I have noticed that a lot of people are searching for stag and doe tips.  I found mine to be very successful and only had maybe 100 people attend.  I want to share what I did for ours.

• I did mine on a Friday  – I got a cheaper rate at the hall, however it is a big gamble because some out of town people might not be able to make it, especially if some of your wedding party is out of town.

• I made my tickets$10 each – I found having a lower price allowed for people who could not make it the night of, to still donate.  I found that this helped to make up for the people that I lost having it on a Friday night.  I got them printed at Ticketmaster and got a fair amount for the price and there was a tear of piece that you could use for a door prize if you wanted.

• My wedding party – they are a huge help at this point.  I helped with the venue as I lived in the area and getting the licences and the booze however it was them that made the night.  They are the ones that worked so hard that night, from ticket selling to running games.

• Raffle Gifts – my wedding party each donated a gift to be raffled off, this was so nice of them and kept the costs down.  Raffle tickets were then sold $2 each, 3 for $5 or $20 for an arms length.  There were a lot of the $20 offer purchased.

• Wii Game – there was Wii bowling set up and each person was charged $5 for a speed round.  The scores were then recorded and the top score won a higher end prize.  Ours was a table bbq that was donated.

• Toonie Toss – Pretty much you put a large bottle of liquor in the center of the floor and people throw Toonies at it. The person who gets the closest to the bottle got the bottle.

• Golf Putting – There was a putting area set up and you could put for $2 each.  There were a line duct taped down the way and there person who got it closest to the line won a prize.

• Crowns and Anchors – This one was a gamble for us as we were unsure what the interest would be.  We rented the set from a local party supply place and set it up.   A friend ran the station and that is when we learned we had some gamblers in the crowd.  I recommend getting a very personal able and energetic person to run this game, we did and he was great and it really worked.

• Shots – Really if you drink you are sure to like shots.  We did test tube shots and Jell-O shots.  Jell-O shots were $1.00 each and test tube ones were $2.00 each.  They were a huge hit!  However please note you will have to check with your venue if you are not doing your own alcohol because you are not allowed to bring in your own alcohol and some places will not allow shots.  This was another reason why we wanted to do our own bar.

• Doing our own bar – We got a friend that had their smart serve be the bartender. All licences had to be purchased by us and all alcohol had to be purchased with this licence.  Also there is a minimum that you had to charge per each drink.  Doing this we made a lot of money of the alcohol because other venues that did their own bar and you would get a percentage from the sale.  Example: we would make $.75 per drink from a bar that was being provided, where we made around $2.00 per drink doing it ourselves.  I little more work but it worked out great.  Drink tickets were then sold so that the bartender did not have to handle cash and all the cash was handled at the same place.

I hope this helps in some of your planning, I really was a great night and really helped us raise funds for our wedding.  Everything went back into our wedding for our guests as a thank you for everything.

Tip

• Make it a fun night for your guests and make them not feel like it is all about money.  Provide enough games to entertain them throughout the night and gives them variety on what they want to play, however don’t have too many as I have noticed people just stop participating.

If you have any questions at all, please feel free to ask away!

Good luck with your Stag and Doe Planning!