A bachelor party (Canada, South Africa and the US), also known as a stag party, stag night or stag do (especially in Commonwealth countries and Ireland), a bull's party (South Africa), or a buck's party or buck's night (Australia), is a party held for a man shortly before he enters marriage, to celebrate his "last night of freedom" or merely to spend time with his male friends, who are often at his wedding party afterwards. A bachelor party is usually planned by the best man or other friends of the groom, occasionally, with the assistance of a bachelor party planning company.
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A bachelor party may involve activities beyond the usual party and social gathering ingredients (often drinking alcohol and gambling), such as going to a strip club or hiring a stripper, and, in some traditions, more hazing-like tests and pranks at the groom's expense, performed as a rite of passage from bachelorhood (associated with an adolescent lifestyle, often in the common past of most participants, e.g. in their student years) to the "more responsible" marital life.
The task of organizing a bachelor party is often traditionally assigned to a male sibling of the bachelor or to the best man. Otherwise, any male friend will organize it. The planned activities of a bachelor party are traditionally kept secret from the groom.
The equivalent event for the bride-to-be is known as a bachelorette party or hen night. Formally, a party in honor of the bride is hosted by others.
Some also choose instead to hold a so-called Stag and Doe party in the US, or a hag party or hag do in the UK ("hag" being a combination of the words "hen" and "stag"), in which both the bride and groom attend.
In Germany, this event is called Junggesellenabschied. There is also an event that the couple celebrates together prior to the wedding called Polterabend. Polterabend is the term for a German wedding custom in which on the night before the wedding the guests break porcelain to bring luck to the couple's marriage. The tradition goes back to pre-Christian times, by breaking porcelain evil spirits are supposed to be driven off. In the last couple of years the Anglo-style of bachelor parties has become more and more popular among bachelors.
In France and in many French-speaking regions such as Quebec, the bachelor party is called enterrement de vie de garçon, which literally means "(the) burial of the life as a boy" or "burial/funeral of the life as a bachelor". For women it is enterrement de vie de jeune fille, translated as "burial/funeral of the life as a young girl". As in English-speaking countries, such parties often feature heavy drinking and various (although gentle) humiliations, and sometimes the presence of a stripper.
In the United Kingdom, it is now common for the party to last for more than one evening, hence the increasing prevalence of the phrase "stag weekend". A spin off has been the growth of the stag weekend industry in the UK with various companies taking over the preparation of the event.
In the UK, stag weekend trips are becoming mini-holidays with the groups taking part in various day time activities as well as the expected night out on the town. Popular locations include Bournemouth, Brighton, Cardiff, Nottingham, Edinburgh, Blackpool, Newcastle upon Tyne and London.
With the rise of budget airlines, some stags go abroad,[1] with Krakow, Dublin and Riga topping the list, followed by Prague, Amsterdam, Bratislava and Budapest.
In the United States, Las Vegas is both a popular bachelor party destination and location for the wedding itself.[1] Increasingly, "destination bachelor parties" are replacing standard nights out, with Americans traveling to Montreal or Mexico.[2]
Bachelor parties in the US often entail the mass consumption of alcohol, the hiring of a stripper and general rowdiness toward which the bride might not have a positive reaction (especially since the bride is typically not among the invitees). Increasingly, bachelor parties have come to symbolize the last time when the groom is free of the influence of his new wife.
Canadian cities such as Vancouver or Niagara Falls are popular stag party destinations due to their large number of strip clubs with "dance contact" (lap dancing). Montreal in particular is popular for this purpose with both Canadians and Americans alike.