Keeping hen’s nights classy

Hen’s nights are often associated with drunken nights out and tacky get-ups for the bride-to-be, but one entrepreneur has put an entirely different spin on the concept.

While helping to organise her own hen’s night in 2004, Sucheta Kotwal realised it was tricky to find information on classy ideas for the pre-wedding ritual.

She had a brainwave – why not develop her own online hen’s night directory? Kotwal set about creating her website, hens.com.au, by devising different hen’s night categories.

“From there, I just started selling [advertising]. For example, for ‘pamper hens’ I just started contacting day spas,” she says.

Kotwal fully expected the site would be a side project, but things took off.

“Probably about six months in, some of my advertisers were contacting me saying ‘Oh my god, we’re fully booked all Saturday and Sunday’,” she says.

If there’s a market for hen’s night “packages”, then there’s almost certainly a market for bachelor parties, 21^st birthdays and the like.