The best ideas and tips for your hen party

In Germany, the Polterabend is known as a wedding custom in which porcelain is broken in front of the bride's or bridal couple's house on the day before the wedding. The bride and groom then have to sweep up the broken pieces together with a broom. There are various ways in which you can plan this day, the important thing is that it should be about the custom. The old tradition says that the shards and the loud clattering are supposed to drive away evil spirits and bring the bride and groom luck in marriage and in their new phase of life. This is where the saying "broken glass brings good luck" comes from. While the bride and groom are together at the hen party, they spend their stag party separately.

There are also stag parties in India, but these have less to do with broken glass. There, stag parties are a celebration lasting several days before the wedding, with music and cocktail parties. This lavish celebration is also known as a pre-wedding party or hen party.

In this article, we show you ideas for a stag party.

Classic hen party ideas

Shards bring luck

The classic wedding reception is all about breaking china, after which the bride and groom sweep up the broken pieces with a broom. This is considered to be the first joint act between you and your future husband. The breaking is also said to drive away evil spirits and bring you good luck for your new chapter in life.

The location for this ritual used to be the bride's parents' house. If you already live with your partner, the party can also take place outside your shared home. Some couples also rent a location to celebrate there, the important thing is that you can throw china safely without endangering anyone. According to the old tradition, the bachelorette party takes place the evening before the wedding reception, but nowadays it is usually celebrated one to two weeks before the wedding so that you are fully prepared for your big day. If you decide to spend the day of your bachelorette party in a restaurant, or anywhere that is not your own garden, you should make sure that the location allows banging.

Garden party with guest book for a hen party

Another classic way to celebrate a wedding anniversary is to have a garden party either in your garden or in your parents' garden. You can invite anyone you like, family, friends and even neighbors.

The garden is a particularly good place to celebrate a bachelorette party, especially in spring or summer. You can decorate a corner in the garden specifically for the reception. You can provide china for this and possibly separate the area from the rest of the party with a partition. The decorations for the separate area and the rest of the party can vary depending on the season. It would be particularly nice to hang a garland with pictures of the bride and groom. You can also hang up some small, colorful lights. You can use a variety of flowers for the tablecloth, either your favorite flowers or flowers that you have picked together from the garden.

To create a relaxed atmosphere, you can organize various games or set up a kind of craft station where you can create the decorations for the wedding together. You can set up a cocktail station where only the bride and groom's favorite cocktails are served.

Barbecue evening in a large circle with food and drinks

A barbecue in your garden sounds like a fun hen party. You can either organize it with just your inner circle, or throw a big party. Everyone can bring a little something to eat, so you'll have a huge buffet at your stag party. If you decide against this, you can also organize catering to have side dishes, meat, meat alternatives and much more at the pre-wedding party, but the alternative that all guests bring something themselves is a lot cheaper.

Active ideas for implementing the custom

If you are one of those active brides who like to experience action-packed things, you don't have to do without them for your stag party. There are several activities that you can do with your girlfriends for both your bachelorette party and your JGA.

Escape room for the analytical bride

Do you like solving puzzles and are incredibly ambitious? Then an escape room party is just the thing for you. In an escape room, you are usually "locked" in one or more rooms. You, your groom and your friends and family have to get out of the room in a given time. To do this, you have to follow clues that show you how long it takes. If you have followed all the clues correctly in the given time, you have made it. To incorporate the hen party into the escape room, you can smash porcelain as a task at the end. Of course, this must be agreed with the staff on site beforehand.

Rage Room with the bridal couple

Similar to the escape room and almost a little more exciting would be a stag night in a rage room. There are several different types of rage rooms, but the principle remains the same: You and all your guests can practically destroy this room completely. There are usually numerous pieces of furniture and various electronic devices in a rage room that you can destroy with a baseball bat. Of course, it would be fitting if you brought your own china. The rage room may also offer to provide porcelain for a small extra charge.

Stag party at the bowling center or mini golf

If you're the sporty type, an evening at the bowling center or mini golf would be a great idea for you and your partner. These sports are a great way to celebrate together and incorporate china smashing at the same time. There are two ways in which you can incorporate china smashing:

Option 1: After each lost round, the loser has to smash a piece of china. However, it's best not to do this in the bowling hall, but always outside. You and your partner can of course take part in every lost round, regardless of whether you are the ones who lost.

Variant 2: The person with the lowest total score, i.e. the overall loser, has to smash plates at the end. Of course, you and your groom should also break china regardless of this, because it's about you.

Outdoor scavenger hunt

As an adventurous loved one, you've probably done a scavenger hunt before. At least as a child, most people have done this at a children's birthday party. Even as an adult, a scavenger hunt can be great fun, especially if the weather cooperates. A scavenger hunt would therefore be a great idea for your wedding in spring or summer. Here you can easily incorporate rumbling at a station of the scavenger hunt, either in the middle or at the very end of the hunt. All your guests and you smash the dishes as soon as you have found the smashing spot.

Relaxed ideas for a stag party

Cooking event as a group

Do you like cooking? Then a group cooking course would be a great idea for your stag party. You can break plates right at the beginning. This is also symbolic of the fact that you first break something and then create something new.

You can really let off steam here in culinary terms. You can choose the cuisine you like best.

Wine tasting or cocktail course

You can book a wine tasting or a cocktail course to perfectly combine your stag party with your JGA. If you don't drink alcohol, a mocktail evening is of course the only option. You can choose your favorite drinks and then you can learn how to make them professionally.

You can incorporate the clinking of glasses by clinking glasses with your guests at the beginning of the evening and then breaking the glasses afterwards. This is a fun way to start your bachelorette party.

Creative ideas for the bachelorette party

Pottery course for creative brides

DIY evening

If you enjoy crafting and are talented at it, you can organize a DIY craft evening together with your future husband. This is a relaxed way to celebrate the wedding anniversary and give free rein to your creative side. You can make the decorations for your wedding day together with your loved ones. No matter whether you want to make crazy napkins or do the table decorations yourself. You could also smash various pieces of china at the beginning of the evening and then reassemble them into a mosaic. You can make a mosaic painting from the shards and then hang this painting in your home as a memento.

Photo shoot with your loved ones

If you want to have great souvenir photos of your bachelorette party, you could organize a kind of photo shoot. You can celebrate your bachelorette party in the traditional way in the garden of your parents' house, or go to a photo studio. The photographer can take pictures of you while you're having fun. This will result in fun and great pictures of your bachelorette party. You can then hang these pictures up as a collage in your home.

Conclusion

What you decide on in the end will of course depend on your interests and, above all, you should have fun that evening. The stag party should be something you'll always remember as great. Of course, you don't have to choose just one option. You can also plan a combination of different ideas. For example, the photo shoot can be perfectly combined with the garden party. You can also combine the cocktail course or wine tasting with the cooking course for a double culinary experience.

What counts in the end: You have chased away the evil spirits together and spent a wonderful evening together.