STAG DO BLOG

Great question, when should you book your 2013 stag do? Well, there is no time like the present.... 2013 Looks to be another busy year in the hen and stag do world and with hotels, flights and activity sites having limited accommodation on busy weekends booking early is great advice. Will I get penalised if people drop out? "Shish, that's another great question, you're on fire today"! This depends on what type of stag do you have booked and where you have booked it. If you book your stag do through DesignaVenture all UK bookings and bookings abroad without flights, you can reduce your numbers up until 4 weeks before you go*. If you have booked flights, check your booking conditions, my advice when booking flights or putting down a per person deposit; firstly make sure you are savvy with all the booking conditions and secondly, collect the money in from the boys before putting down any of your own hard earned cash. At DesignaVenture, we find the earl...

February is a funny month, it's too wet to go to the Med, in the UK the weather can be hit or miss and across the Continent they are possibly in the midst of -17 degrees in the day! So what can a stag do get up to in February? "Well this does depend on your budget my friend." If you are looking to keep costs down then a stag do to Bournemouth may be up your street. From shooting guns to racing Rage Buggies are fantastic activities to do all year round. I also know that in hotel February prices are low so it's also time to grab a bargain, just like the Bournemouth Offer Weekend on the DesignaVenture website : 2 Nights in a 3 star hotel with breakfast,  Clay Pigeon Shooting Quad Biking Blindfold Driving Human Table Football Nightclub Entry All this for under £135.00 per person *, it's a real cracker!! If you are wanting a stag night nearby or easy to get to then Reading , Bristol, Nottingham and Leeds are all fantastic cities to rock up to. T...

--> Stuck on what to do for 2013 and need some fantastic Stag Do Ideas ? Well, look no further people here are some amazing things to do which are either unique or bleeding obvious. Let’s start with some unique stag do ideas , have you ever tried tossing the Caber, welly boot hurling or a traditional Haggis malt challenge? Just outside Edinburgh there is a fantastic activity site, which offers these traditional activities for stag dos wanting something a little different, and let’s face it, Edinburgh is an immense stag do destination. Something similar, near to Bristol is the West Country Games, which includes everything country such as; welly wanging, tractor tyre rolling, handbags at dawn, Wurzel knockout and so on. Another unique stag do experience is over in the German capital city of Berlin. It involves driving the old and super cool, fifties retro communist car called the Trabant. Cruise the streets in a Trabant style convey which will get the Germa...

Bournemouth over the last few years has really transformed itself into an amazing stag do destination. Daytime activities are full on and plentiful and the nightlife can only be explanined as buzzing, wicked and incredible. Starting with the basic stag weekend ideas, get yourself to Bournemouth and become a beach bum, obviously stay in a hotel at night but during the day hit the Blue flag clean and sandy beach. The beach is so huge there is loads of room for game of 5 a side football, frisbe, volleyball or just plain and simple sun bathing. Moving on, if you have the need for speed there are loads of motorised activities from Rage Buggies, Quad Biking and Mini Racing to Outdoor Karting, HIgh Speed RIBs and Powerboating. If you need to shoot some guns there is some fantastic paintball sites, plenty of clay pigeon shooting and a new activity; shooting .22 Rimfire Assault Rifles (more on this to follow). Other stag do ideas include Surfing, Zorbing, Coasteering, Deep Sea Fi...

If you are looking for a fantastic stag do destination for 2013, then Reading is a great place to start. Reading has a great location, situated just off the M4, 4 0 minutes from London and has great rail links, so getting there will not be a problem. In the centre you have some excellent hotels, offering 4 star facilities, big buffet breakfasts and walking distance to all the nightlife. Reading has also some immense activity sites nearby and what would a stag do be, without full on activities? A hen do? Anyway, enough of the sexism, Reading has some really great stag do activities such as the very funny Cardboard Boat Challenge to the fast and furious Rage Buggies. Shoot clays out of the sky or go Horse Racing. Ascot is just 30 minutes down the road and is one of the most famous Race Courses in the world. A horse racing stag weekend is very apt, not only do you have the excitement of the races you also have lots of bars to hang out in...

In the late nineties early naughties, Nottingham was the most popular stag do destination in the UK. Now after several years in the wilderness and in the shadows of other fantastic UK stag do destinations such as Bournemouth, Edinburgh, London and Newquay, Nottingham has seen a bit of a revival. The Nottingham city centre has had a fair amount of investment over the last few years, and some of the new kids on the block include some amazing restaurants*, lively bars and some banging nightclubs. *Some the of the best curry houses I have ever eaten in! Then you have the stag do activities and what a choice from Rage Buggies to White Water Rafting, Clay Pigeon Shooting to Quad Biking, Paintball to Indoor Karting, there are just too many stag activities to mention. However one of the most popular stag do ideas in Nottingham is It's a Knockout (pictured above). Foam, water, fancy dress and competition, what else do you need! Nottingham also has it's geographic locatio...

Some stag do activities are just plane mad, either risky as hell, or just whacky. Take for example an activity in Reading, which includes a Cardboard Boat Challenge and Bathtub Kart Racing. Now, it’s not really a risky stag do activity but you need to have of some sort of Top Gear disorder to book it, and stags have booked it in their droves. Bungee Jumping / Bridge Swinging you do need to be slightly insane to attach a load of platted rubber bands around your ankles and then jump from a 150ft ledge and expect to survive. It’s a great activity for the stag, or for the whole stag party to do. Trabant driving in Berlin is quite a sedate affair, they cannot hit any dangerous speeds however these two stroke 1950's old soviet cars are loads of fun to drive.  Drive around Berlin with your zany mates in a kind of Trabant convoy giving your stag do a little bit of class. Police arrest will leave your poor stag insane. One scenario is a dummy police van wil...

Riga is the capital of Latvia, which is an old Russian communist state, gaining independence on the 21 st August 1991. “So what has this got to do with stag do ideas , then?” Don’t get sweaty; I am about to tell you. Riga is not only one of the cheapest places to drink in Europe but also boasts possibly the most stag do activities available to man within a fair driving distance from your hotel. Some of these stag activities are also unique an amazing amount of fun. For example, Bobsleigh, you are speeding down a proper ice track (only in winter), giving you the REAL experience of an Olympian. In the summer when the weather is hot, you go down with an Olympic instructor using wheels, you still get up to some fantastic speeds. Then you have AK 47 shooting, now I have done this and it blows your mind (not literally). First of all you put it into semi automatic, then stick it into automatic, wowsers, it’s like the A Team titles in the 80’s. These are two unique stag...

You have just been asked to be best man at your best mates wedding and the first thing you say is "what are we going to do for the stag do?" So, what are you going to do for your stag do? Is it a UK destination with loads of activities? Eastern Europe for cheap booze? Or is it sun, sea and sangria in one of the Med's lively resorts? Whatever choice you make, here are a few tips and ideas to make the whole event run smoother then a pint of the black stuff:  Talk to the people the groom wants to come and try and be as accommodating to everyone's tastes as possible. On the contrary, don't let any one's opinion rule the decision, make an executive decision yourself from everyone's feedback, afterall you are the best man.  Following on from the first point, try not to price anyone off the stag do, we all have a budget. If you do over price the stag weekend it might end up just you and the stag going.  Try your very best to do something in ...

You only have to mention Vegas in the stag do world, and you know, not only is it one of the most popular stag do destinations in the universe, but also, the most famous bachelor hangout. Open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week:   Stag Activities: Air Combat! Casinos, obviously: Day clubs or pool parties, amazing atmosphere and a few pretty girls thrown in: Almost a mile long Zip Wire: So stag do, Vegas, enough said!

Most stag parties are made up of friends and family who may not know each other. So, in order to get your group jelled you will need some cracking stag do ideas and an experience which will put everyone on a level playing field, something, that will take people out of their comfort zones. Two amazing stag do ideas which embrace’s this view are Coasteering and Canyoning. Coasteering is when you explore a rocky coastline jumping off ledges into deep pools, climbing and traversing rock faces and generally having a ball. Start on a sandy beach and explore the rocky coast gradually making your way up to some pretty impressive heights, and there's only one way down! Canyoning is very similar however, you will be exploring a gorge / canyon rather then the shoreline. The exploration of a gorge can include caves, waterfalls and a bit of swimming. You don't have to worry about buying in special equipment or clothing, all this will be provided*. All you...

Leeds, Live it, Love it -  is the City's slogan and you will see why when you arrive, it's a truly awesome city, packed to the brim with fantastic stag do ideas. The nightlife is fairly compact in the city centre with most clubs, champagne bars and clubs all within easy walking distance of each other, creating a mammoth bar crawl. From quirky retro bars to live music, comedy clubs and fantastic lap dancing clubs your nights out at home will never be the same again. By day, if you need something to keep the boys out of the bars, Leeds has the three main staples of great stag activities; shooting, racing and trekking. Shooting you have a choice of clays or shototing each other, Yorkshire is home to the ORIGINAL Paintball Monster, shooting 14 shots a second, have you met your match? In the centre of Leeds there is an amazing indoor karting site however, if you prefer to get dirty, 20 minutes from the city centre you can find yourself racing a stag do favourite, the s...

Whether you are on your second or even third stag do, or was just too wild in your early days to get married, I am hoping this blog will help you out with stag do ideas for the older gentleman. Age is a funny old thing and that cliche 'you are only as old as you feel' is so true, it's a mind thing. So whether you are knocking on the door of your forties or fifties you should be looking at all the stag packages on offer, regardless of what's involved and see if you fancy it or not. That's the great thing about becoming wise, peer pressure is like water on a ducks back. So, first things first, make sure you book decent accommodation, 3 or 4 star hotels are best with a full English included you cannot go wrong, just because you are on a stag do, doesn't mean you have to slum it. Even though you will probably go clubbing, make sure you have organised a good place to eat on one of the nights, there is nothing like sitting down with your mates and having a...

Most men these days have a passion for something, be it fashion, football, cars or jumping out of things (I don’t mean cakes, I mean planes), so you as the best man or chief stag do organiser will want to include the stags passion in his stag weekend. In the UK, we are very lucky to have loads of Adrenalin infused activities available to us including; skydiving, racing Rage Buggies, jumping off 60ft cliffs into the sea and power-boating (to name just a few). You don’t have to throw yourself off something to achieve maximum excitement other stag activities such as paintball, white water rafting or even shooting guns will get the juices pumping around your body. You may find some members of the stag group will shy away from such activities, they will excuse themselves because of a knee injury they got whilst shopping or complaints of vertigo, but hey, that’s fine, let them sit it out, after all it’s the stags do! However, if you really are looking for s...

Can you believe, that in 3 months time it will be Christmas?  After someone has used smelling salts to aid you back to consciousness, lets talk about a very important element of  2013, your stag do. In 2013, Brits are changing the way they celebrate their stag dos, no longer drinking all day is an adequate or even suitable solution (apologies for all the corporate talk, I have just had a meeting). Obviously, celebrating with beverages will be part of the stag weekend however adrenalin and competition should also be a contributing factor. Whether it’s jumping from 60-foot ledges into the sea whilst Coasteering in Newquay or hurtling down an Olympic iced track, at 80mph in a bobsleigh on your stag do to Riga, maximum adrenalin for your group will keep them buzzing for weeks. Alternatively, there is no better place for a bit of competitive action then when you are on a stag do, be it Archery, Paintball, Karting or 5 a side football, you have en...

Petrol heads, Gear heads, Grease monkeys whatever you want to call your friend, the stag, if he loves an engine, what better way to get him revving then to book a motorised activity on his stag weekend. Below are some fantastic stag do ideas for the petrol head (what we call them in the UK): Rage Buggies  One of the  if not the most popular activity stag parties love to do. 600cc twin Honda engines, with fast acceleration and as tough as a tank, it's like these karts were made for the stag do! Quad Biking Another extremely popular stag do activity, so versatile and loads of fun to ride the humble quad bike will take on any terrain you take it. Trek the mountains of Wales or race around purpose built tracks in Bristol or Newquay (other locations available), these four wheeled bikes are amazing fun. Hovercrafting Not a simple machine to operate but that just adds to the fun, flying these machines around a course at speed with hardly any control is so addictive ...

This winter, is coming round quicker then Simon Cowell’s Botox injections, so are you sorted for your winter stag do? Where to go and what to do? Well, that is why we are here to help – we have put together some stag do ideas in the theme of the old Western The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Lets start with the Good , if you and your group can get away for some sun, then Spain for a weekend or 3 nights is ideal. It only takes about a 2 hours to flight there and for most of the winter months the weather is 20 degrees and sunny. Valencia is a great stag do destination and has loads going on from the white water rafting and bike tours to just going out and hitting the bars and clubs. Now a bit of the Bad , and in bad I mean some bad-ass stag weekends for the party goer. From Newcastle to London, Leeds to Manchester and Bristol to Bournemouth all of these places have fantastic nightlife and you can stay for 2 nights with clubs, for around the £100 mark....

So you have decided to go abroad for your stag do, but unsure where to start. First things first, flights are usually at their cheapest the earlier you book them, so book the flights as soon as you can. I would always recommend you book through an ATOL bonded agency such as DesignaVenture who can organise the majority of the stag weekend for you. Booking your whole stag do including flights through an agency may cost a little more money however, you are paying for a service and you will be financially protected (to be protected you must book through a ATOL bonded tour operator). There are ways to save money such as booking your own flights and then allowing stag do companies like DesignaVenture to book the rest (hotels, airport transfers, clubs, activities etc.).  This way you will have the added benefit of having everything done in the UK and still having an agency over in your chosen destination should anything go wrong.   On the major...

I am currently residing in a hotel in Bournemouth investigating why our stag and hens love Bournemouth so much. It’s now the 01 st September, the beaches are still packed with holiday makers enjoying 21 degrees and a vibrant atmosphere. Why is this beach side town still packed with holidaymakers from around the UK and beyond? Well the airshow is in town and it’s free to watch, the weather is hot and the Bournemouth Council knows how to throw a party. The airshow features the Red Arrows doing 20 minutes of what can only be described as acrobatics in jets, this was a surprising element to my trip as I didn’t know the airshow over the beach was going on, so I took a picture. I also didn’t know that in July and August every Friday night there is a huge firework display over the Pier and again it’s free! Now if you are on or about to go on a stag weekend to Bournemouth you will be pleased to know that the nightlife is phenomenal, loads of gre...

After an eventful year in the stag world, I know it's only August and I am having my end of year speech however there is an extremely popular stag do destination that everyone is raving about and this news cannot wait until December; Bristol. We have had a lot of trustpilot feedback and the stag destination that constantly gets 5 star reviews is Bristol. What's not to like: Fantastic 4 star city centre hotels with breakfast buffets Amazing daytime activities from Rage Buggies and Paintball to West Country Games and Cider tasting. The nightlife; casinos, lap dancing and nightclubs all within easy walking distance from each other and the plentiful bars and friendly pubs There's that word; "friendly", one of the stag groups described Bristol as a laid back smaller London with friendly people. Basically stating that Bristol has the facilities London offers (on a smaller scale obviously) but in a much more friendly and relaxed atmosphere. A friendly ...

Situated 40 minutes (38km) from the popular stag do destination of Valencia lies a clean and sleepy village of Bunol. The last Wednesday of August every year sees a festival like no other.  Tens of thousands of people fill the streets waiting for loads of trucks to dump their load of tomatoes on them. So if you are looking for a unique stag weekend, well a unique stag midweek, this is the place to come.  Once the tomatoes have been dumped it’s everyman for himself the only rules are to squish the tomato before throwing and no ripping of other people’s clothing (which is generally ignored). After an hour the huge tomato fight ends with the council wanting to clean up the streets so they start firing huge water canons, so your best bet is to get yourselves down to the river for a wash. This festival does seem bonkers however apparently the acid from the tomatoes cleans the streets, once it’s washed down the drains that is, so there is method to this madness! So ...

If you are looking for a unique stag weekend you cannot go wrong then a weekend yachting on the Solent. The Solent is a stretch of water that splits the English mainland and the Isle of Wight, making the Isle of Wight well an island. Onboard your vessel you have all the mod cons you need to keep you going before you hit dry land, including a fridge for your beer. Available to hire with a skipper (obviously) are 40 - 60 ft race boats which can fit up to 14 people, should your group be larger you can always have more than one boat. We recommend you arrive before 6pm to get onboard and sail to Cowes, there you will find plenty of pubs and restaurants to visit on your first night. Then after breakfast you are free to sail around the Solent, learning some key Sailing skills, but also taking in the sites and generally having an extremely cool time. That night you head back to Cowes where you moor up and get on a water taxi to The Folly Inn where you can eat, party, watch live b...

This is a message to the Stag, the Main Man, the Groom to be You have a commitment to your generation, when you sit down with your kids or even your grandchildren and they ask you what you did on your stag do, make sure your stories are heroic and of legendary status. If you have to turn around to them and tell them you didn’t have a stag weekend you know the respect you have built up over the years will be lost, I know that’s harsh and a little far fetched however the message is clear; HAVE A STAG DO.   Even if it’s camping on the Brecon Beacons with just you and your bestman at least you will have a story to tell, and a memory to cherish. A Message for the Bestman You have a totally different commitment to the groom’s, this is for your best mate, your wingman, the man who has turned to you, to help him with one of the most important moments of his life – the stag do, sorry I mean his wedding, with the stag do obviously taking centre stage. So make sure yo...

In previous posts you have heard me bang on about stag activities including Rage Buggies, Paintball, White Water Rafting as they are great things to do in the day, but what about the night time? The stag weekend without a big night out or two wouldn't be a stag weekend, it would be more like an activity weekend on the Isle of Man. The night life on a stag do is the icing on the cake, the jam in the donut, the cream - I must eat before I write next time! In most major popular stag destinations there's the lap dancing club. No more are they seedy and pushy but more like a club with girls walking around with very little on, and if you cross their palm with gold that little bit of clothing seems to disappear. If you prefer to laugh then a comedy club should be on your itinerary, with or without food this is a fantastic night out and will keep the boys together rather then loosing them in bars. But if you prefer a bar crawl you can have it guided or unescorted. In most p...

This year we have seen a huge increase in stags choosing Gorge Scrambling / Canyoning as their main activity. Stag dos from all over the UK have been flocking to North and South Wales, the Highlands of Scotland and Valencia to enjoy this amazing activity. So what is Canyoning / Gorge Scrambling then? Hold on there Steve, I am about to tell you: You are provided with a wet suit, a helmet and a buoyancy aid, all you need to bring with you is swimwear (to wear under your wet suit), trainers you don’t mind getting wet, a towel to dry off at the end of the session and balls of steel. Then, following an instructor you will climb up river, through a Gorge, walking behind waterfalls, jumping into deep pools from various heights, abseiling, a little bit of caving and traversing sheer rock faces (some of these activities are location dependent). You finish in most locations with the highest jump, which in some gorges are 45 – 60 feet!! No peer pressure on the day and t...