Planning and booking a hen-do can be a bit of a minefield! Making sure you find quality suppliers who won't let you down, finding activities to suit every age within the group or even just agreeing on a date where everyone can attend can be tricky! 
 From wine tasting experiences to nude life-drawing classes - organising the perfect hen-do for the bride to be can feel like quite a responsibility. Here is my experience, with details of the companies I can recommend and those that I absolutely CAN'T recommend...don't get burned like we did...

For the most part of this year I have been working hard preparing a hen party for my twin sister in Liverpool! The hen do finally took place in April and yes, true to my usual form for special occasions, I managed to fall ill and miss the entire thing! I have some great photos though, plus some helpful info, advice and feedback for anyone looking to do the same (plan a hen do that is, not fall ill and miss it!)

A Liverpool Hen-do: Nude life drawing hen party - plus photos!

I had to think outside the box a little for this hen party as the guests were to include the mother of the bride and mother of the groom (one of whom has back problems) plus a heavily pregnant beauty salon business owner, and obviously me, who is still breastfeeding (everyone else was much easier to plan for).

Wishful thinking??

This meant of course, that any activity which relied solely on getting blind drunk, dancing around like a crazy person, having a spa treatment or brandishing a can of squirty cream in the vicinity of a naked male stripper was strictly off the menu. Bye bye cocktail making, bye bye burlesque and dirty dancing classes, bye bye salt baths and saunas and bye bye hot, naked men (brain jokingly imagines myself waving to husband in the shower - just in case he is reading this - I definitely, most certainly was not just thinking about actual strippers).

Actually...no, scrap that...what's a hen party without a little bit (because size doesn't matter??) of the naked male form making an appearance somewhere along the way!? The trick is to be classy about it, and classy we were!!! I'm talking about nude life drawing - the kind where you get to sit in front of a gorgeous hunk for at least an hour and have the absolute perfect excuse to study him in enormous (apparently!) detail, yet pretend that you are really just cultivating your inner artist, because, you know, you were really good at school...

There are lots and lots of companies out there now who are offering these types of activities - please do your research. One of the cheapest quotes I came by was actually for a scam company who take your money and never actually arrange an activity so always search for reviews before booking anything. I booked with the company who first started offering nude life drawing to hen party groups before it even became a 'thing' and came across them as a recommendation from an actual nude life model who had worked for them previously. This speaks volumes and I can say now that the level of service I received from them was fantastic.

Hen-do activity 1 - Nude Life Drawing:

The company I used is called Hen Party Me Uk and they operate nationwide, providing nude life drawing classes (and butlers if you so wish!) complete with an experienced tutor who also provides materials for the life drawing class. I had booked our event via a lovely lady called Rosemarie Orwin who was incredibly helpful and did everything she could to make sure that the activity was planned to run as smoothly as possible and fit in with our timetable. Rosemarie was really responsive and the whole booking experience was very personal - you really feel like you are dealing with an actual event planner rather than just a company with lots of processes and different points of contact. She also planned and booked our 'Afternoon tea' after the event at a wonderful place called Cuthbert's tea rooms (more about this later), handling all of the admin that went along with this too - what a great service!

If you would like to book with Rosemarie, mention this review and my name - Sarah Arthurwears and she will do you a good deal :)

 
I had decided to keep the activities of the day a secret from the whole group in order to create a real 'wow' moment when they realised what they were going to do. Rosemarie had passed this info on to our tutor for day, Chloe, who contacted me about a week before the event in order to have a chat about the day, my expectations and how things would work (again, great level of service!) Chloe had planned everything in detail, and was able to discuss rooms and where to wait and have a drink etc whilst she set up. She had a great idea (and I hope this doesn't spoil anything for anyone with a future 'secret' activity!) in that when the ladies arrived in the room for the activity, the life model (Kurt) would be out of view and Chloe would start with a meditation activity for the group. Whilst their eyes were closed, Kurt would sneak into the middle and strike a pose ready for the big reveal! I only wish I could have been there to see everyone's faces!!! (And let's be honest, that's not all I wish I could have seen...)  

I gather the reactions were a mixed bunch - one of the ladies was totally relived as she was sure when the meditating started that I had booked everyone into some sort of sex masterclass. The mother of the groom's face was apparently an absolute picture - but she did describe the model as a 'naked Greek God', so I think all was well once the initial shock was over! Phew!
  

Everyone loved the activity and said it was really hard to top after such a great experience. Kurt, the model, was very professional and accommodating and graciously took a number of pose requests from the group, finishing off with a proposal pose, complete with the bride to be (fully clothed).  

This kind of activity is such a great way to kick start a hen do and create a real buzz whilst breaking the ice within the group - especially if everyone isn't already acquainted! I can't recommend the company, and Rosemarie, highly enough and feel very lucky that my hours of trawling through Google for different options paid off (in this instance!)

Cuthberts Tea Rooms:

After the Nude Life Drawing class, the girls headed over to Cuthberts tea rooms for what some of them described as 'the best afternoon tea' they have ever had! There was a slight mix up with the times, but Elaine from Cuthberts was amazing at sorting it out, bringing out complimentary champagne to apologise and seating the group outside in the lovely warm sunshine - so it all worked out brilliantly. Gluten free and nut free requests were catered for and the portion sizes were fantastic! Having recently paid almost £20 for an afternoon tea in the famous Betty's tearooms in Ilkley and receiving about a quarter of what the girls received from Cuthberts, it is safe to say that everyone was really satisfied ( and we are hoping to plan in a round 2 in the near future just so that I can go and try out their yummy food myself!)

Here are some photos of the group at Cuthberts Tea Rooms:

 

 

 

 

Hen do activity 2 - Perfume making:

The 2nd 'secret activity' I had planned for the day was Perfume Making. I booked the activity with a man called Mike Ferguson from 'Stag and hen Liverpool' or also known as 'night 2 remember'. The process of booking the activity went smoothly, I did have more than one point of contact when it came to making final payments, but the company kept me updated and sent a final itinerary with location confirmation a couple of weeks before. 

Unfortunately, the company who Mike had booked to undertake our Perfume Making activity, 'Design a Scent' , were less than professional. The girls arrived at the hotel for the activity to find that the ladies from Design a Scent ( who seemed to be acting on behalf of 'The Perfume Company') had not turned up. When they were called to find out what had happened, the woman from the company first tried to say that Mike from the booking company had cancelled her ( he hadn't), then she tried to say that I had cancelled her ( I hadn't - I didn't even know who the company were that had been booked ), the story then changed to suggest that they had been given the wrong phone number for me, and when they were unable to contact me ( no attempt at email by the way) they decided not to turn up. The lady who normally runs Design a scent was away on holiday and so another lady was dealing with this for her. She was incredibly rude to the bride to be on the telephone, and after much deliberation it was decided that she should still come to undertake the activity (albeit late!) because we had paid £350 (for ten people, although myself and the pregnant lady didn't attend as little babba arrived early!) and that is a lot of money to lose...

The original booking was for an hour and a half and this was cut to 1 hour because of the time delay. The girls waited for 2.5 hrs ( and missed their 2-4-1 cocktail booking at the docks in the process). The lady running the activity bought them all 2 cocktails (set flavour) on arrival as an 'apology' (although not everyone was drinking). The group felt that the lady running the class wasn't really sure about her information, often reading from a sheet and contradicting herself, so all in all, although this had the potential to be an amazing activity it really did fall short by a long stretch. We have been in contact with the lady from the company since regarding a partial refund as compensation for the shorter activity and the loss incurred, but this has been met by a complete refusal on their part to admit to any wrong doing. Very disappointing! Very unprofessional. 

I also can't help but think that the hen party company I booked through should have made a courtesy call to 'Design a scent' a few days before the event just to check that they were still on track?? After all, as the middle man booking the end company and being the ones with all of the contacts, this was their one and only job! 

Who NOT to use when booking a Liverpool Hen do - bad review:

Based on the info above, I simply cannot recommend night 2 remember, stag and hen Liverpool, Design a Scent or The Perfume Company....and...Circo (see below)

Hen do - Dinner and show - Circo:

The day was to be finished off at Circo with a 3 course dinner and a show. This was all booked and paid for in advance, with food choices and drinks options sent off weeks beforehand so there really was no room for error ( or so I thought!)

Although the service from the staff that evening was great and the girls enjoyed the food, it would seem that as a 'smaller group' compared to most there that evening, we were given what a couple of the girls described as 'the crap seats'. Basically, the one table in the whole room where all but one of the girls was unable to see the show because of where the table was placed. Although they did ask to move, the event was fully booked so this wasn't possible. Most of the group felt that the table should not be sold as part of the 'dinner and show' reservation, because it was impossible to actually watch the show. Such a shame. If you are thinking of booking for dinner and show at Circo I highly recommend asking for a table with a good view - after all, that is what you are paying for! 

Here are a couple of photos that one of the girls managed to take when she moved elsewhere to stand and watch:

I am absolutely gutted that I missed the Nude Life Drawing Class, which was definitely the highlight of the day. I think the responsibility of booking the day, collecting all the money (definitely the most stressful part!) and then having so many things go wrong after the first activity may have eventually led to a slight meltdown on my part at some point! The bride to be (my twin sister) said that she was actually glad I wasn't there purely for this reason alone, as I would have definitely got upset about it!.

Speaking of the bride, here she is looking lovely on her wedding day:

Why not read some of my other posts:

Our day Filming for bareMinerals skincare campaign in London

bareMinerals SkinSorials review

Naptime cheat - why it's okay to cherish the moment

Mums on Facebook - That's us by the way!

Car safety when travelling with toddlers and babies

For all the mummies going back to work - this one's for you

Having a baby - the things they never told me