Wingless Butterfly
Nobody has ever called me a social butterfly, being one of the more introverted people around, but every so often I make the attempt to be a real person. Tonight was one of those attempts: a Hen party for a friend of my sister's, who was also one of my sister's bridesmaids along with me.
Now a Hen party always has a slight air of the desperate; you will be girly and silly and help the Bride enjoy her last weekend of freedom (no matter how lovely a person the Groom might be), but I think there's something I'm not getting here.
The party was at a place that clearly exists only to make money from these things: a Greek restaurant in the city. It was packed to bursting with other Hen parties, plus a couple of birthday and bucks parties, which looked a little out of place amidst the pink tulle veils and sashes reading 'bride to be' and so on. The charge per person would have bought two courses in a decent restaurant, but the food was definitely ordinary and drinks were not included. The only affordable drinks were iced daquiris, but I'm not convinced that they had any alcohol in them at all: a pity, because ditching sobriety may have improved the rest of the evening.
It wasn't all bad food, of course: there was some standard retro music playing: repeats of Girls just wanna have fun and Time of my life and so on, to which the 90% female crowd sang along. Unfortunately there was also the Grease megamix. It seems to be unescapable.
They cleared some of the tables away for a dance floor, but it was toe-squashingly crowded, and the DJ uninspired. I think that later in the evening there was to be smashing of plates (because the fact that it's a Greek restaurant means that everyone can play with Greek wedding traditions) but none of us stayed that long: the main party headed for another club while I came home, pleading that I have to be out early tomorrow morning, which is actually true.
So, as you can see, the evening was not really an overwhelming success from my point of view. Yet the place was packed, clearly popular, and I've been to a couple of other Hen's parties in similarly tawdry places, and they were packed too. I honestly don't understand why. Is this sort of thing fun for the rest of you, and I just don't get it somehow? Or it it just that this is the done thing, and people pay for the bad food because everyone else is, and the expectation of fun is enough...I'm feeling a bit like a Leunig cartoon here. Perhaps the evening just needed a duck :)
Now a Hen party always has a slight air of the desperate; you will be girly and silly and help the Bride enjoy her last weekend of freedom (no matter how lovely a person the Groom might be), but I think there's something I'm not getting here.
The party was at a place that clearly exists only to make money from these things: a Greek restaurant in the city. It was packed to bursting with other Hen parties, plus a couple of birthday and bucks parties, which looked a little out of place amidst the pink tulle veils and sashes reading 'bride to be' and so on. The charge per person would have bought two courses in a decent restaurant, but the food was definitely ordinary and drinks were not included. The only affordable drinks were iced daquiris, but I'm not convinced that they had any alcohol in them at all: a pity, because ditching sobriety may have improved the rest of the evening.
It wasn't all bad food, of course: there was some standard retro music playing: repeats of Girls just wanna have fun and Time of my life and so on, to which the 90% female crowd sang along. Unfortunately there was also the Grease megamix. It seems to be unescapable.
They cleared some of the tables away for a dance floor, but it was toe-squashingly crowded, and the DJ uninspired. I think that later in the evening there was to be smashing of plates (because the fact that it's a Greek restaurant means that everyone can play with Greek wedding traditions) but none of us stayed that long: the main party headed for another club while I came home, pleading that I have to be out early tomorrow morning, which is actually true.
So, as you can see, the evening was not really an overwhelming success from my point of view. Yet the place was packed, clearly popular, and I've been to a couple of other Hen's parties in similarly tawdry places, and they were packed too. I honestly don't understand why. Is this sort of thing fun for the rest of you, and I just don't get it somehow? Or it it just that this is the done thing, and people pay for the bad food because everyone else is, and the expectation of fun is enough...I'm feeling a bit like a Leunig cartoon here. Perhaps the evening just needed a duck :)