Stag night to organize....Aaaaagh!

I thought my best man days were safely behind me but have been called out of retirement......no problem, I thought, new audience and even those who've seen me in action before will hopefully have forgotten my favourite jokes.

But now the stag night is up for discussion and it seems to be my responsibility.

At some stage over the last ten years these events seem to have taken on a life of their own. When I got married people thought I was being extravagant hiring a bus and going up the mountains for a load of pints before bringing them all back to my house for "dinner".

Now it seems to be all weekends in Prague and whatnot.

I don't think many of the group (dozen or so ranging from mid-twenties but mainly late thirties with me as the grandad at just about 40) would have a problem with going away for a night or two but question is where? I have a preference for staying in Ireland on the basis that Dublin Airport is a ghastly place (we're all Dublin based).

Has anybody any ideas or have you been to a good one?

The event is likely to happen early to mid-January 2006, well in advance of the wedding.

(That's another point - my own was 2 nights before the wedding which seemed to be standard at the time. When did the stag night start being weeks before the happy event?)

Went to one in Edinburgh last year, can definately recommend it, loads of pubs, people friendly, and cheapish flights out of Dublin too.

I have no connection with this [broken link removed] which seems to have a lot more discussion about hens than stags, but it might give you a few ideas.

How about paintball/ karting/ a day at the GG's/dogs for the afternoon, followed by a slap up nosebag and a barrow full of pints, never fails.

What about Brussels? A great pub there called Celtica where happyhour lasts from 1pm to 12 midnight! You can always get a cheap flight from Dublin.

Hi I am in the same boat at 37 have to arrange my brothers for November.
Have decided the following:
Venue kilkenny- easy to get to from all parts.
Start Friday night- beer
Sat day - go carting+ meal + more beer
Sun head home much worse for wear.

Thanks to all for the above. stobear's link to weddingsonline.ie opens up still more frightening wedding avenues of which I previously had no idea.

Anything else out there?

Think about basing around some activity, for example golf, fishing, hunting, horse trekking- then just select the venue- most of the stags of our friends are done this way- they then all descend either on the Friday night or Saturday morning, depending on family or work commitments ( or indeed on alcohol intake capacity), have a few beers on the Friday night, do whatever activity Sat afternoon, dinner that night, more beers, and home after hungover breakfast on Sunday.

Having attended stags, recently organised one and now facing the organisation of my own here are a couple of general findings:

Brussels is a great venue for a stag with plenty of pubs and restaurants plus cheap flights...and it has novelty value for most which is nice.

Wherever you go, an activity during the day is handy as it stop everyone being hammered by dinner time, though this may not be such an issue if your gang are a little older than the average stag group!

Westport is a good place too, I'd just say that it seems like every suitable town in Ireland is sick of having stag and hen parties sweeping through every weekend so be prepared to make some assurances to restaurants and accommodation providers that your party are a responsible lot who won't 'trash the place'

If you have a two night stag it is difficult to stop the quiet pints on the Friday turning into the main event and having everybody tired by the time the Saturday evening comes along.

Having said all that I have no idea where to have my own stag, which will be in October/ November...it's a dilemma whether to ask your friends to commit to a weekend outside the home area, or abroad.

One last thing is that while you may be left to organise the event ultimately it is your best friends/ brothers stag and he has to be happy with it and should take an active role in organising things.

best of luck.

Lots of sense here from vanilla and muzaway.

The Friday night of a two day event becoming the main drunken event is clearly a big problem and (unlike muzaway!) I have no faith in the age of my troops being any bar to their tendency to make too much whoopee at the first hurdle...

If only we were ordinary middle-aged blokes who would get on the old pringle sweaters and have a nice game of golf to take us out of harm's way for a few hours - I just can't think of an activity that would be greeted by anything other than groans and murmured threats of rebellion.

But I think the answer does lie within Ireland.

"I just can't think of an activity that would be greeted by anything other than groans and murmured threats of rebellion"

Knitting competition

Last time I was in Amsterdam (on business), I couldn't get over the amount of paddies wearing green stag t-shirts absolutely out of their faces on god knows what! Seems to be a popular destination with plenty of choices!!!

I'm not sure what kind of 'activity' you might get up to in Amsterdam... but in Ireland: hire a boat and either go fishing or just sight seeing, go hunting, clay pigeon shooting, kayaking, river rafting, orienteering, horse trekking, racing ( a day at the races or Mondello type stuff), quad biking, abseiling, there must be loads more?

If you are going to stay in Ireland you may find it easier if you all book the hotel seperatly in 2/3s. Many hotels know large groups of men are stags and can be reluctant to accept bookings. Unless you can convince them its a 'golfing trip'. Internet is handy for booking this way.

The last stag I wnet on was up de mountains in Kerry. Tough day after the many Firday pints but it made the Sat. evening food and beer very welcome and no temptation to start with a few sneeky pints on Sat afternoon.