Buff Butler Blog

Attending a hen party is a lot of fun, especially when you don’t have to organise it! There are lots of traditions around them as well which can make for inspiration for a gift to give the bride to be on the night of the party. But if you are looking for some inspiration, both classic and contemporary, here are some ideas. For the bride: 1. Lucky sixpence This one is definitely a traditional idea but still a really nice one. Back in the Middle Ages, the lord of the manor gave his price a silver gift as a wedding present. This became a tradition of including a lucky sixpence in the bride’s dowry. Nowadays we don’t have a dowry, but we can still give a lucky sixpence to bring the couple good fortune. 2. A scrapbook This one is ideal if someone (maybe even you) will be in charge of a camera for the hen party. You can do digital scrapbooks where you upload the photos to a website then have the book printed out. Or if you are into papercrafts, you can get scrapbook kits and make one yourself. This is a true keepsake and very personal for...

For most people when they decide they are getting married, there is usually at least 12 months before the big event. This gives you the time to get everything organised, in place and make the day perfect. Sure, you can do it in less time. But if you plan to have at least 12 months to get the wedding organised, here’s a basic timeline to help with your planning. 12+ months before Some of the biggest decisions need to be made as soon as you get engaged (well, after the party anyway). The big thing is the date you want to get married – you need to set this because it is the first question you will get asked. The next thing is to start looking at venues including checking with any church or registry office that the venue is free on the date. Once you have your date and where the wedding is being held, you can start looking at other elements. You may also want to put into place dates for things like the hen party at this point. Our buff butlers, for example, are booked months ahead so if you want us to run your hen party...

Whether you’ve been on one, organised one or been the focus of one, most of us have had dealings with a hen or stag party at some point. The hen party or hen night is the ladies’ celebration before the wedding and is a bit like a female version of the bachelor party. But there’s a lot more to do it – so where did the hen party come from? Ancient pre-wedding celebrations The idea of special celebrations or parties before the wedding itself isn’t a new one. In Ancient Greece for example, the wedding was made up of three parts. One of those was the Proaulia where the bride and her female family members gathered for a special ritual (read party in modern language). This actually pre-dated the first mention of the male pre-wedding gathering by some 1300 years so there’s a good case for the hen do being the forerunner of the stag do, not the other way around! Hen = woman We have the 1600s to thank for the idea of a woman as a hen. Back then the term was used as slang for a woman and by the late 1800s, there was use of the...

There are lots of things to organise with a hen party – where to go, what to do, what party games to have. Another big consideration for most kinds of parties is the music because it makes the mood, finishes the evening and is great fun. But how do you pick the right music for your party? 70s disco party Depending on how old the members of the hen party are, the 70s could either be something they remember fondly or something they fell in love with on one of the many 70s revivals! One area of 70s music that is perfect for a hen party is disco – it gets everyone up onto the dance floor, shaking it and singing away. Classics to add to the playlist include: • Disco Inferno – Trammps • Blame it on the Boogie – The Jackson 5 • You Should be Dancin’ & Staying Alive – The Bee Gees Pick an 80s theme There were so many fun themes that came out of the 80s this means loads of choice for your hen party and the music to go with it. Madonna is a huge 80s star and a great theme for a...

Cocktails are great tasting and fun to make. And they can also come in the craziest, funkiest colours thanks to some spirits that you may never have heard of. Here’s a collection of some of the more colourful and interesting cocktails you could ever have at your hen party. Blue cocktails There’s nothing that says sun, sea and sand like a blue cocktail. With colours from a rich sapphire blue through to turquoise shades, there are drinks that cover all your favourite blue shades. Many of them get this fantastic colour through something called blue curacao. This is an orange flavoured liqueur that comes in a shocking electric blue colour. It has a nice flavour to it as well and is ideal for cocktails. Here’s a few simple recipes: • Blue Lagoon – 1 oz vodka, ½ oz. blue curacao, top with lemonade • Blue Hawaiian – ½ oz. light rum (Bacardi), ½ oz. blue curacao, 1 oz. Pineapple juice, ½ oz. coconut cream and a cup of ice • Midnight Kiss – 1.5 oz. vodka, ½ oz. blue curacao, 1 tsp lemon juice, top with champagne • Blue Margarita – 2 oz. tequila, 1 oz. blue curacao, 1 oz....