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There’s no greater honour a friend can give you than asking you to be his best man. It’s the ultimate statement of trust and friendship and a truly humbling experience… Until you realise just how much hard work and effort you need to put into it. A stag weekend always seems like a raucous and chaotic affair but only those who’ve had to arrange one know just how much effort, planning and social engineering goes on behind the scenes below the outward layer of debauchery. Arranging a stag weekend is tricky, arranging a good stag do can be a nightmare. If your best friend has asked you to be his best man, congratulations, your life is about to become a masterclass in project management. But, get it right and you could plan one of the defining moments of your year.

From arranging activities that everyone’s on board with to the sheer logistics of getting a large group of men to do anything, your best mate’s stag weekend may be the death of you, unless you follow this sagely advice…

If it’s large, keep it local

If your groom’s guest list is a little on the long side, your best bet is to keep the weekend’s activities as close to home as possible. You’ll have enough logistics as it is without needing to worry about language barriers, cultural sensitivity and how easy it’ll be to get the groom out of a Turkish prison. Plus, different attendees will have wildly different budgets so it’s important to be sensitive to this. For those staying local, especially in Las Vegas, you can Celebrate Your Bachelor Party at Treasures, for instance, which offers exciting packages to ensure a memorable and hassle-free experience. Your groom will appreciate everyone being able to make it more than he’ll appreciate an overseas adventure.

Create opportunities for everyone to bond

You’ll be handling a large group of men with very different personalities who don’t know each other. A best man needs to be a social engineer and arrange opportunities for the whole group to bond so that nobody feels left out or awkward. Remember that while you may all be very different, you all have the groom in common so exchanging humiliating stories about the groom might be a good jumping off point.

Arrange fun activities for everyone

It’s vital that you arrange activities for everyone to enjoy besides getting roaring drunk. Some guests may not drink for religious, personal or health reasons and it’s important not to alienate them. When it comes to stag weekend activities, the sillier the better! Whether you spend the afternoon rolling around in bubble soccer suits (bumper ball) or zip lining from tree to tree (Go Ape). This will ensure that everyone gets to participate and have fun.

Maintain order, but try not to control everything

Being the sensible guy who keeps a watchful eye over proceedings and make sure they don’t get too out of hand is commendable… But nobody wants a nanny! Make sure that you walk the fine line between keeping things moving along and standing on top of a chair shouting orders. If it helps, share the responsibility across three or four attendees whom you trust to make sure that things don’t get out of hand yet a friendly atmosphere is maintained.

Chiino