Calgary stag

[GreenLantern]

I have been tasked with assisting in organizing a stag for a good friend of mine. We have a split group, half in Calgary half in the prairies so we decided to go to Cowtown. We aren't interested in going outside of Calgary (like the Mountains, the States or BC or whatever) because we are trying to keep the price point down as many of the group have just purchased houses, had their 1st or 2nd kid, are wrapping up education programs or any combination of the three.

We will have about 15 guys ages 30-40. The plan right now is to stay at Hotel Arts for a good central location. The date would be sometime between late March and early May. It would be nice to keep the total cost of the weekend around $1000-1500 per guy. We want to stay for two-three nights depending on the activities planned. We do have houses in Calgary we can use for backyard BBQ's but it isn't practical to try and house everyone at one location, and splitting everyone up takes away from it so we decided to go the hotel route.

Favourite activities of the groom include:

Drinking at pubs, not a bar guy. Ship and Anchor is his favourite place
Live music
Poker/gambling
Strippers
Ethnic food
Golf
Football

I don't live in Calgary, my time there has been limited over the past few years and the Calgary end of this group haven't been very resourceful yet so I come humbly to the CP faithful in hopes of some great ideas I can knock around and advice.

I definitely want to plan the weekend around a concert, he is into the smaller Indie troutman like groups over anything else. Not a fan of country, hip hop, pop or any of that. Then I was thinking one other night is good to just go out and hit some pubs, trying to corral 15 guys for multiple nights is like herding cats so they need to be let free. Then the third night we try for one more actual activity, casino, nice steak dinner something along those lines.

[polak]

Not much to contribute but as someone who has two bachelor parties that I have to attend this year, both with grooms who are requesting major trips (Montreal and Whistler), you and your friends are awesome for taking into account everyone budgets.

[Northendzone]

waiting for a post that recommends having the outside of calgary.

my only other thought is that you cosnider booking tables at whatever place you decide to go so everyone can sit together.

[Drury18]

For the live music/pub thing, you might want to give Ironwood Stage and Grill a try. They have some eclectic bands, pub like atmosphere and a really good food menu (or did when I went a couple years ago)

http://ironwoodstage.ca/

Another choice might be Marquee Beer Market. Again, they have a stage and a good number of beers available. Personally, I find the band choices here a little better then Ironwood.

http://marqueecalgary.com/


Both are in an area that is stumbling distance to other pubs or gambling/stripping.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

waiting for a post that recommends having the outside of calgary.

my only other thought is that you cosnider booking tables at whatever place you decide to go so everyone can sit together.

I'll be that guy.

You guys are absolutely dropping the ball and doing yourselves a giant disservice by not planning this for Banff. Without any doubt whatsoever, you could find a way to make this work without adding any cost over a Calgary stag. Banff is 8,000,000 times more fun and puts everybody instantly in a party mood versus just roaming around the city where half of you live anyway, doing the same old crap you do half the weekends already.

Banff is a world-class party destination and is just an hour away. You have to find a way to make it work. There are so many hotels there, that you can always talk yourselves into a great deal. Lots of loft-type accommodations on Tunnel Mountain that sleep a ton of guys versus a standard two-bed hotel room on the main drag.

[CaptainYooh]

Get a donkey! You absolutely will need a donkey at some point of the evening.

[troutman]

We did a simple local stag for a friend.

Start with a Brazilian BBQ, all-you-can-eat meat bonanza. Ex. Gaucho, Bolero, Pampas.

Then, the Ballet.

Raw Bar in Hotel Arts has amazing cocktails, but it is more of a date night location.

Indie style live music - Palomino (good bbq upstairs too), Nite Owl, Broken City, Commonwealth, sometimes there are events at #1 Legion. Once you know the date I can be more specific. Hang The DJ at Dickens. Ironwood is more of a sit-down granola-folkie scene, and can be quite expensive for cover.

I would not agree that there is more to do in Banff:

http://www.theculturecycle.com/

[CaptainYooh]

Originally Posted by troutman

We did a simple local stag for a friend.

Start with a Brazilian BBQ, all-you-can-eat meat bonanza. Ex. Gaucho, Bolero, Pampas.

Then, the Ballet.

Raw Bar in Hotel Arts has amazing cocktails, but it is more of a date night location.

Indie style live music - Palomino (good bbq upstairs too), Nite Owl, Broken City, Commonwealth, sometimes there are events at #1 Legion. Once you know the date I can be more specific. Hang The DJ at Dickens.

[skudr248]

Nobody has yet to mention hookers and blow?

Leaving dissappointed...

[Language]

Originally Posted by troutman

We did a simple local stag for a friend.

Start with a Brazilian BBQ, all-you-can-eat meat bonanza. Ex. Gaucho, Bolero, Pampas.

Then, the Ballet.

Raw Bar in Hotel Arts has amazing cocktails, but it is more of a date night location.

Indie style live music - Palomino (good bbq upstairs too), Nite Owl, Broken City, Commonwealth, sometimes there are events at #1 Legion. Once you know the date I can be more specific. Hang The DJ at Dickens. Ironwood is more of a sit-down granola-folkie scene, and can be quite expensive for cover.

I would not agree that there is more to do in Banff:

http://www.theculturecycle.com/

Not sure if joking. Was this a stag or a date with a girl?

Edit - saw post below. All is good again.

[SeeGeeWhy]

The ballet = Old School Code word for STRIPPERS

[nik-]

Originally Posted by troutman

We did a simple local stag for a friend.

Start with a Brazilian BBQ, all-you-can-eat meat bonanza. Ex. Gaucho, Bolero, Pampas.

Then, the Ballet.

Raw Bar in Hotel Arts has amazing cocktails, but it is more of a date night location.

Indie style live music - Palomino (good bbq upstairs too), Nite Owl, Broken City, Commonwealth, sometimes there are events at #1 Legion. Once you know the date I can be more specific. Hang The DJ at Dickens. Ironwood is more of a sit-down granola-folkie scene, and can be quite expensive for cover.

I would not agree that there is more to do in Banff:

http://www.theculturecycle.com/

Fatal error.

You don't put the crew into a meat coma to start the night.

[DoubleF]

We had a stag party involving a hitmen game (pretty inexpensive) and ran into another stag group at said hitmen game. Both groups had the same idea of dressing up the groom in a ridiculous garments.

I've heard Lacrosse games are just as fun and they play loud music during the game itself. (Also inexpensive)

We did take out food from Gaucho.
http://www.brazilianbbq.ca/takeout.shtml#
$264 feeds 20 guys per this which would be pretty reasonably priced for your needs. If memory recalls, we had quite a bit left over when we finished but we did eat a little bit just before grabbing that platter. Grab some salad unless not pooping for the weekend is part of the party. Meat comas were pretty bad. Luckily, food was last on the evening's list other than drinking.

We once had a guy borrow 2 hookahs and set up a hell of a smoky house party.

Paintball seems like a staple of many stags, but it's not cheap. If you want cheap painful entertainment, elastic bands and paper wedges might be a nice blast from the past. Consider offering the groom a cup and safety glasses. Those wedges are unpredictable.

Beer pong, always classic. 2 or 3 Lack side tables from IKEA at $10 each, beer cups, beer and ping pong ball should mean you could technically be able to play anywhere.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by troutman

Start with a Brazilian BBQ, all-you-can-eat meat bonanza. Ex. Gaucho, Bolero, Pampas.

plus salad bar!

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by troutman

We did a simple local stag for a friend.

Start with a Brazilian BBQ, all-you-can-eat meat bonanza. Ex. Gaucho, Bolero, Pampas.

Then, the Ballet.

Raw Bar in Hotel Arts has amazing cocktails, but it is more of a date night location.

Indie style live music - Palomino (good bbq upstairs too), Nite Owl, Broken City, Commonwealth, sometimes there are events at #1 Legion. Once you know the date I can be more specific. Hang The DJ at Dickens. Ironwood is more of a sit-down granola-folkie scene, and can be quite expensive for cover.

I would not agree that there is more to do in Banff:

http://www.theculturecycle.com/

I don't think anybody would argue there is more to do in Banff; however, I think most partiers would agree that for a one-off big night like a stag, it is a guaranteed better time.

Catching a band is the last thing I'd want to do on a stag. That's something I really enjoy as a casual thing to do on a "whatever" night.

Having said that, your advice is very good for a low-key stag. Mine is good for a party stag. Both have their place.

OP: Are these guys looking for a party? And if they're not, would they rise to the occasion if one presented itself? Are they a get-shmammered-and-own-Banff kind of crew, or a sip cocktails and take in some folk music kind of guys? Knowing that will help give you the best advice possible.

[CaptainYooh]

Originally Posted by SeeGeeWhy

The ballet = Old School Code word for STRIPPERS

He's a lawyer, what did you expect...

[GreenLantern]

This group is a mix as usual, but at its core everyone enjoys live music, especially the groom. The live music is priority, the trip will be booked revolving around the best available concert.

I wouldn't say we are old and tired, but we are definitely older, and we get tired easy. 75% are north of 35 and married, just looking to get away from the kids for a few days and get drunk. There will be sluggish mornings and I doubt we make it very late. I also do know that this Groom hates Banff, but I do appreciate the suggestion.

A quick afternoon of research brought up a few ideas, gun range was one that came out of left field I really like. It would not be on his radar at all and would be a really fun idea for a group that big. Kills most of an afternoon, then head over to maybe Shanks after to get some food play some pool before heading out to the concert. I would prefer to have a big sit down supper one night for the boys those are always fun.

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Originally Posted by Sliver

I'll be that guy.

You guys are absolutely dropping the ball and doing yourselves a giant disservice by not planning this for Banff. Without any doubt whatsoever, you could find a way to make this work without adding any cost over a Calgary stag. Banff is 8,000,000 times more fun and puts everybody instantly in a party mood versus just roaming around the city where half of you live anyway, doing the same old crap you do half the weekends already.

Banff is a world-class party destination and is just an hour away. You have to find a way to make it work. There are so many hotels there, that you can always talk yourselves into a great deal. Lots of loft-type accommodations on Tunnel Mountain that sleep a ton of guys versus a standard two-bed hotel room on the main drag.

This is spot on. If everyone is already staying in a hotel what's the differnce between Calgary and Banff really?
Heck if you got a big condo you could probably save some money, and you can all be in one house, which makes for good partying, and you can easily do things like poker.

[VladtheImpaler]

If you want some different ethnic food, hit the Safari Grill off Memorial for some African ribs (mild - suicide), massala mogo (cassava) and Tusker beer. Great setting and the owner is a good guy and will treat you well.
I am old and haven't bothered for a long time, but I believe the Ballet in Calgary died a couple decades ago - you are probably better off paying for private Ballet at the hotel.
I don't know anything about the music scene.
For poker, Deerfoot Casino is probably the nicest setting. I offer free (well, sort of) lessons there. They also have bands like Poison, Ratt, and other 80's classics.

[Jacks]

$1500 a head? Vegas baby!

But on a serious note, if you are staying in town and going to a concert + a few bars consider getting one of those mini buses from a limo company. I've used them before for company parties and they are great for moving a group that size around. They are very comfortable, have good sound systems and unless things have changed you can drink on them between locations.