Where does the term come from, where in the world is the term used?
I came across the usage in this article, with this paragraph as quoted:
Keara O'Neil was on a shopping trip to find bridesmaid dresses for her wedding and a frock for her hens night at the GASP Chapel St store on September 24 when she had a dispute with a sales assistant named "Chris".
So now that I've been sufficiently reminded to use Wiktionary and the like, I see that the reference is rather old to meaning "a women's party" and pretty much to mean the sort of thing where gossiping is expected to be a large part of the event. What I'm curious about now is:
Since I don't hear this a lot in the US in the South, where is this phrase used? How popular is it? Is it considered antiquated? Hyperbole?