The hens issue
If she still knows every word to Wannabe, this is her theme. Find her kind of 90s girl, then take the whole kit: outfits for her and the girls, invite wording, a mixtape in the order it should play, drinks by the jug and slumber-party games with proper rules.
The short answer
A 90s hens party is a throwback-themed hens: the bride in white, the girls in their favourite 90s look (girl group, Spice, plaid, velour or slumber-party PJs), a playlist everyone still knows every word to, and games straight out of a 90s sleepover. Pick her kind of 90s girl first, and everything else follows.
Why it lands: the median age of women marrying in Australia in 2024 was 31.2 (ABS). So for a typical bride right now, the 90s and early 2000s were the years of her first CD, her first sleepover and her first bedroom dance routine. It’s her decade, and her girls were there for it.
Page 01 · The quiz
“90s” means six different parties depending on who she was in 1997. Here are all six, each with her outfit, her song and her drink. Pick hers, or let the quiz below find her.
No. 1Platforms, pigtails and a lot of opinions. Every girl picks her Spice.
Dress code: pick your Spice. The bride is Bride Spice, in white. Platforms strongly encouraged.
No. 2Matching outfits, a choreographed entrance and absolutely no scrubs.
Dress code: girl group. Tracksuits, bucket hats, bum bags and hoops. Matching is mandatory, rehearsing is encouraged.
We run this one as an RnB girl-group dance night in Melbourne.
No. 3Plaid sets, knee-high socks and a fluffy pen for signing the slam book.
Dress code: as if. Plaid, pastels, knee-highs and headbands. The bride’s in white, obviously.
No. 4Velour, low-rise, butterfly clips and a flip phone she pretends to answer.
Dress code: Y2K pop princess. Velour, baby tees, butterfly clips and frosted gloss. The bride’s the only one in white.
No. 5Satin PJs, face masks, a pillow fight and the best gossip of the year.
Dress code: slumber party. PJs, scrunchies and slippers, satin if you’ve got it. The bride’s in white.
No. 6Eurodance, glitter and a glow stick in every hand. She goes straight to the floor.
Dress code: dance-floor diva. Sequins, metallics and something fluoro. Glitter is compulsory.
Three taps. Answer as her, not as you.
Her 90s girl: Girl Power
See her pagePage 02 · Fashion
The bride is the only one in white. Everyone else picks her 90s and her level of commitment. Heart sunglasses, clips and a scrunchie do most of the work, so nobody needs a whole new wardrobe to look like she raided her 1997 cupboard.
Four looks that all say “bride” from across a dark dance floor.
Put all three levels in the invite and everyone’s in, from the cousin who’s had her Spice picked since the engagement to the aunt who’s never owned a bucket hat.
The whole look, head to platform sneakers. The ones who’ve been waiting for this since the engagement.
Her usual going-out outfit plus one thing that screams 1997: a bucket hat, a choker, a velour jacket.
For the girl coming straight from work, and for Mum. Still counts. Still in the photo.
Six things that turn any outfit into the theme. Order online a couple of weeks out so they arrive in time.
90s hens dress code: the bride’s in white. Everyone else, pick your 90s and commit: girl group, Spice, plaid, velour or full slumber party. Full throwback, one hero piece, or just the heart sunglasses. Your call. Just bring your best 1997 attitude.
Dressing for a different kind of night?Hens outfits for every theme
Page 03 · Her night
Every good 90s night has a name. Tap one (or type your own) and it drops straight into the invite wording below, ready for the sign, the playlist title and the group chat.
Her night: The 90s Throwback
Page 04 · Invites
Three ways to word it. Type her details once and every version fills in, then copy the one that sounds like your group.
Stop the press: [Bride] is getting married, and we’re throwing it back to the 90s to celebrate. 90s Throwback: [Date], [Time and place]. Dress code: your best 90s. Heart sunglasses strongly encouraged. RSVP to [you, by date]. As if you’d miss it.
Pack your PJs: [Bride]’s 90s Throwback is on. [Date], [Time and place]. Bring your scrunchies, your best gossip and every word to Wannabe. RSVP to [you, by date].
Before [Bride] says I do, we’re rewinding to the 90s. 90s Throwback, [Date], [Time and place]. Girl group, Spice, plaid or velour: your call. The bride’s in white. RSVP to [you, by date].
Printable 90s invite designs are on their way. Grab the wording now and the art lands right here.
Page 05 · Pull-out poster
Every vibe in one place: butterfly clips, jelly sandals, cassettes, a karaoke mic and the fairy bread. Pin it, or drop it in the group chat so everyone gets the brief without a single extra message.
Swipe for the whole poster
Raid the garage, the op shop and Mum’s cupboard. Lava lamps, cassettes, gel pens, scrunchies, slap bands and a see-through phone make the best table styling there is, and every guest will find something she owned.
A silver tinsel curtain or a sequin wall, chrome balloons, a disco ball and her night’s name in big bubble letters. Every group photo happens here, so put it where the light is good.
Bride SpiceCassettes and old CDs strung on fishing line, each one labelled in marker with a track off the mixtape. Guests add their own song request on a blank one.
Go loud: hot pink, lime, orange, aqua, purple and a few black balloons, with mirror balls tucked right through the garland. Wrap it around a gold sequin wall and put her name up in pink neon. That’s the photo spot sorted, so build it behind the bride’s seat, not behind the food.
One on every table and one in the bride’s bag. Get them developed after and give her the prints with the slam book. Nobody will remember who took the blurry ones.
Page 06 · Drinks
Five drinks, each matched to a 90s girl, with the quantities worked out for your group. Every one has a zero-proof twin that looks the same in the glass, so whoever’s driving still gets the photo.
Citrus vodka, cranberry and lime in a martini glass. Very late 90s, very her.
Shake hard with ice, strain into a chilled martini glass, finish with an orange twist.
ZERO-PROOF60 ml cranberry, the lime and a splash of soda. Same glass, same twist.
Electric blue, four straws, one bowl. Sharing is the whole point.
Fill a fishbowl with ice, pour everything in, stir once and add four long straws.
ZERO-PROOFSwap the spirits for 60 ml of non-alcoholic blue curaçao syrup and add more lemonade. Same blue.
Pink gin and bubbles. Glossy, a little bit extra, gone in minutes.
Build over ice in a wine glass and add a sliced strawberry.
ZERO-PROOFNon-alcoholic sparkling rosé, soda and the strawberry. Nobody can tell.
Melon-green and glowing. The colour of every 2001 dance floor.
Shake the Midori, vodka and lemon with ice, strain over fresh ice, top with soda and a cherry.
ZERO-PROOFLime cordial, lemon juice and soda over ice with a cherry. Same glow.
Vanilla and cream with a hundreds-and-thousands rim. Tastes like a fifth birthday.
Dip each shot glass rim in honey, then in hundreds and thousands. Shake with ice and pour.
ZERO-PROOFCold vanilla milkshake in the same sprinkle-rimmed glass.
On the side
Fairy bread cut into triangles, Cheezels (one on every finger, those are the rules), party pies and sausage rolls with tomato sauce, chocolate crackles and a big bowl of mixed lollies.
Then a cake with her name piped on in bright icing, and a candle for every year she’s known the maid of honour.
Page 07 · Games
Six games straight out of a 90s sleepover, each with proper rules. None of them leaves the bride on the spot on her own. All of them need her to laugh.
Write MASH across the top of a page (Mansion, Apartment, Shack, House). Underneath, the group fills four answers for each list: the honeymoon, how many kids, his next haircut, their car, their first pet, and where they’ll be in ten years. Mix sensible with ridiculous.
The bride draws a spiral until someone yells stop. Count the lines in the spiral, then count around the lists, crossing off every answer you land on, until one is left in each. Read her future out like a magazine horoscope.
Write one prompt at the top of each page: my first impression of her, her most-played song, the most her thing she’s ever done, what he’s lucky to get, my prediction for the wedding. Pass it round all night and sign every entry with a nickname. Give it to her at the end with the photos from the disposable cameras.
Play the first five seconds of any track off the mixtape. First team to shout the title and the artist wins a point; the title alone is half. The bride’s team gets one free skip. Winners pick the next song.
Pass the bowl. Pull a dare and do it, or skip it and answer any question the bride asks, truthfully. Twelve dares to start you off:
A week before, text the groom eight questions about the two of them: who said I love you first, who’s the better driver, who takes longer to get ready. Fold a fortune teller (the four-pocket finger game everyone made in Year 5) and write one question under each flap.
The girls take turns working it on the bride. If her answer matches his, the table drinks. If it doesn’t, she does.
Split the room in two. Each team gets five minutes to put together a routine for one chorus: the boy band takes Everybody (Backstreet’s Back), the girl group takes Wannabe. Perform. The bride judges, and the bride is open to bribes.
Printable versions are on their way. Grab the rules now and the sheets land right here.
Want more? Here’s our full list of hens party games, sweet to cheeky.
Page 08 · Free mixtape
A great 90s night has a shape: Side A while everyone’s getting ready, Side B once the shoes come off, a Y2K bonus track for the girls who were teenagers in 2003, and one last song everybody knows every word to.
SIDE A
SIDE B
BONUS TRACKS
The last songI Want It That Way (Backstreet Boys)Save it for when she’s in the middle of the room and every phone is up.
Planning music for a different kind of night? Here are our hens party songs for every mood.
Page 09 · Photos
Give this list to the friend with the best phone (or the disposable camera). Eight shots, and the group chat is sorted for a year.
Tap one and it’s on your clipboard, ready for the post.
We already run this
The best bit of any 90s night is the moment the whole group nails one routine together. That’s what our Melbourne RnB nights are built around: a dance host, a pink neon room that’s only yours, a costume for her and the music video you’ve all secretly wanted to make since Year 7.
You’re in the front row next to her, not on the phone to the next venue.
Your own pink neon room for two hours with a topless waiter serving the arrival cocktails, an hour of RnB girl-group choreography with a costume for the hen, share plates and her bonus cocktail, then a velvet VIP booth with a bottle of bubbly for her.
The same night built for a closer crew: the private pink neon room, the topless waiter, the RnB routine and her costume, share plates, then the VIP booth and her bubbly.
Start her Wishlist, add the 90s Throwback Class and tell us it’s a 90s hens.
Building in Melbourne? The Melbourne studio has a 90s Throwback Dance Class too.
Every price is on the package page. Celebrating in Perth or Adelaide? Start her Wishlist in Perth or Adelaide and tell us it’s a 90s hens.
Her shortlist
Give us the basics and we’ll come back with the nights that suit her, her city and her crew. You bring the heart sunglasses.
A few quick details:
Done. Her throwback is officially under way.
Keep an eye on your phone, the first text comes from one of us, not a bot.
See the throwback nights we runQuick answers
A 90s hens party is a throwback-themed hens: the bride in white, the girls in their favourite 90s look (girl group, Spice, plaid, velour or slumber-party PJs), a playlist everyone still knows every word to, and games straight out of a 90s sleepover. Pick her kind of 90s girl first, and everything else follows.
She’s the only one in white. The four looks that work: a white babydoll mini with a big bow and a short veil, white satin PJs with feather trim, a white slip dress with chunky sneakers, or a white velour tracksuit with BRIDE in diamantés across the back.
Their own 90s look, at the level they’re comfortable with: full throwback, one hero piece like a bucket hat, a choker or a velour jacket, or just a pair of heart sunglasses. Butterfly clips and scrunchies make any outfit the theme.
A 90s hens leans girl groups, Spice, plaid, slip dresses and shell suits. Y2K is the early 2000s: velour tracksuits, baby tees, low-rise, butterfly clips and pop-princess everything. Plenty of groups do both, and the playlist on this page covers both.
Warm up with Wannabe, Waterfalls and Torn, take the dance floor with No Scrubs, Everybody (Backstreet’s Back) and ...Baby One More Time, add Y2K bonus tracks like Toxic and Lady Marmalade, and finish on I Want It That Way.
MASH: Bride Edition, the Slam Book, Name That 90s Tune, Slumber Party Truth or Dare, the Fortune Teller and Boy Band vs Girl Group. Each one has full rules on this page.
In Melbourne, our RnB dance nights turn the group into a girl group in a private pink neon room. In Sydney, Brisbane and the Gold Coast, start her Wishlist and add the 90s Throwback Class. In Perth and Adelaide, start her Wishlist and tell us it’s a 90s hens.
Your move
The kit’s yours either way. When I Want It That Way comes on and every arm goes up, you’ll be in the middle of the room singing next to her, not at the bar sorting out the tab.
My Ultimate Hens is a female-founded hens party company, founded in 2011 and now running hens nights and weekends in six Australian cities. Read what organisers say · More hens party themes · Hens ideas for FRIENDS fans · More hens party inspo