Home›Hen parties
The bit of the hen
where nobody
checks their phone.
A hen party is rarely one group. It is the school friends, the work friends, the cousins and the future in laws, each cluster perfectly at home with itself and politely stuck with everyone else. A murder mystery shuffles them from the first round, because every guest, including the ones who know each other far too well, gets a character and a secret to protect. Nobody has to do anything embarrassing unless they want to.
Yes. A murder mystery works for a hen party of six to twelve because it mixes the groups. Everyone gets a character and a secret, so the school friends and the future in laws end up questioning each other. The bride plays a character rather than hosting. It runs two to three hours, needs no costumes and works sober. $39 for the whole group.
Hen party, hen do, bachelorette party: three names for the same evening and the same planning headache. If you are after bachelorette party activity ideas that run longer than twenty minutes, this is one. The bride plays a character instead of hosting, and every guest, sisters and future mother in law alike, sits at the same table with a secret to protect.
A reason to talk
that is built in.
The hen party problem is always the same. The school friends have a table, the work friends have a table, the cousins have a table, and the future in laws are being very nice at the edge of all three. Each group is fine. Between the groups it is small talk, and the bride is passed from cluster to cluster like a parcel. Somebody suggests a game that has to suit her sisters and her future mother in law at the same time, and the room quietly dies.
This works because the reason to talk is part of the game. Everyone has a secret, and the only way to protect it is to ask somebody else awkward questions. Nobody gets to be the insider, including the friends who have known each other for twenty years, because they hold a secret too. The bride gets a character like everybody else, so she can sit in the middle of it instead of being steered between groups.
- No performing. Nobody performs, nobody reads aloud, nobody stands up. Welcome news for the cousin who dreads being asked to do something in front of the future in laws.
- No costumes required. Welcome if the group wants them, completely unnecessary if it does not.
- Works sober. Worth knowing if somebody is pregnant, driving or just not drinking.
- One person pays. $39 total for the whole group, not per head.
Check the wifi first.
This is the one practical warning, and it applies to every rented cottage going. Holiday accommodation wifi is unreliable, and you tend to find out in the evening with the whole group in the room.
Every case includes the complete printable pack at no extra cost, and it works with no wifi. Print it before you go, put it in the bag, and the night happens whatever the broadband is doing. A weekend away is also the one time all the clusters are under one roof, which is the best case for playing it.
- Print before you travel. One booklet per guest and the host pack. Easier at home than in a cottage with a printer that is not there.
- A laptop is a television. If the house has no TV, the case runs on a laptop screen propped at the end of the table.
- First night, not last. Run it early in the weekend. It gets the groups talking to each other, and everything after it is easier.
- Six to twelve. If the hen is bigger than twelve, run two cases at two tables and compare verdicts afterwards.
A hen edition,
with your hen in it.
The standard case already works for a hen, as the rest of this page says. We are also building a version made for one, and we would rather tell you what is in it honestly than sell you a name. It is not finished, the contents may change, and there is no price or date yet.
- Your own names. The private character briefs use your guests' real names, so the school friend is the one being accused and the future mother in law gets a secret of her own.
- A hen night setting. A case built around the evening rather than a country house, with the same secrets and the same no performing rule.
- A planning pack. A drinks card, a playlist and a props list, to sit alongside the hens party invitation that already exists.
- Playful, not mean. Written so the future in laws enjoy it as much as the school friends.
Want it when it is ready? Tell us when the hen is.
The Hens Edition is being built now. Leave an address and the date of the hen, and you will hear from a person rather than a sequence, with honest timing rather than a launch date we invented. If your hen is sooner than the edition, the standard case above works tonight.
No newsletter, no sequence. We handle your address as set out in the privacy policy.
Hen parties, answered.
Is a murder mystery a good hen party idea?
Yes, and the reason is the guest list. A hen is usually several groups under one roof: the school friends, the work friends, the cousins, the future in laws. A murder mystery gives every one of them a character and a secret, so they end up talking across the groups, and nobody has to be drunk or athletic to enjoy it.
Should the bride host or play?
Play. The host plays the victim, which is a quiet role, and the bride should have a character with a secret like everyone else. Have the maid of honour or whoever is organising buy the case and host it, following the general hosting guide for the full run-through of the night.
Does it work for a hen weekend away?
Yes, and it suits the first night, because it gets the groups talking to each other. Check the wifi at the accommodation first. If it is unreliable, print the pack that comes free with every case and run it on paper instead.
Is it suitable if not everybody drinks?
Completely. The game runs on conversation, and nobody's glass makes any difference to it. It is one of the few hen party activities that is genuinely as good sober.
What are some unique bachelorette party games besides drinking games?
Most bachelorette games are quick, repeat themselves, and need the whole room drinking to work. This is one evening, two to three hours, where every guest gets a private character and a secret to protect, from the oldest friend to the future mother in law. No costumes, no props, and the printable pack works exactly the same if the venue's wifi does not.
What is a good bachelorette party activity that works for a mixed group?
A mixed group is the case it suits best, because a hen is rarely one group. The sisters and the school friends know each other inside out, and they barely know the cousins or the future in laws. Everyone gets a character and a secret nobody else can see, including the people who know each other too well, so nobody is the insider and nobody is stuck with small talk.
Make them all
suspects.
$39 for the whole group, delivered instantly, with the printable pack included in case the cottage wifi is what cottage wifi usually is.
Before the night
Planning the hens party invitation? Open a sample, put your own details on it, and borrow the wording.