Alternatives to a Trashy Hen Weekend

Let's face it ladies: the trashy hen night of bar crawls, fancy dress and strippers is now an exhausted cliché and we don’t want repeat it over and over. Hen parties don’t have to be this way. If something a little more refined seems appealing, you might want to consider some of the following options.

Spa weekends are becoming increasingly popular. Hen party guests can still enjoy a drink, but in a classy manner, with champagne cocktails and strawberries being the order of the day. Instead of nursing a hangover, you and the girls can enjoy luxurious beauty treatments and body massages, followed by a session in the sauna or Jacuzzi, or a relaxing float about the pool.

A more indulgent experience is a luxury motorboat weekend, where you can bask in the sun while an on-board team caters to your every need. The interiors of these magnificent boats are often like holiday homes, making them essentially high-class hotels on water. For those girls who don’t like to have everything taken out of their hands, a similar but not identical option is a luxury yacht weekend in which you get to have a go at sailing.

For those parties that do plan to get a little merry, a cocktail making master class could be a perfect compromise between the conventional hen night and something more elegant. Drinking will proceed at a more leisurely pace, and an appreciation for the various ingredients that go into your favourite concoctions might incline you to sip rather than to slosh.

If you had your heart set on some form of fancy dress, there’s no reason to rule it out completely. Instead of the plastic tiaras, put on the outfit of your favourite pop artist star in your own music video. A pop-video party is far more than someone messing around with a camcorder: most packages include exclusive use of a recording studio, a cameraman, a sound engineer, a choreographer – and a professionally-edited DVD at the end of it all.

Who said hen parties had to be about bars, bunny ears and bright pink sashes?