A hen’s party is a once in a lifetime experience that a bride to be shares with her nearest and dearest friends. It’s a last hurrah and a goodbye forever to the single girl lifestyle! But if the thought of a night spent in a sleazy, smoke-filled club turns your stomach and the idea of stuffing strippers’ G-strings with dollar bills isn’t your idea of fun, don’t worry. There are so many other great ways to have an amazing hen’s party!
There are many reasons why a bride to be might decide not to have the stereotypical hypersexualized night of excess to mark the end of her time as a single woman. Perhaps her wedding party includes friends with more conservative leanings. Perhaps the sister or mother of the groom are joining in for the fun. Or perhaps the bride to be wants a unique hens night that will stand out in her memory and in the memories of her friends! Whatever the reason, here are some of our favorite alternate hens party ideas!
- A ‘70 kickback with Grease-inspired dancing and bowling.
Even if the groovy ‘70s predated the bride, it’s always fun to dress in too much shiny black leather, slick on too much hair gel, and hit the town for a night of dancing and bowling!
This hen’s party is perfect for a bride who loves dancing, a bride who needs a fun excuse to let loose, or a hard-core movie fan!
Serve classic diner fare of burgers and fries fit for any decent greaser! Don’t worry about the bride’s pre-wedding diet – you’ll burn off the meal on the dance floor. Break off into two groups to make up your own 70s style dances for a dance-off! Costumes are mandatory.
- A drag queen dress-up party.
The bride will try her best to look her best on her big day, but all bets are off for the hens party! Go over the top with the drama and put on as much makeup as you can bear, with the highest heels you can walk in and the most sequins you can find.
But first, set the scene. Build a catwalk or rent a party space that already has one. Hang up a disco ball or two, get the multi-colored strobe lights, prepare lots of sparkly confetti to throw around, and get a DJ to spin house music all night long.
Bring out guests’ competitive spirits by having a contest over who has the fiercest costume! A runway show where all the guest can strut their stuff on the catwalk rounds out the night. Bonus points for table dancing and falsetto karaoke!
Serve colorful cocktails and anatomically-inspired treats. Feature a chocolate fountain with strawberries, cake cubes, and pretzel rods for dipping. All of the senses will be indulged on this night of carefree revelry!
- A cocktail-making class.
Give a (wo)man a fish and (s)he eats for one meal. Teach a (wo)man to fish and (s)he eats forever. The same goes for drinking! Instead of spending the night drinking delicious drinks, learn how to make them in a cocktail-making class!
Hire a professional mixologist or two, depending on the party size, to demonstrate how to make fun cocktails that go way beyond the run of the mill gin and whiskey or juice and spirits mixed drink. For extra fun, get glow in the dark cocktail stirrers and plastic ‘ice cubes’ that light up your drinks!
After everyone has learned the basics, the true fun begins. Have guests group off into teams to create one signature drink per group. Have a few guests serve as judges and, blindfolded, try the cocktails in a random order. Each cocktail gets a score from 1-10 and the group with the highest total score wins!
- A burlesque dancing lesson.
Burlesque dancing lessons are double the fun. They make for a fun, wild hens party and the bride can reap the benefits later, on her honeymoon!
Not only does everyone, bride-to-be and guests included, learn a sexy skill to spice up their personal lives, but a burlesque lesson can easily count as a last-minute pre-wedding workout to help give everyone that extra little edge for wedding photos.
Have guests dress up in corsets, short skirts, and their highest heels, then pass out feathered fans and feather boas as props for the dances. Since this fun, active hens party is sure to send some guests home with tired feet, the perfect party favor for a burlesque dancing hens party is a gift card for a foot massage at a local spa!
- A Hello Sailor cruise.
For a party that’s merry and gay, take a Hello Sailor cruise! With plenty of music and dancing, dining and drinking, and fabulous costumes galore, a Hello Sailor cruise is sure to be a jolly good time! Dress in your nautical best and have a fun night of celebrating the end of the bride-to-be’s single status on the high seas!
Since the nautical night and the sea trip reflect an earlier time, take full advantage of your cute costumes and hire a photographer to shoot pin-up images of the bride and her guests. Make a calendar out of the images and send it to all the hens party attendees afterwards, so that everyone can enjoy the memories of the night for the rest of the year!
- A classy high tea.
Don your white gloves and Sunday best for a classy high tea! Serve scones, crumpets, triangular finger sandwiches, and an assortment of teas. The best part of this hens party is that it doesn’t have to be at night, so it’s great for a group that prefers daytime exploits or a group that includes either quite young or quite old partiers. Liven it up with fun games, like a Downton Abbey trivia game or a fortune teller who reads partiers’ fortunes in tea leaves!
Liven things up by setting up a life size Cluedo game! Have guests dress up as the characters from the beloved board game and then stage a ‘murder’ in an empty room. The game organizer, dressed up as a butler or maid, will run into the room of partiers sometime mid-party in feigned distress, bearing the first clue. From then on the party becomes a live-action murder mystery you’ll all enjoy!
- A treasure hunt.
Everyone loves finding a prize. Have fun with a themed treasure hunt!
Whether you’re more a fan of pirates or Ancient Egypt, a themed hunt is a great way to enjoy bringing out your competitive side! Up the ante by making a treasure map with hints that are related to the bride and groom. Whoever knows the pair the best will win!
The questions can be anything from the mundane, like what the bride and groom like to eat for breakfast, to the truly obscure, like who their childhood crushes were, to the risque (we’ll leave those questions to your imagination). Choose whatever is best suited to your particular group of guests!
- A night of nude figure drawing.
Strippers are so passé. Keep the risque element but make it so much more original by having a night of nude figure drawing as your hens party! Hire a figure model, or a few, and draw to your heart’s content. For extra fun, have a male figure model and a female figure model pose as the happy couple, in traditional wedding poses – but completely in the buff! Giggling is allowed.
Anatomical treats are a must for a nude figure drawing party. Let your imagination run wild and don’t be afraid to have a little too much fun with it!
Keep energy levels and spirits high with fun uptempo music, whether that means top 40s, bubblegum pop, or disco throwbacks. Dance breaks are encouraged!
- Games at an Alice in Wonderland tea party.
If the bride has a silly side, flash back to the past with this childhood favorite! Feast on tarts fit for the Queen of Hearts, solve riddles inspired by the Mad Hatter, and go on a scavenger hunt so tricky it feels like falling down the rabbit hole! It’s even more fun if everyone dresses up as a character and plays the part of the character throughout the night. Whoever stays in character the best wins a prize!
Have a mystery tasting ‘eat me’ cakes and ‘drink me’ libations, each featuring an unexpected mystery ingredients. Have guests guess what is hidden in their refreshments!
A life-size chess set, an area set up for croquet, and possibly a hookah lounge decorated with caterpillar images all add to a whimsical Alice in Wonderland setting!
- A cultural night of Bollywood dancing and Indian cooking lessons!
If you’re not headed off on an exotic destination wedding, a cultural night inspired by the East is a much cheaper, but still fun, way to experience something new! Dance the night away and tantalize your tastebuds with flavorful dishes you make yourselves. One pot curries can make a practical, but still delicious, menu choice and guests can pair off into groups of two or three to cook together. Alternately, have each group make a different dish and then share them all at the end for a delicious feast! With advance notice, commercial kitchens can often be rented out to offer you all the space that you need.
When all guests are exhausted from dancing and the Indian meal is ready to enjoy, set up a Bollywood classic on a large film screen and close the night singing and laughing along with a colorful tale of love come true!
- A vintage Great Gatsby-inspired night.
Is the bride an avid thrifter or a fan of historical fiction? Travel back in time for a beautiful Great Gatsby-inspired night with costumes inspired by the swinging 20s!
Live fast with high stakes card games where guests can gamble challenges or secrets in a fun twist on truth or dare! Complete the evening with a lesson in the foxtrot, waltz, or tango, popular dances of the ‘20s.
Have the instructors open off a dance competition with an inspiring dance number. Then have guests pair off into twos and show off their new-found dance skills! Each pair will be judged and the winners are announced as the high society of the hens party!
- A luxurious night of glitz and glamour.
Is the bride-to-be a greater fan of pampering than goofiness? Spoil yourselves with a luxurious night to remember! Gather the girls for a classy limousine ride to a 5 star restaurant where you’ll wine and dine on the best your area has to offer. Broaden your horizons with unfamiliar gourm
et tastes, like snails served in a rich cream sauce, in the Normandy style.
You’ll all feel like A-listers! For a special touch, prepare A-lister gift baskets ahead of time to send everyone home with. Include all sorts of fun little things for pampering, like a soft eye mask, mini champagnebottles, and mini perfumes. Give your hens party its own signature scent!
- An old school disco.
The ‘80s were full of so much ridiculous fun with their over the top costumes, hairstyles, and music. Bad ‘80s dancing, complete with a dance-off in outfits inspired by the decade, is perfect light-hearted fun for a hens party!
Tease your hair, put on your shiniest, brightest clothes, cake on the neon makeup, and dance your butt off to Madonna! If you feel like giving the theme a modern twist, mix in random modern covers and spoofs of 80s classics, like ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic’s ‘Like A Surgeon,’ inspired by Madonna’s ‘Like A Virgin.’
- An Arabian Nights genie in a bottle night!
Forget about Las Vegas. Take an adventure to a faraway land, where magic is real and wishes come true! Take turns granting each other’s small wishes for instant happiness and great bonding. Bring the adventure to life with fun challenges that the party guests pull out of a hat!
An electronic magic carpet makes a fun spin on an electronic bull riding challenge. Guests can dress up in Arabic costumes, eat exoticly spiced dishes served out of earthen bowls while lounging on comfortable arrangements of brightly colored pillows on the floor. Hire professional belly dancers to entertain guests during their night and invite the more daring of your guests to join in the dance!
Whether you’re proper, daring, outdoorsy, glamourous, silly, or serious, there’s a perfect hens party for every bride out there. With these fun alternative hens party ideas, there’s no reason to have a boring night. Pick your favorite of our hens party ideas or mix a few ideas together! Whatever you choose, you’re sure to have a party to remember.
Meet Dale Pruser, our fabulous blogger who lives and breathes costumes! With boundless enthusiasm and a knack for turning heads, she’s the perfect guide to unleash your inner alter ego. Dale’s 30+ years experience in the costume and cosplay industry, make her the go-to source for finding the perfect costume. Her passion and knowledge shine through her blog posts, where she shares helpful tips on finding the perfect costume, DIY hacks to make your outfit stand out, and even delves into the fascinating history behind some of the most iconic characters. Her writing is as vibrant and colorful as the costumes she adores. With a twinkle in her eye and a wardrobe bursting with creativity, Dale dives headfirst into the realm of costumes. She lives for those magical moments when you put on a costume and become someone entirely different—whether it’s a mighty superhero, a swashbuckling pirate, or a glamorous 1920s flapper.