Posted by
Silvio Fox
Hot news from the Stag Blog
Good news; there are some truly awesome stag do activities out there. But the better news; choosing the right one could transform you from a mere man into a stag party weekend super hero.
Choosing between different activity ideas for a stag do is an exciting if daunting prospect and one which normally falls to you, the best man. If you get all of the activity planning right, everyone will arrive in the right place at the right time, have a great experience, and the smiles, laughter and praise will follow in buckets. If not, well let’s not go there in this article...
– Getting the activities right is not easy but can make you a stag do hero –
So many stag activities to choose from
There are literally hundreds if not thousands of stag do activities to choose from in the UK so where on earth should you start? Well, as you will already know there are lots of things to consider - where will the stag do be held? How many guys are likely to come? Are they all likely to want to do the same thing? The answer to most of these questions could in the early planning stages of the stag weekend be 'I'm not entirely sure' and that's fine. Take your time, make some suggestions to the groom and other key members of the group and you will quickly get an idea about what is likely to work. And remember, the most important person to please is that stag and you will likely know already which types of activities he is likely to want to do.
To help you on your way we have compiled a list of things to consider when starting to shortlist your weekends activities.
– Being a hero is not so easy, there are so many things to do, so many choices to make –
Consider who will be attending
You probably won’t be the main decision maker as far as the attendee list goes but this list should give you a lot of clues about which activities are likely to work so it's good to get a copy of this early on. It might be a little easier for this one to rule out activities rather than the other way around. For instance, if half of the group have never been interested in outdoor or adventure activities, then organising a 2 night wilderness foray in Wales might not be the wisest choice. You will either end up with a much smaller group who want to do it or even worse a big group of very unhappy ill-prepared and uncomfortable guys to appease. You might be better going for something safer altogether, or mix up the activities to include some that are a bit risky and some that you know everyone will enjoy.
– The attendee list will give you some big clues as to which stag do activities are likely to work –
Communicate your activity ideas
Now this might seem obvious but either way it is important. Whether or not you do all the booking yourself, you will need a way to communicate effectively with all the potential participants. We have tried many different platforms but the ones that seem to work best are SMS and Facebook Messenger and of course email – these are the ones most people seem to use and have regular or instant access to and you should get a response to most of these pretty quickly. A good suggestion is to create a group on your chosen platform and start a conversation as soon as you can – you will find out who prefers which one soon enough and there might even be a couple of people who you will just have to call!
– Setting up good communications with the stag group is essential to letting them know which activities you are thinking about and getting their feedback –
Categorise or group activities
There are so many things for a group of guys to do for a couple of days that you can easily get swamped. Try grouping activities to help narrow down your choices, you will quickly realise which ones are ins, outs and maybes and you can narrow your choices from there. So perhaps you choices could be as simple as wet and dry, city centre or out of town, or half day and full day. That way you can narrow down your activity choices based on whether everyone can swim, if you are all arriving in cars and how much time you have available. You might even try some mind mapping or organisational tools to help, there are a few great free as well as ones out there, our particular favorites are SimpleMind and Todoist.
– Using mind maps and other tools can help get your ideas organised save you time –
Pick the month or time of year
Something you may or might not have a choice about is the time of year for the stag weekend as this is normally dependent on the wedding date. However, if you do have a say there are two ways to look at this – if you choose the months outside of April to September you are likely to get better availability and better rates. So if budget is an issue then this might be a good option. The closer you come to the summer months availability might not be as good, so booking well in advance would be smart; the prices are likely to be higher but the choice of activities are better and the need for having to have a backup plan are decreased.
Decide on the duration of the trip
Agreeing the number of days and nights you have available is pretty important when thinking about what you are going to do. Most groups will want at least one night away to fully enjoy a full evening’s entertainment and it can often be a late start the day after. A two day, two night Friday to Sunday event often works best to get in a full day’s activity on the Saturday, a good night out and then either a leisurely departure from the hotel or a half day of activities on the Sunday before heading home. As the organiser you should also remember that some of the group might choose to arrive the day before due to their journey time and this should be an option you can offer.
– Choosing a low season stag weekend will be can save you money but you might not have as many activity options –
Consider a package
Organising a stag do will probably take more time than you imagined. There’s no avoiding the ton of emails, phone calls and messages that you will have to get through to know who is coming, when they will all be arriving and who is doing what. So depending on how knowledgeable and experienced you are about organising group travel, it might make sense to make some of it a bit easier for yourself. There are tons of ready-made packages that include activities and accommodation in all the popular UK destinations that could be just the thing to simplify the process.
Once you put your package idea to the group the might still be some tweaking to be done, life is never quite that simple. But it is a good start and as a company that provides these kind of packages we are always more than happy to swap out, add or remove different activity ideas as you plans evolve.
Decide and agree a budget
What activities you will be able to do will largely depend on how much everyone can afford, so be realistic. The average spend per person for a UK stag party is around £150, which can easily get you a night or two in a reasonable hotel, some decent activities and entry into some of the local night spots. Of course there are a whole bunch of things and more expensive activities you can add to your package and a non-UK stag do can set you back a lot more than that in total. Conversely activity only and single night stag dos could be cheaper – although be aware that if you are planning to hire a company to organise the event for you, some of them will not be interested unless you include accommodation. Oh and remember, you will have to collect the money for each attendee – this alone is a good reason to choose to use a company to book everything for you – if someone doesn’t pay it does not fall to you to chase after them or worse stump up the cash yourself.
– Find out how much everyone is likely to afford before deciding on the activities –
The location vs activity choice
So you might have a good idea about what sort of things you want to do but be aware that even the most popular activities are not available everywhere and if you are planning more than one activity that’s when things can start getting tricky. You will sometimes need to trade off one for the other so it is better to decide ahead of time whether the location or the activities are most important. Our stag ideas page is packed with real activities in real locations throughout the UK. If you already have some rough ideas about your activity choices, our package builder will easily guide you through the process and tell you which locations have some or all of those activities available.
– The Essential Adventure Package Builder shows activity choices that exist in different locations making it easy to see your ideas location choices. –
Have a backup plan
If you go for something that’s weather dependent you would be wise to agree what happens if you get there and it’s rained off. There is nothing worse for the organiser than to have all the planning perfectly done, only to be under pressure to make stressful decisions about alternative activities on the day. Better to know exactly what the contingency plans are, relax and let all everyone else handle the stress. If you are organising all of the logistics for the weekend this could end up being a fair bit more work so think carefully about whether taking on a company is worth the little extra that it will cost for the peace of mind and the huge amount of time it will save you.
– Having a backup plan will ensure you have some activities in reserve, removing the stress of having to organise something at the last minute –
Over to you! 9 Hints For Choosing The Right Stag Do Activities
It’s a pretty important job and of course most people do a pretty good job. But it is not a simple task and there are plenty of things that can make it more difficult so good planning, good preparation and good communication are key to a successful care free and of course thoroughly enjoyable event for everyone. Here’s a summary of the key points:
- Consider who will be attending
- Communicate your activity ideas
- Categorise or group activities
- Pick the month or time of year
- Decide on the duration of the trip
- Consider a package
- Decide and agree a budget
- The location vs activity choice
- Have a backup plan
Share this article