MOST of the time they couldn't be more respectable – whether they're on the school run, doing the weekly shop or hosting kids' sleepovers.
But as many of us will know, mum gatherings aren't always sedate coffee mornings or playdates.
A recent study showed only 44 per cent of mums regularly take time out from mum duties to recharge their batteries with girls weekends away.
From letting go of the pressures of being a mum to feeling the need to make the most of every second without their little ones, three mums tell Sun Online why weekends away with their pals are wilder than ever before…
'We ended up in Amsterdam eating space cakes on a £500 bender'
Care Worker Hayley Yeatman, 51, is married with three kids. She lives in Yorkshire.
Hayley says: "My twin sister and I were due to go and visit our mum in Belgium.
She’s lived there for yonks and as we don’t see each other often we decided to go together.
Except we never got as far as the Belgian border.
Instead at the airport our heads were turned by signs for Amsterdam.
We hadn’t been away on our own since our early 20s when we went to Palma Nova in Mallorca.
All mums need a break without feeling guilty. We are always working hard to make everyone happy – but I wanted to feel that I wasn't just a mum, but Hayley again.
So after a few proseccos at the airport, we decided to go on a mums' break to Holland instead.
My sister is cautious, but I’m the opposite – I push her to do things.
We went everywhere and did everything. The first night we ended up an ice bar downing shots.
We tried to avoid the Red-Light district – but it’s impossible in Amsterdam.
We were constantly asked to go to sex clubs. One bloke even asked us if we wanted to perform!
I'd have done it for a laugh but my sister wasn't amused. She kept saying, "What's your daughter going to say?"
Pimps didn’t stop hassling us for sex or to give it a go touting for business for them.
My sister was dead freaked out but I just laughed.
On both nights we’d start out doing shots. We got through gin and tonics, local beers and loads of cocktails.
The low point of the night was needing to use the public loos.
I couldn’t find the ladies so I had to use the gents' ones instead. They’re basically holes in the ground.
I went to one while my sister waited outside. I was very drunk by this stage.
Apparently all you could see was my very long wee tricking out from under the door down the main street.
In the daytime we went to the sex museum. I bought loads of sex toys – my sister didn’t.
By this stage she was disgusted with me.
We even tried space cakes! It cost us £500 but it’s the best money I’ve spent in years."
'I got off with two blokes – then found out they were related'
Virtual PA Chloe Harris, 35 is mum of two and lives in Doncaster.
Chloe says:" I’d just split with my ex and the girls insisted we were going away for the weekend – and I made up for lost time.
For the previous five years I hadn’t been out-out never mind away with the girls.
I'm a mum of two boys and hadn't had so much as had a sip of Chardonnay for years.
They reassured me they’d ease me back into drinking gently. But I was told to dress in a dress – and I did.
We started by going to see a band, then we went to a club – where we went crazy on the dance floor and then on to a casino.
It all went a bit crazy at the casino – I got off with two blokes – cringe!
To make it worse I later discovered that both blokes were related to one another.
It was so out of character for me.
'We drank 'liquid cocaine' cocktails!'
Full-time mum Fiona Williams, 44 has three sons. She lives in Wishaw in North Lanarkshire.
Fiona says: "My mum mates and I recently went to Blackpool on a wild night out we planned for six months.
It’s only once in a blue moon any of us get to go away without the kids – and we were buzzing.
We’d organised a disgraceful amount of booze for the journey – this was a once in a blue moon experience and we weren't wasting any time getting drunk.
I made up fishbowl cocktails nicknamed "Liquid cocaine" because of how high they get you – made from vodka, Red Bull and sparkling wine – and we downed test tube shots.
Most of us don't remember the bus trip, the pee stops, the dancing or checking in.
One of my pals was getting married, so we dressed her as a prisoner with a ball and chain with her husband’s name on it.
The other four of us had police officer outfits on – which went down a treat with the lads.
After going to the local chippy for some grub, we went on our pub crawl.
But in the first pub, security came up and said that there had been complaints about our behaviour and asked us to leave.
We were even escorted off the premises for being too loud – but we decided it was probably just the jealous barmaids that got us kicked out.
I made up fishbowl cocktail nicknamed "liquid cocaine" because of how high they get you
At the next bar we were on the dance floor throwing some serious shapes – it felt so good to have a night off!
I lost count of the number of times I was asked by people to arrest their drunken friends.
One bloke cried because I put the handcuffs on him too tightly.
At the next club, one guy asked me to strip for his friend's stag do – we danced for him instead.
The DJ gave us free bottles of bubbly as we were so entertaining!
We got in 5am the next morning, but were back on it by 10am.
It was a hilarious weekend full of drunken antics but I was glad to get back to my babies.
The children missed me. When I got home my ex said, "don’t ever leave again!"
I won’t – my liver is still fighting the after effects!
It was a chance to get away from nappies, crying babies and husband.
I could be me for a while and not 'mummy.'
It was so good not to have to stress and plan every minute. We just went with the flow!"
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