SW02400001K

“I LOOKED UP
TO THE HOTEL
WINDOW AND ALL
OF THE GIRLS
WERE PRESSED
UP AGAINST IT ...
MOONING ME”
—
BRAD ALEXANDER
That’s certainly the image that Brad Alexander is seeing. He works
with Canadian Playboyz, a male strip group based in Western Canada, and he says the idea of the traditionally placid bridal shower has
gone out the window. “As soon as the booze comes out and the
girls put on their stagette gear, it gives them a licence to be wild
and uninhibited,” he says. “As I was leaving the last bachelorette
party I attended, I looked up to the hotel window and all of the
girls were pressed up against it with their skirts flipped up mooning
me.” Alexander says business is booming. His main problem right
now
no is keeping up with the demand, especially in Banff and Kelowna
where a lot of destination bachelorette parties take place. “I
lo
am always looking for new guys. We have 15 to 16 guys on the roster
right
righ now based in Calgary and Edmonton, but if I could get a guy in
Kelowna,
I could keep him busy every weekend.”
Ke
There’s little doubt that wild bachelorette parties like that play off the
more
mor established bachelor parties that men have long
ng staged before their
weddings.
The “bachelor party” can be traced back
wedd
ack to a much earlier
time period than the stagette. In fact, it is believed
that the ancient Spartans were the first to celebrate
the
th groom’s last night as a single man. The image
of the stereotypical modern-day bachelor party is
one that everyone is familiar with–a group of drunk
guys stumbling around Vegas, gambling, yelling and
spending their nights at the strippers. But is that stilll
the case? While expensive, often sexually charged
d
destination bachelorette parties for women are on the
rise, the traditional bachelor party appears to be on
the decline. I had been hearing about a lot of tamer
er
bachelor parties lately, including ones revolving around
nd
golf and camping. I turned to my late 20s-early 30s guy
friends for answers.
My friend Ben told me his older brother’s bachelor party recently saw a group of friends head to Los
Angeles for tours of a movie set and the city’s wellknown buildings, because he loves movies and architecture. They rounded off the evening with an L.A.
Dodgers game and a nice dinner. They had a few drinks but they
didn’t want to get too drunk and ruin the next day. It was all about
making a memorable trip that was designed for him to enjoy time
with his close friends before the big day. Another friend, Jeremy,
went snowboarding and then to a pub for his bachelor party,
and my friend Scott said that the next bachelor party he’s going
to this summer involves all of the guys going skeet shooting.
I asked Scott if he’s seen a bit of a cultural shift these days,
with girls now having wild, debauched parties while the guys
are actually toning things down. He agreed that it seemed
to be the case, with bachelor parties becoming a bit more
mature these days. But he was quick to point out that, of
course, nobody would be opposed to a stripper showing up
at a bachelor party, and there are many bachelor parties
that are still centred around strippers and booze. For his
own bachelor party, however, Scott envisions something
different. “I wouldn’t want to do what I do every weekend. I would head to a music festival or a really cool
TWENTY-FOUR