Serial Hen – part 2

Hen Weekend 2

There’s nothing like rivalry between friends. Let’s face it, Amanda’s Hen Weekend was always going to be one hell of a weekend to beat. In fact amongst us, it’s already become somewhat of a cultural reference point. In forty years time, whether she’s married, divorced or even dead, we’ll still all be saying ‘Do you recall that DVD we made?’ ‘Do you remember Amanda’s mum’s amazing hand jive?’ ‘Have you still got your Pink Lady cardigan?’

So with Caitlin’s wedding following Amanda’s by a couple of weeks, we all found ourselves in a bit of a dilemma. What to do? This time Caitlin, again another one of our University friends, and a teacher in the midlands, was up for doing something different, and fun, in fact all the criteria that we had discussed for the last big weekend.

While it was floated to go to somewhere cheap in Europe for a long weekend, in the end this was vetoed by nearly everyone – lack of funds, an unhelpful weak Euro, lack of time. Even the bride-to-be had major work commitments and couldn’t really do anything until after 8pm on the Friday night, and then had to be at work as usual on the Monday.

So what’s a bride-to-be to do? Well, you go to the organiser, the one that makes it happen, which in our friendship group means me – despite the fact that my maid of honour duties had been passed onto the recently married Amanda, but who because of existing commitments i.e a honeymoon in Mauritius, would not be able to attend any girlie shenanigans until the actual wedding itself.

So, what does the arch organiser do? Who’s she gonna call? You guessed it. The people that sorted us last time. My concern was although they’re based in Sussex, do they cover anywhere else apart from the South Coast. Answer – affirmative. They cover the whole of the UK. So did we have an idea, or did we want some help in actually coming up with a plan of action to rival the aforementioned party of parties?

Birmingham, Birmingham – the best curry anywhere; Caitlin, an avid Balti babe at the best of times; at our last bash she was probably the best turned-out pink lady on account of her being a great dancer…..mix it all together and what have we got? A Bollywood style weekend in Birmingham. Similar to Amanda’s bash, but different. Exotic. A workshop of Indian dance rather than a pop video.

A universal hit.

And this time we’d be staying for two nights in a hotel personally road-tested by our stag and hen specialists.  It also had a pool and spa facilities, meaning frazzled Friday evening arrivals could just chill-out in and opt for a low-key relaxing meal together.

Thankfully, all the Bollywood costumes and accessories were to be provided, as I had visions of myself being the one to sort out a dozen saris. Also, this time the music was also provided incorporating Bhangra as well as popular Indian film tunes, meaning I didn’t have to raid I-Tunes and sort out the sounds as well.

On that particular May weekend we were a slightly tired party of 10 women and two gay men that met in the Hotel bar at 8.30pm on the Friday night. But after a few drinks and nibbles we all started to feel the worries of everyday fade away. Tomorrow, we were all going to be transformed into beauties of the Indian Cinema.

Easy? You bet!

The Bollywood experience was slightly more daunting than the Pink Ladies because unlike the Grease experience, it’s not as familiar. The dance routines took a bit of getting used to, but when it all came together, it was absolutely fantastic, and the bride-to-be, well, she was in seventh heaven. Wearing the Indian costumes, make-up and jewellery really made you feel like you were dressing up, and one of our friends Mona, had actually bought everyone their own beautiful bindis to wear which was a really nice touch. In fact, Caitlin and the boys Rolf and William managed to keep theirs on all weekend, even in the pool although by the end of Sunday, William’s had gone from his third eye round to his temple. In fact, for the wedding both him and Rolf came in traditional Indian clothing with turbans, bindis and eye-liner in homage to their Balti weekend just a couple of weeks before.

If you’ve never learnt a dance routine before, it can be quite tricky to handle, but as our group grew in confidence, became more competitive, and loosened by a few champagne bubbles, where we weren’t able to remember the exact steps, we were getting quite proficient at effecting an authentic look. In fact by the end of the workshop our eyelids were fluttering, our heads moving from side to side, our hips shaking, shoulders shrugging, wrists flicking and that was just the boys…..

We opted for the mini bus option returning to our hotel in our usual clothes but with our somewhat lurid make-up still in place. Tea and cake followed, swim and just general downtime before we put on our glad rages. Taxis whisked us off to the best curry house in town, which was absolutely superb and then complete with our specially arranged VIP entry tickets into a club, we partied the night away – taking to the dance floor and customising the moves we’d learnt earlier in the day to whatever the DJ was playing.

The bride to be and I missed breakfast but managed to have a sauna and a swim before getting ready to return to everydayness.

So how do I rate the Bollywood Hen Party? Absolutely, but only if followed by the absolute best curry you’ve ever tasted. Was it better than Amanda’s Hen Night? Not better just different. Birmingham was fun and the hotel people were really friendly and couldn’t do enough for us. You know I think I’m getting quite good at all these arrangements, perhaps I could make a living out of it. Maybe those people in Sussex, should employ me!

For information about Bollywood themed Stag and Hen Weekends please visit www.adventureconnections.co.uk/packages/themed-dance-weekends-bollywood.jsp