Craft workshop (flower crowns, pottery, painting) stag do

Workshops in Amsterdam come in two flavours. The straight option is a 90-minute sip-and-paint session with an instructor and all materials, pitched at any skill level. The one most stag groups pick is cheekier: an hour-long, adult-themed decorating workshop in a private venue in the red light district, where everyone customises a plaster model and takes it home. Both are 18-plus and need around eight people as a minimum. It is a good low-energy slot for the afternoon before dinner, casual clothes are fine, and it sits well with an evening in the old centre.

Brighton's workshops cluster in two places: private function rooms in the seafront hotels along Kings Road, and small studios and bars in the Lanes. Sessions run 90 minutes to two and a half hours, usually for groups of ten or more, and several will travel to a rented house anywhere from Kemptown to Hove. For a stag, chocolate making, pottery or a sterling silver ring-making class in a Sydney Street studio are the better fits; ring-making groups are capped at around ten and may share the room with the public. Fired pottery is ready six to eight weeks later, so arrange collection or posting.

The workshop that suits a stag in Edinburgh is a two-hour graffiti masterclass in Corstorphine, west of the centre, where a professional street artist takes the group through spray paint and markers on a giant canvas. There is one artist for every 15 people, sessions run between 10am and 7pm every day, and parking is free. Wear old clothes. Drinks are allowed only by arrangement, so tell the organiser in advance. For something tamer in town, private function rooms off Broughton Street host 90-minute paint and sip sessions with wine.