then out to a brilliant club. The following day we went for afternoon tea at the Berkley hotel – absolutely amazing, all the biscuits and cakes are shaped like little bags, shoes and dresses! Hope everyone else has wonderful hen do’s
xx
What great ideas! Just send this thread to my sister. Ehem, Ang if your reading this not the horsey day, hint hint xx
oops! I meant NOTE the horsey day. xx