A Hen Do to Remember

I never though that blogging about a hen do would be something that I would share but considering how successful this weekend was, I felt that I couldn't not share this with you.

My friend Katie is getting married in August and to celebrate, 14 of us girls travelled down to Southampton for the weekend.
Having not told Katie where or what she would be doing, we teased her for most of the coach journey.

Arriving in Southampton, we managed to have a quick bite to eat before we embarked on a day's worth of activities.
Kelly, the maid of honour, organised the whole weekend with a company called Chilli Sauce, who specialise in such events....hen do's, stag do's, birthday parties, so we knew we were in good hands.

Our first activity of the day was the high ropes course.
I should probably mention that Katie is a really adventurous girl but even she got a bit worried when she saw how high the course really was.

It wasn't long before we were all harnessed up and ready to go.

We had a safety course first, teaching us how to use the ropes and props that we would need to get across.

Laura looking a bit more confident after the first rope was completed.

A quick selfie of Laura and I looking about 12 but we look happy none the less. 

Next up.....Clay Pigeon Shooting. 

I have never done this before and if I'm honest it's not something I was absolutely desperate to try but I loved it!! I couldn't believe how much fun it was and what a rush you got from it. 

Here's a few pictures to show you how it went.

Safety goggles and ear phones of course. 

We got to shoot 3 rounds of 10, giving us plenty of time to get the hang of it.

The important part was making sure you placed the gun in the right place, tight against your shoulder and cheek. I’d heard many people say before that you can bruise from clay pigeon shooting. Luckily I didn’t but some of the girls definitely had slight pinch marks on their shoulders.

(Well we had to have some evidence of what we’d been doing, right?)

Your stance: remembering to lean forward as the recoil is going to knock you back a bit.

The one thing that you had to get used to was the recoil. At first it was a bit of a shock but you soon got used to it. I had to remember not to close my eyes which I had a habit of doing, anticipating the recoil.

On our last round we had a competition.

And of course we couldn't forget the house keeping....picking up the empties.

It turns out I wasn't as bad as I thought I was going to be. In fact, I really got quite a thrill from it and have decided to try and look at venues closer to home where I can practise. 

After a full days worth of activities, we made our way back to the hotel to prepare for the evening. 

Kelly did an wonderful job of organising it and we found these little treats on our bed when we returned.

A goody bag with everything a hen would need for a night out on the town. The bag consisted of sashes, glow in the dark wrist bands, all kinds of inflatables (guitar, microphone, parrot) and of course what hen wouldn't be complete without...penis straws.

(No picture of that one...I think you all know what I'm referring to). 

I didn't take a lot of pictures of the night out but here a few. It got quite messy in the end so enjoy the few pictures of sobriety. 

Laura and I with the inflatables. 

A quick picture of what I wore. Dress is from Topshop in the last chance to buy section. 

Similar one here or here.

The whole weekend was brilliant. I wouldn't thoroughly recommended Chilli Sauce to anyone wanting to book a big event or hen do. 

Our offer included the activities, a night in a 4* Hotel and entry into the club. There are loads of other places to stay, you don't have to pick Southampton. 

Have you been on any hen do's recently. Let me know in the comments what you got up to.