Show Notes
How many hen dos have you been on this year, and how much do you think you’ve spent? If women are getting married less, why are hen dos getting more and more expensive? In the UK, women spend an average of £652 on a single hen do, and over £1,000 if it’s abroad. What’s driving this change? Is it Instagram, scattered friendship groups, or do we still treat marriage as the most important milestone in a woman’s life?
In this episode, I’ll take you through the hen do’s surprising origins in factories and pubs, how your freedom to get wasted in a bar is a right that feminists fought for before you, where the plastic penis straws came from, and why we feel so much social pressure to fork out for a friend’s hen.
Guests: Dr Sheila Young
Dr Amy Goode
TikTok: lilyo.farrell
Instagram: lilyo.farrell
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SOURCES:
Guests face four-figure bills for stag and hen dos, Aviva (2023)
UK adults spend £2,000 a year attending weddings and civil partnerships, Money and Pensions Service (2025)
Friends pay price as hen party costs hit £700 each, Bradley (2014)
Marriages in England and Wales: 2023, Office for National Statistics (2025)
Do Britons still want to get married?, Ibbetson (2022)
The Theory of the Leisure Class, Veblen (1899)
Prenuptial Rituals in Scotland: Blackening the Bride and Decorating the Hen, Young (2019)
Helen McCarthy, author of ‘Women of the World: The Rise of the Female Diplomat’: exclusive interview, Heron (2017)
Gill and Coote v El Vino Co Ltd, Wikipedia (1982)
Hen dos and don’ts: lifting the veil on tensions in consumer rituals, Porter, Goode and Anderson (2023)
Fertility treatment 2022: preliminary trends and figures, HFEA (2024)
How much does a wedding cost? The 2024 UK average, Shafiee (2024) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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