Welcome to the biggest party of your life!

Marriage: we love it. But not, perhaps for the reasons you’re thinking of. Yes, it’s your chance to grow old and ever so slightly wrinkly with the person of your dreams. It’s dinner parties, 2.4 children, and, much later in life, grand prix races on your personalised stairlifts. But that’s all for later. Right now, whilst you’re on the brink of marriage-dom, it’s time to start thinking about parties. Your party. And you’d better make it a good one…

If you’re trying to organise your stag or hen night you want your party to go with the sort of bang that has people talking about it decades later. You want to be a legend of all-conquering partydom. You want to be the prince or princess of stags or hens. Why wouldn’t you? No point doing things by half-measures is there?

Marriage may be all about beginnings (and cake, dresses, flowers, rings and appeasing mildly annoying relatives), but marriage marks an end as well as a beginning. It marks the end of your days basking in singledom. Think about it – this may be the last time you get to arrange a party night entirely on your own terms – and that’s an opportunity not to be missed. Actually, that’s got to be worth celebrating with the biggest, wildest, earth-shatteringly finest party of your life.

But have you ever tried organising a party night? Ever tried getting all the mates you know in one place at the same time – even if it’s just down the local for a drink and a pack of dry roasted? Logistical nightmare, eh? And we’re talking about organising the party to end all parties which may, all of a sudden, be sounding a bit daunting.

What you need is someone to take the hassle out of putting your stag or hen night together. Do-it-yourself is fine when it comes to putting up a shelf or painting the living room but when it comes to sorting hotels, activities, venues, transport and the most unpredictable element of all - your friends - you have a choice. You can either take it entirely upon yourself to sort everything and then get pilloried when the taxi doesn’t turn up, you find the restaurant fully booked or find the queue at the night club is three miles long or you can have it all done for you.

That’s where your stag and hen weekend organiser comes in. They’ll make sure that you get a stag or hen night that’s memorable for all the right reasons. They are your own personal party planner, there to kick ideas around, make a few suggestions, make the bookings and ensure everything runs smoothly from enthusiastic, excited start to vodka and Red Bull-fuelled, kebab-laden finish. A party organiser should be the (relatively) sensible one who sorts the tickets, the hotel and the taxi. The best party organisers should do everything your mates would do if they knew where to start, with the added bonus that they won’t drain your fridge of beer or nick all your Haribo while they’re discussing plans.

So here’s how you do it…

The 5 steps to party night perfection:

1. Make sure you have some friends. Bribe some if necessary.
2. Consider a reason for your party. It doesn’t have to be a stag or hen night. Getting divorced? Been promoted? Is it a Thursday? You don’t actually need a reason to party, of course – but it does help. And the more obvious the reason the better. Your friends may feel that you buying a new toaster is all the reason you need to arrange a weekend break in Brighton but on the other hand they may think you’re a bit odd.
3. Think about the sort of things you’d like to do. We’ll assume drinking and eating are no-brainers but how else are you going to fill those hours? Will your stag weekend be spent quad-biking, paintballing or clay pigeon shooting? Will your hen weekend involve rally-driving, archery or learning the seductive art of pole dancing? Start canvassing your friends. Get a few opinions. Ignore the one who says they’d rather stay in and watch Jeremy Kyle.
4.  Decide where you want to go? Stag and hen nights don’t have to be confined to Britain, although you’d be hard-pushed to be stuck for something to do in places like Blackpool or Brighton. Europe is a fast growing party destination with places like Dublin and Riga offering a wild weekend just a little different to the norm.
5. Get in touch with your party organiser. Stuck for ideas? They’ll put some your way. Stuck for locations? They’ll make a few choice suggestions. Stuck for friends? Sorry, you’re on your own with that one.

Your weekend break, your stag weekend, your hen weekend: they’re all too important to leave to chance. This is the most important party night of your life. Make it the best party night of your life too.