| > | | | | different activities, partly encouraged by |
| The new millennium stag is a very different breed | | | | commercial factors as an events industry has |
| from the traditional caricature. Due to a mix of | | | | sprung up to support the growth of stag events. |
| increased affluence, a trend of marrying later and | | | | Generally stag weekends revolve around activities |
| a more relaxed attitude to unmarried | | | | worth their weight in masculinity such as |
| co-habitation, the stag do has taken on a new | | | | paintballing, blindfolded 4x4 driving, shooting and |
| significance. | | | | white water rafting. However, for the more |
| Oddly, as divorce rates rise, the final step | | | | sophisticated stag, there are often more sedate |
| towards marriage feels to today’s | | | | activities such as life drawing and wine tasting to |
| prospective brides and grooms to be a much | | | | usher in the new, responsible chapter of their life. |
| greater step than it used to be, as traditionally | | | | It’s interesting to see how the expansion |
| couples needed to get married in order to live | | | | of stag activities has accompanied a change in |
| together. Now, as couples tend to live together | | | | attitude to marriage, and to consider how |
| first, sometimes for years, marriage seems like a | | | | marriage is simultaneously less important and |
| conceptually greater leap. | | | | more important than it used to be. Once |
| As such stag dos have also taken on a greater | | | | committed, divorce is more likely than ever, |
| significance as the final blow out of young | | | | although these statistics could perhaps be slightly |
| irresponsibility and a marker for the inexorable | | | | skewed by increasing life expectancy, but the |
| decline into middle aged responsibility. When this is | | | | prevailing attitude to marriage amongst |
| combined with a greater affluence generally and | | | | today’s young people seems to reflect an |
| couples possessing more readily available cash as | | | | increased seriousness to the undertaking |
| they are marrying later, the stag do has grown in | | | | beforehand. |
| size to become stag weekends. | | | | Stag weekends have not ballooned simply |
| As stags now celebrate their impending nuptials | | | | because people are richer, although this has |
| over a number of days, they have discovered | | | | enabled it, the cultural change that accompanies |
| that they can’t maintain such a protracted | | | | the whole arena of stags and grooms is perhaps |
| event fuelled by alcohol and strippers alone. As | | | | more to do with the change. |
| such stag weekends take in a cornucopia of | | | | |