Want a hen or stag with a twist? Why not turn the tables on standard pre-wedding ideas by booking 'boyish' activites while giving stags the chance to indulge in a little pampering session. We show you how...
Indoor Skydiving
If you’ve always wanted to give skydiving a go but the thought of leaping out of an aircraft door at 13,000ft was too much to bear, Airkix has the solution for you. Their indoor skydiving facility recreates the effect of freefalling, using a powerful column of air - it’s all the fun and none of the risk. With three locations in Basingstoke, Milton Keynes and Manchester, you’ll have a blast on your adrenaline-filled hen party.
• www.airkix.com
Supercar Racing at Brands Hatch
Live life in the fast lane with a speeding session at Brands Hatch, one of the world’s premier circuits for racing powerful supercars. Brands Hatch offer a selection of packages, but we love the sound of the RaceMaster experience, which includes two thrilling 15min sessions in a BMW M3 and a high performance race car. Feel the adrenaline pumping through your veins as you conquer the twists and turns of the circuit with a professional driver by your side. It’s the closest you’ll get to Forumla 1 without breaking a sweat. Just make sure there’s champagne waiting at the finishing line.
• www.msvdrivinggifts.com
Casino Night
Glamour and glitz abound on the casino floor, making it an ideal venue for a high-rolling hen soirée. Gather your girls for an evening of poker, black jack and of course, roulette at The Casino at The Empire in London’s Leicester Square and hope Lady Luck looks in on you over the night. With world-class drinking and dining both in the Casino and beyond its doors, it’s a terrific start or finale for a hen to end all hens. Who needs Vegas?
• www.thecasinolsq.com
Wild Luxury Norfolk
A weekend out in the sticks may not be everyone’s idea of hen heaven, but that’s before you discover Wild Luxury Norfolk’s stunning VIP safari lodges, which combine all the luxuries of a world-class hotel with the beauty of the English countryside.
• www.wildluxury.co.uk
The Loveland Pod
Forget leaky tents - this is getting back to nature in serious style. The Loveland Pod in sunny Cornwall sleeps six and features a projector screen for private pod-based movie nights! An all-girls getaway doesn’t get much better than this. From £111 per night, book at:
• www.canopyandstars.co.uk
Hen in the Alps
Escape the UK with Amazon Creek, a boutique firm who is running a Women’s Only Weekend in the snow-capped Alps. The four-day break will include yoga, delicious dinners and an hour-long massage in a luxury treatment room. Bliss.
• www.amazoncreek.co.uk
Gentleman's Afternoon Tea
Afternoon tea may have earned a rep as an indulgent treat for the girls, but Reform Social & Grill’s Gentleman’s Afternoon Tea turns all that on its head. It’s out with the delicate cucumber sandwiches and cups of Earl Grey and in with robust pies, doorstep sandwiches and tumblers of smooth Glenfiddich (there’s plenty of vegetarian and alcohol-free options on offer too).
The no-nonsense spread is as masculine as Reform’s interior, which is inspired by classic gentlemen’s clubs; all gleaming mahogany and oxblood leather. Located in smart Marylebone, it’s an experience grooms will savour long after the wedding.
• www.reformsocialgrill.co.uk
Gorgeous Grooms
Put your feet up and enjoy a thoroughly masculine grooming session. The Murdock London Luxury Full Service includes a hair trim and tidy, wet shave or beard reshape, manicure or pedicure and shoe polish, ensuring you and your groomsmen will look the part from head to toe ahead of the Big Day.
Grooms can even reserve the entire Shoreditch barbershop for a private session, allowing all the stags to fully realise their dapper potential. Refreshments in the shape of whiskey, beer, tea and coffee complete the experience.
• www.murdocklondon.com
Cinnamon Club
If you (or your stags) are forever boasting about your culinary talents, here’s the perfect opportunity to put your money where your mouth is. A cooking masterclass with the chefs of Cinnamon Club will soon sort the boys from the men. You’ll get a chance to try your hand at crafting tandoori dishes, vegetarian specialities and, of course, learn the secrets to making an exceptional curry.
• www.cinnamonclub.com
Spice Monkey
Curry favour with your in-laws by learning to rustle up a few home favourites before the Big Day. Nikita Gulhane’s Spice Monkey cooking school in north London covers all the basics and includes courses on Keralan, Punjabi and vegetarian dishes as well as street food and snacks. Stag parties should consider a private home-visit lesson with the main man.
• spicemonkey.co.uk
