Planning a stag do can be tough, especially if it’s the first one you’ve been involved with. Whether you’re planning to head out of town or stay local, there are lots of different variables to take into account when choosing an itinerary and accommodation. You want everything to go smoothly and for your guy to have the time of his life; after all, you won’t get another crack at organising his last days as a single man! There are plenty of potential pitfalls when it comes to organising a very drunken night out: from worrying about what the other guests might think if you pick a less than reputable establishment, to considering whether or not it would be a good idea for everyone involved to book separate hotel rooms so that no one has to worry about anyone else staying over. However, with the right amount of research and preparation beforehand, your stag do should go off without a hitch. Here are some tips on how best to prepare:
Be realistic about timing
The best stag do ever is the one you don’t end up regretting the next day – or for the rest of your life! Make sure that you and your group are realistic about how much alcohol you can comfortably consume before you start playing silly games and make sure that you set a time in which everyone agrees that the night is over. One of the biggest mistakes that stag parties make is going out for far too many drinks and then trying to head back to the hotel, only to find that the last bus has already left or the taxis are all booked up. Whilst you want to make the most of your last night together as a group before your friend gets hitched, you also want to make sure that everyone gets home safely and the last thing you want on your conscience is a drunk and disorderly incident or an ill-advised fight that might have left someone badly hurt.
Choose somewhere central
When you’re booking your stag do, it’s important to consider where you’re going to be staying. One of the biggest mistakes that people make when they’re booking a stag is to head out to the outskirts of town and then spend the whole night and journey back again, only to find that the guests are knackered and the stag is too drunk to be able to get them all back to the hotel again. If you choose a reputable stag party hotel that’s central, it’s much easier for everyone to go out and come back again. You might find that some hotels offer free shuttles to and from the main nightlife areas which makes your life so much easier!
Decide on a price range and stick to it
It’s worth doing a bit of research into how much a stag do costs in your area, and then setting a budget for how much you’re willing to spend on accommodation and drinks. If you go over your budget, you might have to make sacrifices elsewhere, so it’s best to be as frugal as possible. However, you don’t want your buddy to feel as if he’s staying in a hostel with no luxuries whatsoever, so make sure that you’re on the lower end of the scale and then, if you have a bit of money left over, you can spend it on some tacky souvenirs for the groom and his bride to be.
Ask your group which activities they’d like to do
If you’re planning on booking an activity as part of your stag do, get your group together and consider which activities are most likely to appeal to them. For example, if you want to go paintballing, it might be a good idea to ask your quieter friends if they’d rather do something different so that they don’t feel pressured or out of their depth. If there are some activities that you’re not sure about and don’t want to book in case they aren’t suitable for your group, you could always ask the hotel if they have any other suggestions. There are often lots of different activities that you can choose from in one location, so it’s worth taking a look at a few different hotels and checking out what they have to offer.
Double check the location of the hotel you
Finally, make sure that you double check the location of the hotel that you’re considering and make sure that it’s in a safe area. You don’t want to book a hotel that’s in a dodgy part of town and then have to worry about getting back to your hotel safely at the end of the night! If you’re booking a hotel online, make sure that you read the reviews and check out satellite images so that you can see what the surrounding area is like. You can also ask the hotel if they have any advice for getting back to your hotel or for avoiding unsafe areas, so that you can rest assured that you’ll get home safely at the end of the night. If you’re prepared and you know what you’re looking for, you should find it easy to book a stag do hotel. If you follow these tips, you should end up with a weekend your buddy will remember for the rest of his life!