[3] Since the 1980s, some bachelor parties in the United States have involved vacationing to a foreign destination,[3] or have featured female company such as strippers or topless waitresses.
The term "bachelor", originally meaning "a young knight-in-training", was first mentioned in the 14th century to refer to an unmarried man in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales.
Canadian stag nights may extend into weekend affairs, sometimes involving travel to a cottage or cities around Canada, and occasionally Las Vegas as well.
In the province of Manitoba particularly, a "social" is often held rather than a stag and doe, in which the public are invited to attend a large evening party at a rented pub or event venue.
Tickets are sold at the door or online, there is usually a cash bar and silent auction, and a traditional buffet of regional snack foods known as a 'midnight lunch' will be served throughout the evening.
Bachelor parties were known as early as the 1830s, when in the Charpennes neighborhood of Lyon groups of young men would dine at the restaurant of La Mere Brigousse on her famous dish of enormous dumplings les tétons de Vénus (Venus's breasts).
Some parts of Germany have a related custom, in which a person who is not yet married by their 30th birthday, is made to dress up in an embarrassing fashion by their friends and to do silly tasks that most often include some kind of cleaning work.
Such parties may feature heavy drinking and sometimes the presence of strippers,[8] or else other recreational bonding activities undertaken together, such as paintball or an overseas trip lasting a few days.
[9] In the 19th century it was reformed by the bourgeoisie, and it became known as Svensexa, where sexa was a new word for a late-night party with dinner and alcohol that started at six o'clock with drinks and snacks.
[12] In the UK, stag weekend trips are becoming mini-holidays with the groups taking part in various day-time activities as well as the expected night out or pub crawl around the place in which they are staying.
They may involve travelling to another location in the UK or going abroad,[13] with Kraków, Dublin, and Riga topping the list, followed by Prague, Amsterdam, Bratislava, and Budapest.
[13] Increasingly, "destination bachelor parties" are replacing standard nights out, with Americans traveling to Las Vegas, Miami, Nashville, or abroad to Mexico.