Bachelor party

A bachelor party (United States), also known as a stag party or stag night (UK, Ireland, Canada, and New Zealand), bulls party (South Africa) or bucks party, or bucks night (Australia) is a party held for a bachelor shortly before he enters marriage, to make the most of his final opportunity to engage in activities a new wife might not approve of, or merely to spend time bonding with his male friends (often in his wedding party afterwards).

The history of bachelor party is thought to have originated with a bachelor dinner that was traditional in ancient Sparta (5th century) where soldiers would toast each other on the eve of a friend’s wedding.

A bachelor party may involve activities beyond the usual party and social gathering ingredients (often drinking alcohol and gambling), such as going to a strip club, hiring a female stripper or escort, and in some traditions more hazing-like tests and pranks at the future groom's expense, which shows the whole thing is also a rite of passage from bachelorhood (associated with an adolescent lifestyle, often in the common past of most participants, e.g. in their student years) to (more 'responsible') marital life.

The task of organizing a bachelor party is often traditionally assigned to a male sibling of the bachelor or to the best man; otherwise any (close and/or reputedly party-minded) male friend will organize it. The planned activities of a bachelor party are traditionally kept secret from the groom.