How to Plan a Stag Weekend (and Actually Enjoy It)

Planning a stag weekend is rather like chairing a government inquiry. Everyone has an opinion, no one agrees on the budget, and somebody will inevitably go missing halfway through. Yet it doesn’t have to descend into chaos.

With a touch of strategy, a dose of diplomacy, and a generous helping of Sixes cricket-fuelled fun, you can pull off the near-impossible: a stag weekend that is memorable, well-balanced, and mercifully stress-free.

Start at Sixes: The Ultimate Stag Kick-Off

Before you even begin debating destinations or who gets the top bunk, start at Sixes Social Cricket. It is the ultimate stag launchpad.

Forget the tired routine of fancy dress and sticky pub floors. Sixes is where the serious fun begins. You and your mates can step up to the crease in their high-tech batting nets, face down a virtual bowler, and discover that professional cricket was probably never an option. The best part is that you can follow up all that enthusiastic swinging with exceptional food and drink.

Sixes combines social sport with a first-class restaurant and bar, so you can move seamlessly from competitive chaos to craft beers, cocktails, and sharing platters without changing venues. The food is far more sophisticated than your typical stag grub, with loaded burgers, quality fries, and sharing dishes that disappear faster than your dignity on a night out.

You do not need to be a cricket fan to enjoy it either. It is interactive, fast, and genuinely hilarious, even for those who think “a googly” is something you search online. The atmosphere in every Sixes venue is the perfect mix of lively and laid-back, and it works beautifully as an icebreaker. Within minutes everyone is laughing, cheering, and gently heckling each other.

If you remember nothing else from this article, remember this: if you want to know how to plan a stag weekend that works, begin at Sixes. Once you have booked your slot, everything else will fall naturally into place.

Choose a Destination Without Causing a Political Crisis

Once you have secured your Sixes booking, the next decision is where to go. This is where friendships can wobble and tempers fray. Some will want the sun and chaos of an overseas escape; others will insist on staying closer to home.

Luckily, Sixes has venues in some of the best stag cities in Britain, including London, Manchester, Birmingham and Brighton. Each offers brilliant nightlife, good food, and a rich supply of pubs and cocktail bars for when the cricket ends. Keeping the trip in the UK also spares you the drama of lost passports, late flights, and attempting to explain British banter to a baffled taxi driver in a different time zone.

If you must go abroad, fair enough, but be warned. The promise of “sun and sophistication” can quickly turn into Gary sunburnt in sandals and someone trying to barter for sunglasses at two in the morning. Sometimes, home turf really is best.

Keep the Guest List Short and Sane

When learning how to plan a stag weekend, remember that smaller is smarter. This is not the wedding. You do not need to invite every friend, cousin, or vague acquaintance who once lent you a charger at uni. Eight to twelve people is ideal. It keeps the energy high and the logistics manageable, without descending into a travelling circus.

A tight group allows for genuine connection and fewer arguments about where to eat or who is paying for the next round. Too many people and you will spend the entire weekend in a committee meeting disguised as a pub crawl.

Plan the Essentials, Then Stop Fussing

One of the secrets to a successful stag do is knowing when to stop planning. Book the key elements early: accommodation, travel, and of course, Sixes. Once those are in the diary, relax. The best weekends strike a balance between organisation and spontaneity.

You do not need a minute-by-minute itinerary. Build a loose framework and then let the weekend breathe. Allow for unexpected detours, lazy afternoons, and impromptu rounds of drinks. Structure gives the weekend shape, but freedom gives it life.

Follow the Sixes example: a little competition, a lot of laughter, and a good dose of food and drink. That is all you need.

Feed the Troops and Keep the Beer Flowing

The quickest way to ruin a stag weekend is to forget that food matters. Hungry men are rarely happy ones. The solution is simple: eat well, eat often, and ideally, eat at Sixes.

Between cricket sessions, the restaurant and bar serve food that is hearty yet refined. The sharing platters are made for groups, the burgers are excellent, and the fries deserve a standing ovation. It is the perfect antidote to the mystery kebab that so often appears on stag menus.

Pair the food with a few pints or a round of cocktails and you will keep everyone content. A well-fed stag group is a civilised stag group, and a civilised stag group is considerably less likely to end up arguing about who finished the crisps.

Funny Stag Do Rules

Every stag weekend needs a few rules, though they are rarely enforced and often ridiculous. Think of them as the light scaffolding that holds the chaos together.

You might decree that anyone refusing a turn at Sixes must buy the next round, or that anyone claiming to be “pacing themselves” is automatically banned from sitting down. Perhaps the lowest scorer in the cricket challenge must address the groom as “Your Majesty” for the remainder of the weekend.

Rules like these are not about control. They are about adding a playful thread that runs through the trip. They keep everyone laughing, even when the energy starts to dip, and they give the groom the sense that his friends have put real thought into making it special.

Stag Do Forfeits: The Harmlessly Humiliating Kind

Forfeits are the lifeblood of any stag do, but let us leave the outdated humiliation tactics in the past. Modern forfeits should be clever, funny, and entirely safe for work.

At Sixes, the possibilities are endless. The lowest scorer can act as the group’s waiter for the evening, delivering drinks with exaggerated politeness. Someone else might be required to recite a heartfelt poem to the groom in the middle of dinner, complete with dramatic hand gestures.

Beyond cricket, forfeits can be as simple as making a spontaneous toast, performing a mock speech, or composing an impromptu song about the groom’s romantic history. The point is not embarrassment, but laughter. The goal is a shared joke that everyone enjoys, not something the groom spends years trying to forget.

Remember Who It’s For

It is astonishing how many stag weekends forget their main purpose: the groom. The event should reflect him, not the loudest person in the group chat. If he loves sport, make Sixes the centrepiece. If he is more of a foodie, focus on the dining and the drinks. If he is the type who values relaxation over chaos, build in plenty of time for conversation and comfort.

The perfect stag weekend is not a competition to see who can stay out the latest or spend the most money. It is a celebration of friendship, loyalty, and the small miracle that someone has agreed to marry him.

End on a High and Not in Hospital

Every great story needs a graceful ending. A final dinner back at Sixes is an excellent choice. You will have shared laughter, sport, and enough inside jokes to last well into the wedding speeches. By that point everyone will be tired, happy, and ever so slightly sentimental.

Finish with one last drink, a toast to the groom, and perhaps a quiet nod to the fact that you managed to pull off a weekend of pure fun without anyone being arrested. You can then all return home with your dignity, your shoes, and most of your memory intact.

Actually Enjoy It

Finally, the most important rule of all: remember to enjoy it yourself. You have organised the bookings, balanced the budget, managed the egos, and survived the group chat. The weekend is your reward too.

Relax. Laugh. Eat. Drink. Join in. The work is done and the plan is in motion. The groom is happy, the group is bonded, and the chaos is contained. That, in essence, is what mastering how to plan a stag weekend is all about.

If you can keep it simple, keep it playful, and keep it focused on good food, good company, and a few healthy swings at Sixes, you will have done something rare. You will have planned a stag weekend that everyone remembers for the right reasons.

Raise a glass. Raise a bat. And take a bow. You have officially cracked the code on how to plan a stag weekend and actually enjoy it.