Stag dos can be a stressful event to organise. Many men feel compelled to indulge in the stag party cliches; strip-clubs, bad costumes, and the copious amounts of alcohol celebrated by such diverse range of films as Hangover and Hangover 2.
However, an increasing number of soon-to-be-wed men are swapping the boozy nights, for action-packed days. According to The Telegraph, a mere 30% of bookings involve alcohol or strip clubs – down from 50% five years ago, proving that you can enjoy your stag party without the hangover-from-hell that usually accompanies it.
The cost of stag dos is another important factor. The average stag party costs £250 per guest and alcohol often swallows a huge proportion of the budget, often at a detriment to other factors such as accommodation, meals and activities. More and more people are choosing to shun the traditional knees up and have a stag do they can actually remember. With that in mind we’ve rounded up 7 of the best activities you can do that don’t involve copious amounts of booze.
Play with a legend
Today Premier League footballers are paid ridiculous sums of money. For example, Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo earns an eye-watering £18 million a year. Fortunately for us, our footballing heroes from the 90’s didn’t earn anywhere near today’s megastars.
You’re much more likely to have a chat in the pub with one of those true footballing legends. In fact, many men choose to do just that, after a game of 5 aside of course. Stag Party specialists Maximise work with former footballing stars such as Paul Merson and Matt Le Tissier to offer you and your mates the chance to participate in the ultimate kick about.
Bubble Football
Just because you’re sober doesn’t mean you can’t be childish. This is, after all, a stag party. Bubble football is exactly how it sounds. You and your mates in what are essentially human hamster balls trying to play football.
If you don’t quite fancy a kick about in the traditional sense, this might just be the sober stag party activity for you.
LARPing
The usual stag weekend fancy dress attire consists of the mankini, made famous by the Sacha Baron Cohen creation Borat. However, you don’t need to be blind drunk to don fancy dress and look a little bit silly.
LARPing (Live action roleplaying) is an extremely popular way to spend your stag do. If you think LARPing merely involves wearing fancy dress and heading to a wooded area, you’re not actually a million miles away from the truth. However, there is more to it than that.
You and your mates can invent your characters, solve puzzles and do just about anything your imagination allows. Not only does it offer you the chance to get involved in some team bonding exercises, LARPing is actually really good fun.
Fine Dining
Some historians date the stag do back to Ancient Greece, where the Spartan’s celebrated a man’s last night as a bachelor with a huge feast. Sometime during the last 2500 years, these magnificent celebrations of male-bonding were replaced by a round of jagerbombs and strip clubs, however, food should not be considered a dull stag party idea.
If you consider the amount of money you spend on drinks in a night, the bill often runs into the hundreds of pounds. Why not treat your best mate to a meal to remember rather than a night to forget?
Sky Diving
A huge part of the allure of a good stag party is the stories that accumulate from them. However, many of them are so utterly disgusting they can only be hinted in the best man’s speech, and ultimately repeated in the divorce proceeding.
Why not forgo all that rigmarole and have a once in a lifetime experience that you won’t mind telling the grandkids about. Jumping from an airplane is enough to fulfil the most adrenaline-fuelled stag’s dream do. However for the more worried Brides to be out there, skydiving is far safer than you might imagine. According to the British Parachute Association, the fatality rate is about 1/100,000.
Cigar Tasting
Ok so if the groom isn’t much of a drinker, that doesn’t necessarily mean he wants to spend his stag do falling to the ground from 4000 ft or getting nutmegged by Lee Hendrie. You could have a quiet poker game at someone’s house or alternatively you could head to a cigar tasting.
Cigar tasting events and sessions are run throughout the UK. You and your mates can dress up in your finest suits, try not to cough, and breath in some sophistication.