Stag Do At Home Ideas

Here at the Stag Company we’ve been helping lads to organise epic stag weekends since 2002, and if we’ve learned anything over the last 20 years, it’s that no two stag do’s are ever the same. For some guys it’s a few days of water sports and night-time carnage in some European hotspot, for others it’s getting everyone together for a shared event like a music or comedy festival, and tying everything else around that.

And for still other groups, it’s something much less expensive but just as fun - a stag do at home. But while it may sound easy to organise a stag do in a house, actually you need to be just as organised as if you were getting everyone over to a Prague stag weekend. Learn what’s involved, and how to make it a success, with our guide to organising a stag party at home.

Why organise a stag do at home?

Not all groups are looking for a long weekend of heavy drinking on a Benidorm stag do or trip to Prague, or organising activities, hotel and bar crawls for 12 lads in a city they’re unfamiliar with. Many prefer to try and keep things simpler, and not break the bank, by organising a stag at home instead. And there are plenty of reasons why:

• Depending on what you do, home-based stag parties can be considerably less expensive than going away. Not everyone can afford a big trip away so it’s inclusive
• You’re on home turf, so it’s easier to manage - no need to worry about losing Big Dave in the strip club, or what to do if someone needs a disco nap
• You can have different types of stag do’s to suit different groups of friends
• Not everyone is comfortable touring bars and clubs, maybe if they are unable to get a Covid vaccination, or they have a disability that makes it difficult
• It can be a warm-up for a trip away at some point in the future, allowing a group of lads to get to know each other better
• The house can be just your basecamp; there’s nothing to say you can’t duck out for activities or a few drinks on the town

How to organise a stag do at home

Planning

As with any stag weekend, good planning, and allowing enough time to organise everything, is crucial. Especially if you’ve got people coming long distances to attend, you want to make sure that you know how the party is going to progress.

A good idea is to think up a couple of ice-breaking activities (see below for some great stag at home activity ideas), that will each take up a few hours. Fun as it might seem, everyone just sitting around drinking the whole time can get boring very quickly.

Pick your date(s) carefully

It’s important to choose a date that works for as many people as possible. Aim for something a few months in the future if you can, as if you start a WhatsApp group on the Tuesday for a stag party on the following Saturday, you’re not likely to get many of the guys showing up, funnily enough.

When thinking about dates, try to make sure it doesn’t clash with any obvious events: Cup finals, Glastonbury, your own wedding. One advantage of arranging a stag party at home is that it’s unlikely anyone will need to worry about flights. But for those needing to get the train, the more notice the better, so they don’t end up having to sell a kidney to afford the ticket.

Location, location, location

You don’t need to host the party at your own place - particularly if you live in a small flat, it might be better to consider other options. Does one of your friends have a larger place they’re happy to use? If not, think about renting a property instead - just be sure it’s one that actually welcomes stag groups.

What’s the garden situation? If you’ve got access to an outside area, a stag house party has so much more potential, especially in summer.

A couple of obvious points but worth mentioning: Make sure family and ideally household pets too are absent for the duration. Who knows how many cats and dogs have been traumatised by what they’ve witnessed at a stag party. And give any neighbours forewarning - if you promise to stop the music by about 1am and they have at least a few weeks notice, you shouldn’t get any complaints.

Lastly, even though lads tend to have slightly lower standards than the fairer sex when it comes to hygiene, make a bit of an effort to get the place tidy. Spend a few quid on a cleaner, maybe (or you might want to save that for afterwards, thinking about it). And anything valuable: financial or sentimental, ought to be stowed away for safety reasons.

You can check out our stag do accommodation for ideas on where to stay, while our event planners can help you to find the perfect solution.

Get creative with your activities

The Covid-19 lockdowns forced many of us to get creative with our in-home entertainment, to avoid going stir crazy. Whether it was building dens for the kids from household objects, or organising drinks parties and quizzes with our bezzies through Zoom, it was all useful preparation for creating stag do games and challenges around the house.

A kitchen can become a cocktail bar with a poker table. The living room can become an escape room. The garden can double up as a homemade obstacle course, with a barbecue in the corner. All it takes is a little imagination.

Sweat the small stuff

One of the big advantages of using a professional stag do planner such as ourselves is that we can handle all the tricky logistics for you. If you’re taking the DIY approach, it’s up to you to make sure everything runs to plan. Luckily, with a home stag party the basics are quite easy…

• Even if you’re requesting everyone bring something, make sure you get a range of drinks in for a baseline, as well as some non-alcoholics for teetotallers and anyone who’s got to drive. Clear space in the fridge, or fill the bath with ice
• Get in plenty of ‘easy’ food such as pizzas, sausages, crisps. If you’ve got a garden, fire up the barbecue
• Also make sure you’ve got the basics in for breakfast the following day, unless you’ve got a cafe nearby
• Move any valuables out of the way even if you don’t expect it to get rowdy. The same goes for anything sentimental - you don’t want Aunt Janet’s ashes accidentally being used as an ashtray
• Make sure there’s adequate car parking if there are guys coming from out of town - can you borrow a neighbour’s driveway if necessary, or do you need to sort out parking permits?
• Boss the playlist - or make several, for different points in the day / night
• At some point, people will need to crash. Who’s sleeping over and where are they getting their head down? Do you need to make up beds or remind people to bring sleeping bags?

Stag do at home activity ideas

The great thing about a home stag do is that there is so much potential for activities that will keep everyone entertained. We’ve rounded up some of our top suggestions for cheap stag do ideas below:

Drinking games

A must, and definitely not only for the pub. There is no end of brilliant stag do drinking games out there: Shark Attack is a favourite of ours, where as soon as someone yells “Shark!” everybody has to get off the ground immediately. Or Wizard Staff, where the more cans you drink, the more wisdom you gain.

Butlerettes in the buff

If you think you might need a little help around the house, allow us to meet your staffing requirements. We’ll arrange for a couple of attractive, semi-naked young ladies to be on hand to welcome the lads as they arrive, mix and service drinks, and act as referee for whatever daft party games you get up to. And best of all: everyone can say hand on heart there were no strippers at the stag do, just a couple of butlerettes. The perfect get-out clause!

Pub crawls

An at-home stag do doesn’t mean you can’t leave the house! We can organise a whole host of nightlife experiences for you, from pub crawls to beer tasting, cocktail making and club entry. This is a perfect idea if, say, you’ve rented a house for the stag weekend but it’s in a city where you’re not familiar with the nightlife scene.

Catch the match

Your team in action over the weekend? Hire a projector and watch it on the big screen. This works perfectly with another of our best stag do drinking games, Centurion, where you have to down a shot of beer every minute for 100 minutes. Lines up almost exactly with a football match, if you take a breather for half time. Can’t be doing with the projector idea? Reserve a table at your local - you’re not confined to the house, it’s not a zombie invasion.

Sports day

A great idea if you’ve got a decent-sized garden, or a park or playing field nearby, is to return to your school days with some old-school games like the sack race, the egg and spoon race, or wheelbarrows. You can even go all in and ask everyone to turn up in uniform, and have some trophies made up for the winners.

Fancy dress

Getting everyone to turn up in fancy dress is a good way of breaking the ice. It also makes for fun photos, and can be a way of tying the stag do around a theme. For instance school uniforms, sports stars, computer game characters or pop stars.

Axe-throwing

Yes, you read that right. Axe-throwing is one of the most popular stag do activities right now, but if you have a garden then the fun can come to you! There are mobile axe-throwing games that will set up in your garden, so that you and the boys can get your Viking on.

Break out the games

Got a gang of gamers? Set up the consoles and get some competitions going. Alternatively, for something a little more sophisticated, you can get a game of poker going with very little effort. Break out the whiskey and cigars for the speakeasy vibe.