Celebrating your last night (or weekend) of freedom before tying the knot has been a tradition around the world for hundred’s of years. Men get together to mourn their friend’s departure from the life of a freewheeling bachelor and celebrate his soon to be marital status. These nights, weekends and sometimes week long celebrations are carried out across the world in interesting and often similar ways with the name varying through continents.
The phrase ‘stag do’ is commonly used throughout the UK and over the years has evolved into an activity filled weekend complete with hotels, restaurants and nightclubs.
Men in the UK are renowned for drunken, debauched behaviour that often involve strippers, lap dance clubs and stag pranks. Popular activities for stag parties in the UK are go-karting, paintballing and lap dancing, which are incorporated into a weekend of heavy drinking. London, Brighton and Edinburgh are obvious favourites.
Liverpool, Bournemouth and Blackpool are seeing huge increases in stag enquiries. The credit crunch has caused many parties to stay home and reconsider the luxury of a European city. However, destinations such as Tallinn and Riga are still pulling in plenty of revellers thanks to incredibly cheap flights and activities.
The American’s refer to these weekend celebrations as a bachelor party and have many similarities to their UK counterparts. However, the American’s often involve some form of gambling into their celebrations and it is a tradition for the rest of the group to make sure the future groom is ‘appropriately’ humiliated.
Las Vegas is an obvious choice due to the extensive gambling and easy access to numerous strippers. Another favourite among young American males and one of the party hot spots of Mexico is Tijuana. The infamous, debauched antics that go on in Tijuana are legendary. This bachelor party favourite is also the hosting location of Spring break for thousands of students finishing high school.
If you were shown pictures of a didgeridoo, a koala and a kangaroo, what location would pop into your head?.....No, not Rolf Harris’ wardrobe - Australia of course. The land of Oz is a mecca for young guys enjoying their last nights of freedom in the cities and the legendary outback. The Australians refer to this celebration as the Buck night.
The Aussies reputation as mischief makers is definitely carried through to the all important Buck night with the group making sure the stag (or Buck) is well and truly smashed, which then gives the group the opportunity to embarrass, humiliate and take full advantage of the vulnerable Buck.
These celebrations, although vary in names and places, often end with the inevitable – a drunk man, tied to a pole naked in the middle of the street after watching women take their clothes off….it’s good to see good taste is followed through every continent.
