“Hen Night- A party for a woman who is about to get married, to which only her female friends are invited.” Cambridge Dictionary
In the UK it’s a hen night, the Americans call it a bachelorette party, South Africans call it a girls night out or kitchen tea. Whatever the name for it, it’s a widely accepted idea of a celebration given in honour of the bride to be. The practise of throwing a pre-wedding party, goes back centuries. In it’s modern form, the bachelorette party may have begun during the sexual revolution of the 60’s. The general opinion on these celebrations is that displays of sexual freedom, getting drunk and enjoying male strippers, are the norm.
And that is exactly the kind of thing that I didn’t want! Right from the off, let me tell you that it’s perfectly ok, expected even, for the bride to be to have a hand in planning her hen do. In my case, I specified the location, gave an idea of what activities I would like and I booked the accommodation myself. I wanted a sophisticated, grown up hen do which focused mainly on food, drink, dancing and laughs, with all of my favourite ladies. I left the rest in the capable hands of my sister Ashleigh and sister in law to be, Katy. Having visited my chosen city of Leeds with both of these girls on separate occasions, I knew that I’d be more than happy with whatever they planned. I like Leeds because while it’s a big city, I know my way around it pretty well and most of the trendy bars are down on Call Lane, one street not far from our apartments. You don’t have to spend half a day travelling to get there and, like I said, having been before, we already had a good idea of where we wanted to go.
I was really lucky to get a good deal on some gorgeous, serviced apartments from City Base Apartments and they couldn’t have been in a better location. Walking distance to everywhere we wanted to go and not far from the train station. I’d worked out the sleeping arrangements beforehand as some people didn’t know each other and that worked out really well.
So Friday morning, we were off. Myself, my mam- Tracy and sister- Ashleigh, plus Katy, Lyndsey and Mel, all travelled down at lunchtime. Rosie, Joanne and Victoria would arrive later that evening and Klare, who lives in Leeds, would meet us there. We would kick off at The Hilton for a spa afternoon. This was supposed to be a surprise but Katy put her foot in it on the train while complaining that she hadn’t had time to paint her nails but not to worry as shed do it in the spa. Everyone including herself and myself, froze. She tried her best to muddle her way out of it and I tried to pretend I hadn’t heard but it was no good, the game was up. After a few jokey punches from the rest of the group, all was well and we got back to our prosecco. We were all then presented with our official Hen Do t-shirts. Designed and printed by Katy, the t-shirts were yellow, depicting the Colman’s Mustard label. For those of you who’ve not read my About page, my maiden name is Mustarde, so Katy thought this was super original and hilarious.
Arriving at the spa, we all went our separate ways to have massages and manicures, meeting up later in the jacuzzi. Unfortunately there was another group that epitomised everything I didn’t want my hen do to be. One of them was actually topless while the rest of the rambunctious group egged her on. Lyndsay went off to complain to the staff but I actually think they were enjoying it! As we were all beginning to prune from the pool, we decided to head to the apartments to chill, drink and get ready. Upon arrival, Katy produced champagne and presented us with a taste test. Could we tell the difference between the good stuff and the cheapo reek? Could we shite! But it was a bloody good laugh trying! A quick…well, quickish, there was only one bathroom in each apartment…change and we were off. As specified, there were no willys in sight but I had pre-approved a small, hair band veil and it actually looked quite cute with my new Karen Millen dress.
Our first stop was Revolution for cocktails, shots and a photo op with Ricky from Geordie Shore! Check me out fan-girling! I honestly can’t remember where we ended up in between but we finished the night in Norman’s a bar on Call Lane that Katy and I discovered a few years previous. A great mix of music and an excellent selection of drinks, we spent most of the night there. The only downside was that Katy had her bag stolen, not great but it was towards the end of the night so she’d spent all of her money and it was a cheapo Chanel knock off. Her words, not mine. Several bottles of champs, Rosie going home then reappearing later on, a pizza and a very personal conversation with a group of transvestites later and home we went.
The next morning was ROUGH, for all of us except Rosie, who went for a run then returned to make tea for everyone. We spent the morning laying around, pissing our pants about the previous nights antics and trying to motivate each other to get dressed as we were off for afternoon tea!
We arrived at The Cosmopolitan Hotel all a bit worse for wear but none more so than Katy, who looked like she might end up face down in the sandwiches at any moment. She soon perked up when they brought out the champers though! Lots of sandwiches, a ton of cake and lots of laughs later, we were ready for the next activity which would be cocktail making!
This activity was a complete surprise and I couldn’t have been more excited! I love cocktails, making them and drinking them of course! We all piled into the private bar of Chilli White and were welcomed with a glass of prosecco each. We would be making 3 cocktails each, a mojito, a cosmopolitan and one that I can’t remember…the point is, it was great value for money ad such a brilliant laugh! We took turns going behind the bar and making them, it made for some great photos. I really loved doing this activity, everyone really enjoyed themselves and we were all suitably tipsy.
Back to the apartments to get changed for our last night out. I’m not sure why I made the decision to take one pair of shoes to wear on the both nights but getting my feet into my sky high, gold stilettos was a bit of a struggle after dancing all night the night before. I managed though and we headed out to Las Iguanas for our dinner.
I couldn’t tell you where we ended up that night, a mixture of the cocktails, champagne and whatever we drank after that mean that my memory is very hazy.
I do remember that a truly fantastic time was had by all. I love that all of the girls from my hen weekend, even the ones who didn’t know each other before that, are still friends now. And that makes me very happy indeed 😊.
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