Never had a hens' night.

I didn't have a hen night, DH didn't have stag night, neither did DS or any of his friends, and their (now) spouses have stag or hen nights.They are not anti-social losers. DH & DDiL seem to know half the population of the town they live in.

I think hen/stag nights are an overrated way to build a mountain of debt around getting married, which often undermines the security of the marriage fuelled by it.

In an ideal world marriages would be entered into quietly and thoughtfully and the parties could start on the first wedding anniversary.

FlicketyB I agree about the mountain of debt. My brother has a theory that the more the wedding costs the sooner the couple split up!

Ive been married and divorced twice and have never been to or had a hen night. Thank goodness.
However, all will change this summer. I am in the hen party for my OH daughter. The theme for dressing up has not yet been decided but it will involve a nightclub..........oh dear.

I'm an another one who had a 'show of presents'. Invitations went out as part of the Thank You note when presents arrived. We had it in the Village Hall. All the female relies from both sides brought sandwiches and baking, the menfolk retired to the pub while the bridesmaids and I 'showed the presents', and returned to share the purvey and dance to DH's band. A really great night a week before the wedding and an opportunity to have everyone there, rather like the modern way of having a smallish wedding and inviting all your friends to the evening party.

DH did have a small stag night with the rest of the band. As they had a strict 'no drinking when playing' rule they were not used to much alcohol all got legless. Dh tripped and fell on his wallet, cracking a rib. Made for an 'interesting' honeymoon, especially after I got sunburnt right down my front on the first day in Italy.

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Looks as though the show of presents was indeed a Scottish thing - I didn't realise (also the term 'purvey' as a noun I think)
Your night sounds as though it was well worth the effort - if I could have had a hoodie I might have been more willing, I'd only been to very prim affairs!

The only wedding I went to where there was a show of presents was in Kent, but the father of the bride was a Scot who had emigrated south and taken up farming in Kent. The display was in the dairy. I was mildly embarrassed because I had only recently started work in a trainee position so my salary was low and my present obviously inexpensive.

None of my English friends and relatives has ever heard of a show of presents but in the Scotland of my youth, it was taken for granted that this would take place. As a teenager, I helped out at several. However, by the time my sisters were married this was, I think, outmoded and besides, they both got married the other side of the country from the parental home, with guests coming from all over Britain and beyond. I tied the knot in Africa and certainly didn't have a show of present there.

I went to a work colleague's hen night a few years ago. Having not been to a night club before, I got up to dance with a couple of my colleagues and blundered straight through a circle of 'local girls' ( not our group) who were dancing. It was dark and I didn't realise they had all put their drinks on the floor in the middle of the circle. Over went the drinks and my colleagues pushed me on through the nightclub, hissing 'just keep on walking'. Luckily the girls didn't realise who had knocked over their drinks. The floor was very sticky afterwards.