(Newswire.net — December 6, 2016) — Research has found that only 30% of stag parties now involve alcohol, with many shunning the traditional knees up for outdoor activities, and pub crawls for juice crawls.
Why exactly are men going sober on their stag? Perhaps it is because for many men their stag weekend doesn’t represent the last chance to do all the things usually reserved for singletons, but is just a chance to spend some time socializing with friends. Perhaps it’s because stag do’s are no longer a rite of passage where a groom is put under immense pressure to get drunk.
We look at exactly why men are putting down the pint and going sober, and what they are doing instead.
Men want a unique experience
More and more stags are looking for a unique experience and not just another night out. That’s not to say that their party can’t involve alcohol, but it’s just as likely to be a tour of a brewery than a night on the town.
Stag party specialists, Maximize, run a wide array of stag weekends and activities both in Europe and the UK. Although much of their business caters for stag’s on the lash, they have many alternatives for teetotalers too. In fact, many stag weekends now involve outdoor adventure style activities, such as quad bikes, bungee jumping, coasteering and various sports. Maximize even have a ‘play with a legend’ day where you can have have a kick around with some of your Premier League childhood heroes.
Other grooms spend their last night of freedom locked inside an ‘escape room’, reliving shows like Crystal Maze with their mates. It seems that many men want to have stag weekend to remember, rather than a hangover to forget.
Grooms are older
According to the Office for National Statistics, the average age of a first time groom is now 33. Perhaps one reason men’s attitudes towards their stag weekends is changing is that they are likely to be older.
Because they’re older, it is more likely that they will have a family and a settled career. There is a chance that they have gone through enough drunken nights out in their twenties to last them a lifetime, could it be that as we get older we become more mature?
Alternatively some men may have already had a stag weekend. Almost half of all marriages end in divorce, and if older grooms have already had a stag party for a previous wedding, they may want a more low key affair this time around.
Millennials binge less
Despite tabloid articles bemoaning young people for binge drinking, millennials are actually drinking less. Alcohol consumption is down as 21% of adults said that they do not drink alcohol at all, increasing from 19% in 2005.
Speaking to The Independent, A Department of Health spokesman said that “it is particularly good to see that young people are drinking less, and hopefully getting into healthier drinking habits for life.”
Even those millennials that do want to drink on their stag weekend are much more likely to do so in moderation. A 2016 survey by Heineken found that 75% of millennial drinkers say they limit how much they drink most of the time when they go out. So it’s just as likely they will head to a wine tasting rather than tequila shots at a nightclub.
Men are more health conscious
Some men are opting for sober-free stag do’s because they may well be more health conscious, opting out of the boozy night out and the inevitable hangover.
As a society it seems we are becoming more health conscious, even on stag weekends. Us Brits are more likely to purchase activewear than have a boozy stag do, with the highest percentage among millennials.
Men’s obsession with diet and exercise will only be amplified shortly before their wedding. Groom’s want to look good, or failing that, fit into their suit. In fact pre-wedding diets are so common that there are a host of guides and articles offering techniques ranging from the sensible to the extreme. It is hard to imagine a booze-fueled stag weekend will do anything to help you reach that dream weight.