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A 'dadchelor party' typically involves lots of boozing, gambling and bar-hopping.Getty Images/Thinkstock

Forget the scotch and postpartum cigar. Expectant dads are getting their drink on as soon as two pink lines appear on the pregnancy test.

Looming fatherhood is the latest excuse for a raucous night - or entire weekend - of boozing, gambling and bar-hopping, the Huffington Post reports.

The "dadchelor party" is catching on.

David Hellmann, a 29-year-old medical-device sales manager in Chicago, says he's been on three or four of them.

The alpha male's answer to the baby shower generally revolves around drinking and sporting events, he told the Huffington Post. It's about celebrating "one more night where responsible decisions don't matter."

Dadchelor parties (or dadelor parties) have become a rite of passage in the past year or two, said Carley Roney, editor-in-chief of TheBump.com. The lad nights reflect the growing expectation of fathers to play an equal role in parenting.

"Guys are just as overwhelmed by the thought of how much their lives are going to change. This is the antidote to that, the hedge against it."



It's worth noting that in places such as England, it's customary for dads to "wet the baby's head" over drinks with friends after the birth.

Dadelor parties are just another marketing tactic, commenter rednrowdy writes at Jezebel.com.

"I'm over the concept of ritualizing every little thing that doesn't have to do with weddings and babies and sticking the word 'man' or 'dad' in front of it. mancation. mandals. mandles (candles for men. seriously.). manscaping. and now dadelor parties."

The need to make a milestone out of every detail of having a baby "just strikes me as self-involved and indulgent," writes LaComtesse, another commenter.

And plenty of dads might argue that once the baby stage is over, the real fun starts.

Do dads-to-be need a last hurrah?

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