Hen Weekends – The Evolution of the Hen Night

A fairly recent trend amongst the younger generations of today is to extend their pre-wedding celebrations from the traditional night before the wedding into an entire weekend. Although this trend is more apparent amongst men than women, then rise of the hen weekend is still seemingly inexorable. Although a much smaller share of the hen do market than stag weekends are of the stag do market, the ballooning of both is still notable.

Traditionally of course, a hen night would involve gathering together a group of women, dressing them up in angel wings and L plates and trawling round the bride to be’s home town on a dedicated mission of fun that would inevitably end up with what can most kindly be described as a ‘duvet day’ the following day. This may or may not take place the night before the wedding (therefore precluding the duvet day).

However, for whatever reason (and we shall examine these in a moment), a single night in a girl’s home town just isn’t enough anymore. Rather, a weekend spent in at least a different town, if not a different country is becoming steadily more normalised.

Of course, extending a hen night into a hen weekend means that more activities than simply dressing up as an angel/fairy and getting trolleyed are required, and that is an interesting facet of the trend. Although the standard night life is still a large feature, the day times are taken up with activities many of the girl’s may not have had a chance to experience before: burlesque lessons, pop star for a day, wine tasting, life drawing; the list is endless.

All of this comes at a price, and it is this which I believe to be the principle factor in the rise of hen weekends. Many couple are getting married much later, which means that they have access to much greater levels of disposable cash. Not only that, but as they are getting married later and the taboo on co-habitation has largely receded, the significance of marriage is changed. It no longer makes much practical difference and so the occasion has to be marked as extravagantly as possible if it is to mean anything at all. This means enormous weddings and hen weekends rather than hen nights, as well as stag weekends instead of stag nights. Marriage has become more about the event rather than the years that follow.

In my eyes, the rise of hen weekends can only be described as a good thing. It makes the hen celebrations more than just a night out on the lash with your best friends. As fun as that can be, for many, that’s simply a Friday night on the town.

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